Cooperative Conservation Assist Projects are the fastest-growing Method of Conservation nationwide!

The Trustees of Reservations, America's oldest statewide land trust, is best known for our 106 Reservations on 26,000 acres across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "for public use and enjoyment" as our mission statement has always said.  You might already know, though, that this blog focuses on our lesser known side: land conservation through Conservation Restrictions (CRs) - an area in which we recently celebrated our 20,000th acre protected.  While these typically privately-protected properties are not often open "for public use and enjoyment," the purpose of CRs revolve around public benefit, through protection of water supply, wildlife habitat, land for agriculture, and scenic views, among other conservation values. 

I had thought that CRs are still the fastest-growing land protection method by land trusts in the nation.  However, upon checking the 2010 National Land Trust Census results, I found that I was in fact wrong, and this is actually NOT the case by percentage increase in acres protected between the 2005 and 2010 Censuses!  Indeed, land protected by CRs (Conservation Easements everywhere else in the U.S.) did show the biggest numerical increase in acres conserved - 2.8 million new acres nationwide, from 6 million in 2005 to 8.8 million total nationwide acres in 2010, an impressive increase of 47%.  Land owned outright by land trusts increased by 40%, from 1.5 million to 2.1 million total acres.  What then was the fastest-growing category by percentage change, keeping pace with CEs and then some?

The category in question grew by a whopping 51%, from about 3.4 million to 5.1 million total acres, and the name of the Land Trust Census category for it is a mouthful: "Acres acquired and reconveyed and acres conserved by other means by state and local land trusts."  In plain English, one might boil this down to "Land Conservation partnerships," or "assists," where land is protected as a result of the actions of a land trust, but the land trust doesn't necessarily end up owning the land, or even holding a resultant conservation easement.  This is a testament to partnerships - land trusts working together with other land trusts or partnering with cities, towns, or the state, where a land protection organization cooperating on a project does not necessarily end up with the resulting interest in the subject land.  

The Trustees of Reservations recently calculated our last ten years of conservation acreage by type of transaction.  And the results pretty much match the national trends - in fact we found that cooperative assist projects in which TTOR participated accounted for a very large portion of the total land which we have conserved or helped to put in to conservation! 

Happy Cattle at Oscar Palmer Farm!

Where have we helped to accomplish this work in the last decade?  In a wide variety of projects in over 30 cities and towns statewide!  How about a short sampler of notables?  Westport comes to mind, where we partnered with the town, the community, and the Westport Land Conservation Trust from 2008 to 2011 to protect the historic Oscar Palmer Farm - 29 acres threatened by development - and sell to a conservation buyer.  Just one of the numerous successful Westport projects (totalling 2,000+ acres!) in which we have played a part!

In the bustling Pioneer Valley hub of Northampton, a partnership in 2005-2006 with the city and Mass Audubon resulted in protection of 120 acres on Turkey Hill Road, near the western boundary of the town, abutting Westhampton, and later added to the Mineral Hills Conservation Area.  The land was under imminent threat of development by a private owner.  The Trustees and Mass Audubon offered temporary loan and ownership assistance to the city, while they applied for a state grant, with which proceeds the property was eventually protected! 

Crucial Wetlands in the Fitchburg Water Supply lands, now under conservation.

In the re-emerging North Central MA city of Fitchburg, a partnership between the city,  North County Land Trust, The Trustees, the Nashua River Watershed Association, the MA Department of Fish and Game, and DEP, resulted in a whopping 1,900 acres of city land under CR with the Department of Fish and Game, protecting a large portion of the city's drinking water supply lands, and it is open for public recreation too!  Also in Fitchburg, we partnered with the city, North County Land Trust, and many other organizations to acquire the land and bring the state's first Gateway Park to fruition!  It opened in September 2011, owned by the city, with a CR held by TTOR and North County Land Trust.  Assist projects don't always imply that we are hands-off in future property stewardship, and The Trustees are partnering with community organizations and residents to run the community garden at the Fitchburg Gateway Park next year!

Copicut Woods Reservation is the portion of the SE BioReserve directly owned by The Trustees.

A final example comes in Fall River, where we are a partner in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve, in which we own the 516-acre Copicut Woods Reservation and hold a 50-acre deed restriction on a crucial border parcel, and have worked actively with the city and state for well over a decade to assist in the further protection and management of these 13,600 pristine and ecologically amazing acres which span multiple towns.  Creation of the Bioreserve even included a 300-acre land grant from the state on which the city is building the Fall River Executive Park, to spur economic development expected to bring thousands of jobs to Southeastern MA!! 

