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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 18, 2007 | |||
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The woods and wetlands on Lydia Spitzer’s 1,342 acres in Charleston and Morgan will be protected from subdivision and development and will continue to be used for forestry, cross-country skiing, and outdoor education. Lydia ensured the permanent conservation of her land by donating a conservation easement to the Vermont Land Trust, the Vermont Land Trust announced today. This is the largest conservation easement donation made by an individual to the Vermont Land Trust. The Spitzer lands serve as an outdoor classroom, and research and demonstration forest management site for the NorthWoods Stewardship Center, a nonprofit education and conservation organization. Lydia has served on the board of the Center since 1998 and strongly supports community conservation. “Land conservation is beneficial for not only human, but also plant and animal communities,” she said. “The Iroquois based their policy decisions on this declaration: ‘In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.’ Like the Iroquois, I strongly agree that we need to think of future generations when we make decisions about our land. In addition to a large tract of managed forestland, the Spitzer property includes over 1500 feet of undeveloped frontage on Echo Lake. In 2004, Lydia protected another 51 acres of adjoining land on Seymour Lake that included undeveloped frontage and part of a loon nesting site. “I am fortunate to be able to act on my passion and give protection to one natural community,” Lydia said. The NorthWoods Stewardship Center’s educational programs reach 85 percent of the schools in the tri-county region (Orleans, Essex and Caledonia), as well as schools in neighboring New Hampshire. The center has 1,600 acres of forest used for demonstrating ecological forestry concepts. And, it also employs 60 youth in over 12,000 hours of conservation service each summer, conducts ecological monitoring and research in the regions forests and watersheds, and teaches landowners to employ sustainable forest management practices. “The mission of the NWSC is to foster long term stewardship of human and natural communities, and we achieve this through the integration of five program areas: land management, conservation science, education, outdoor recreation and conservation service,” said Jayson Benoit, assistant director of NorthWoods Stewardship Center. “After more than a decade of work in the wetlands, forests and lakeshores of this amazing property, it has become central to our programs and very close to our hearts. We are all humbled by Lydia’s wisdom and generosity and thrilled about the stability that this easement will provide for NWSC and the surrounding communities.” Over the past seven years, many neighboring landowners have similarly conserved their land. These include, Don Wilson, a NorthWoods Stewardship Center board member and his wife Jean, who donated an easement on 230 acres; Bill Manning, the center’s founder and retired executive director, and his wife Pat Moyer, who conserved 626 acres that surround the NorthWoods Stewardship Center property and Nadeline Moulton and her late husband Ira Moulton, who conserved their farm adjacent to the Spitzer and Wilson lands through the Vermont Land Trust’s Farmland Protection Program. All told, almost 2,500 acres of forestland surrounding the NorthWoods Stewardship Center and connecting to Echo Lake have been permanently protected for future generations. Lydia, the Manning/Moyers, the Wilsons, and several other landowners, allow the NorthWoods Stewardship Center to conduct intensive ecological monitoring as well as educational and recreational activities on their lands. That most of the land is permanently protected from development helps ensure that the long-term monitoring and stewardship initiated by the center will continue into the future. Tracy Zschau, the Northeast Kingdom regional director of the Vermont Land Trust, sees Lydia’s decision to conserve her land as an excellent example of a private landowner giving to Vermont’s future generations. “Lydia Spitzer and her neighbors have recognized the crucial role their lands play in furthering the NorthWoods Stewardship Center mission of service to both the human and natural communities,” said Tracy. “To know that 2,500 acres of contiguous farm and forestland will be available for the forest products industry, wildlife habitat, recreation, education and ecological research is an amazing gift to the future.” The Vermont Land Trust helped Lydia
Spitzer conserve her land through the use of a conservation easement. An
easement helps landowners voluntarily limit development on productive
farmland and forestland, and other meaningful natural and community
places. Landowners continue to own, manage, and pay taxes on the land
and can sell their land; however, the conservation easement permanently
remains on the property. The Vermont Land Trust (VLT) is a
member-supported, nonprofit land conservation organization operating
five regional offices throughout the state. Since 1977, VLT has
permanently conserved more than 1,400 parcels of land covering 465,000
acres, or about eight percent of the private, undeveloped land in the
state. The conserved land includes more than 615 working farms, hundreds
of thousands of acres of productive forestland, and numerous parcels of
community land. VLT provides technical and legal assistance to
individuals, communities and local land trusts to help them achieve
their conservation objectives. The VLT Conservation Stewardship office
is responsible for long-term monitoring of easements to ensure that the
conservation goals are upheld in perpetuity. This conservation work
changes the lives of families, invigorates farms, launches new
businesses, maintains scenic vistas, encourages recreational
opportunities, and fosters a renewed sense of community. For more
information or to become a member, contact: Vermont Land Trust, 8 Bailey
Avenue, Montpelier, VT 05602, (802) 223-5234.
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