Land conservation in these ever-challenging times works extremely well with innovative private-public partnerships.  In a diverse array of cities and towns across Massachusetts, as big as Boston and Fall River, as small as Hadley and New Braintree, and in suburbs like Holliston and Seekonk, we have successfully partnered with towns, other land trusts, and state agencies to leverage an exciting portfolio of conservation projects!  This is thanks to our partners and to our dedicated land protection staff!  A local conservation project may not always have The Trustees' logo on it, nor should it always, but we may well have worked behind the scenes on a successful project near you!

 Posted by Andrew Bentley - CR Stewardship Assistant.

2012 Massachusetts Conservation Tax Credit announced and accepting applications!

Tax season is now behind us (phew!), but is it ever too early to start thinking about next year?  If you or someone you know is weighing the possibility of land conservation - outright donation, Conservation Restriction donation, or bargain sale of land or CRs - we want to inform you about an exciting state tax credit of up to $50,000.  In late March, the State Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) announced that it is now accepting applications for the 2012 Conservation Land Tax Credit Program (CLTC)!  Last year was the credit's inaugural year, and it was administered through a lottery, but this year's credit will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.  The credit is capped at $2 million in credits distributed each year, which means at least forty full $50,000 credits, or a substantially higher number of lesser credits are available!  As implied, lesser credits are available for smaller-value donations that would receive, say, a $20,000 credit rather than a $50,000 credit.  

Rich wildlife habitats may qualify for a tax credit!

The CLTC marks the first time that Massachusetts has offered a tax incentive for land conservation donations.  This tax credit is in addition to federal income tax deductions available for land gifts.   
Land characteristics are more important than the type of transaction - generally, land is eligible, via state EEA determination, if it contains public conservation values significant to protect drinking water supplies, rare species and other wildlife habitats, agricultural or forestry lands, recreational opportunities and scenic or cultural values of state or regional importance.  Land must be put into perpetual conservation in order to qualify. 

As a first step, the landowner must apply to the program before the gift or bargain sale is completed.     

Land with rich agricultural and scenic value may be eligible for the new tax credit!

Once the property has been pre-approved by the Commonwealth, the landowner is required to obtain an appraisal of the property to determine the land’s market value.  The appraisal establishes the amount of the tax credit and the credit is applied to the amount of income tax that you owe. The State will apply the credit to your tax liability in the year of the gift.  If the credit exceeds your tax liability, the state will issue a check for the remainder of the credit.  That means that not only would your State income tax be wiped out for that year, but the State will issue you a check for the difference between that year’s tax and $50,000 or 50 percent of the appraised value, whichever is less.  For example, if you donated a conservation restriction appraised at $120,000, your tax credit would be the maximum $50,000.  If your Mass. income tax is $10,000, you would pay no state tax and get a check for the $40,000 difference.  You do not need to reside in Massachusetts or even pay taxes here; so long as you own the land, and the land qualifies, you qualify. 

Guidelines on how the credit works, and how to apply, are available at the EEA's webpage for the credit - Click here to access it.

Remember, since there is the $2 million budget limit on the credit, and it must be for a project completed in 2012 (recorded at the Registry of Deeds), the sooner you initiate a project and apply for the credit, the better your chances for receiving it. 

Find a potential land trust partner for your land conservation project, here at The Trustees of Reservations, or at the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition!  We are thrilled that Massachusetts has joined the dozen forward-thinking states that supply state tax credits for land conservation! 

Post by Andrew Bentley - special thanks to TTOR Westport Community Conservation Specialist, Chris Detwiller, for adapted content!

Alprilla Farm in Essex, MA. CSAs on CR farms!

Alprilla Farm - Essex, MA - 70 acres protected by a 1984 CR to The Trustees of Reservations

Alprilla Farm - "Essex Grown" Photo Credit: Alprilla Farm

The rise of CSAs is one of the most exciting phenomena for New England farmers in recent decades.  Equally exciting and absolutely integral to the future of farming in our region is the revived enthusiasm of young people for agricultural careers - where the mid fifties is the average age of farmers statewide and nationwide.  Alprilla farmer Noah Kellerman is a great example of one such young person turning that tide!  Noah grew up on the farm, which his grandfather managed for cattle, and his parents for hay and horse boarding.  After a childhood spent gardening with his family, and a successful summer 2009 market garden, he began to think seriously about starting a CSA.  He successfully launched the CSA just after graduating from Hampshire College in 2011.  He brings his studies and hands-on experience in sustainable, organic agriculture, to provide CSA shares to the North Shore.  His friend Tucker Smith, a Gloucester native and grad of UMass Amherst's Stockbridge School of Agriculture, runs the farm with him. 

Farmers Noah Kellerman (R) and Tucker Smith (L).  Pretty sure Noah is wearing a Trustees of Reservations staff shirt! Photo credit: Alprilla Farm

Noah's connections to The Trustees go deeper than growing up on a farm privately protected by our organization - and he cites his apprenticeship at our nearby Appleton Farms CSA for several summers as one of his main motivations to take up farming!  If you are local, you may just be stuck on the Appleton CSA waiting list.  Just to say - Alprilla Farm is a short 4 miles away on Route 133, and they still have some shares available!  Interested in what they grow?  Click the link to check out just some of some of their crop list.  All produce is grown using organic methods by two very experienced young farmers. 

Act fast to sign up for Alprilla's 2012 CSA - the sixty shares are sure to go fast there as well!  We are excited for this venture, and anticipate Alprilla Farm growing into a great resource in the Essex community!  Keep tabs on their Facebook page to see what they are up to as the 2012 CSA season takes shape.  Congratulations from The Trustees to Noah as he builds his own farm and CSA program!  We are thrilled to help motivate and train future farmers, and protect land for them to build their businesses!     

Alprilla Farm sits directly across the street from the Trustees' Stavros Reservation, with its magnificent views of the Essex River estuary, featuring the dramatic salt marsh and drumlin landscape of the Crane Wildlife Refuge flanking Crane Beach.  The farm is part of the Stavros family legacy of conservation, who donated the CR on the farm in 1984, the bulk of the Stavros Reservation land, and the family's Cape Ann Golf Course, also under Trustees' CR.  Noah Kellerman's family continues this exciting legacy, farming Massachusetts land that has been in agriculture since the 17th century.

Posted by Andrew Bentley - CR Stewardship Assistant

Warner Farm and Mikes Maze in Sunderland, MA - CSAs on CR-Protected Farms

Aerial view looking N/NE up the Connecticut River - Warner Farm sits on its east (right side) bank!. Photo Credit: mikesmaze.com

Warner Farm and Mikes Maze: CSA shares in the Pioneer Valley and Metro Boston. Nationally-renowned corn maze every Autumn!
32+ acres protected by a 1986 Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) held by The Trustees of Reservations

Kale and greens growing at Warner Farm, in some of the world's richest agricultural soil! Photo Credit: warnerfarm.com

Eleaser Warner (1694-1776) lived in an agricultural age, when the idyllic town of Sunderland (Swampfield at that time) was a newly incorporated frontier settlement.  Times have changed since he founded Warner Farm in 1720 (he probably never suspected it would have a Facebook Page), but we think he'd be happy to see his 10th-generation descendants till the same rich agricultural soil on the banks of the Connecticut River nearly 300 years later.  Today it is one of the oldest family farms in New England, watched over by Deerfield's scenic Mount Sugarloaf (now a DCR State Reservation), and just minutes north of UMass Amherst.  The farm is run by a dedicated staff of four: father and son Mike and David Wissemann; CSA Manager Jess Marsh; and Taylor Haas, Equipment Operator and Yard Manager.   They grow over 100 varieties of vegetables, using USDA certified organic practices, with 17 acres dedicated to offering Certified Organic produce.  CSA Members can purchase summer shares of vegetables, fruit, eggs, and flowers, and pick them up at a variety of Pioneer Valley locations, and even in Eastern MA at the Winchester Farmer's Market, and at the Winchester/Woburn Whole Foods Market, - see all locations here. They have formed an innovative partnership to provide produce at Brandeis University in Waltham, which you can read about by clicking here! 

Noah Webster challenges 2011 Mike's Maze visitors with a word search game in corn! Photo Credit: mikesmaze.com

Warner Farm may be best known as the host site of Mike's Maze, Wissemann's creation with a friend, artist Will Sillin.  Since 2000, the two have collaborated to create intricate corn maze art installations, designed as famous people and art pieces, and grown in corn.  We are talking nationally televised, Ripley's Believe-it-or-Not intricate here - the maze has been featured on Ripley's television show, on CNN, ABC, and the Weather Channel!  In past mazes, they have covered everything from the Mona Lisa in 2001, to the 2004 Presidential Candidates, to Noah Webster (of Merriam-Webster Dictionary fame, still a local business in nearby Springfield today!) in 2011.  The maze is open to the public on weekends during September and October.  Stay tuned to their website for the astounding design of this year's ma(i)ze - a great excuse to visit a gorgeous and fun region in peak foliage and get lost in corn! 

The Trustees of Reservations and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources ensure permanent protection of this private farm through an Agricultural Preservation Restriction. 

CSAs on CR-protected Farms #1 - Tangerini's Spring Street Farm in Millis

Families can pick their own veggies at Spring Street Farm
Photo Credit: Tangerini's Spring Street Farm

Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an economic model that brings customers to local farms, as shareholders of a growing season's crops.  It not only supports the economic health and viability of farms, but the health of  local customers connected to fresh, local food.  What's more, in the age of development pressure and sprawl, a successful CSA helps keep land in agriculture, and maintains the traditional scenic landscape of Massachusetts.  As you may already know, The Trustees of Reservations runs CSAs at four farm-oriented Reservations: Appleton Farms in Ipswich & Hamilton; Moraine Farm in Beverly; Powisset Farm in Dover; and Weir River Farm in Hingham.  In addition, we are thrilled that our Conservation Restrictions (CRs) and Agricultural Preservation Restrictions (APRs) protect five private farms running CSA programs from Boston (yes, within the city limits) and Metro Boston to the Pioneer Valley.  To sum up what some farm landowners have told us on our monitoring visits, now is a great time to be in farming, and one expressed his unexpected (but welcome!) surprise that local farmers have become almost 'rock stars' in the local public eye, as commitment to local food has grown in recent decades. We want to share a bit about these successful farms and farmers that Trustees of Reservations CRs help make possible - stay tuned for a series of posts featuring these CSAs. 

Tangerini's Spring Street Farm - Millis, MA - CSA and community-centered farm in Metro West!
67+ acres protected by a 1997 Trustees of Reservations CR, and a 1983 and 1997 state-held APR

Photo Credit: Tangerini's Spring Street Farm

Tangerini's Spring Street Farm is a thriving family farm today, in no small part due to the CSA model.  Just a half mile from the center of Millis, it provides a beautiful working farm and open space that contrasts with its pleasant suburban neighborhood surroundings.  Its history dates to the early 19th century, when the upper Charles River valley was a patchwork of such farms.  Through most of the 20th century, it was known as DeAngelis Farm, stewarded by Louie DeAngelis, who spent his whole life on the family farm.  Mr. DeAngelis ensured its permanent protection through a 1982 APR, and by willing the farm to Trustees' affiliate, the Massachusetts Land Conservation Trust, upon his death in 1993.  The Trustees fulfilled his wishes of finding new farmers to work the property, and screened applicants and their farm plans from all over New England.  By 1995, Laura and Charlie Tangerini were selected as the stewards of Mr. DeAngelis's legacy to Millis.

The Tangerinis offer multiple CSA options year-round, from traditional spring and summer crops, to winter and deep winter shares.  Perhaps most unique are their "U-Pick Flower Share," offering twenty stems of annual flowers per week during a 12-13 week period from July to September, and their "Food to Share" program, which provides fresh produce shares at reduced cost for those in need. 

(Photo Credit: Edible Boston; photographer Michael Piazza)

The Tangerinis' commitment to community-minded agriculture and conservation extends well beyond their CSA, and a poignant example is their annual summer staff of over a dozen local teenagers.  What better way to instill a lifelong appreciation of the land in the next generation than hands-on experience working it?  Read all about it in Edible Boston's wonderful past feature about Tangerini Farm, its farmers, and their teen employees by clicking here.  Take a trip out to Millis this Spring or Summer, and you can treat yourself to ice cream from their stand, pick your own produce or buy it from the farmstand, then walk off that ice cream on their public walking trail.  If you are a local, you might consider the healthy commitment to a CSA share of the summer bounty!  Get a jump on it, and purchase preseason market shares by March 31, to get a 20% discount, or by May 1, for a 10% discount, at the farmstand or the Natick Farmer's Market, through their Market Share program.

Vernal pools

Signs of spring are in the air -- the call of tree frogs known as "peepers" , warmer temperatures, rain and longer days are all signs that winter is almost (officially) over. Not that it was a much of a winter! But soon the temporarily filled vernal pools on many conservation properties will be home once again to many species of amphibians like the Blue Spotted Salamander. Vernal pools are unique wildlife habitats best known for the amphibians and invertebrate animals that use them to breed. If you want to know more about this important -- but fleeting -- part of the Massachusetts landscape, check out the state's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program HERE.

One Thing Congress Agrees On: Land Conservation

Conservation Tax Incentive Championed by Majorities of Both Parties in House:  The Land Trust Alliance announced that over 300 U.S. Representatives, including nine members from Massachusetts (Representatives Olver, Neal, McGovern, Frank, Tsongas, Markey, Capuano, Lynch, and Keating) have co-sponsored the Conservation Easement Incentive Act. H.R. 1964 makes permanent a recently-expired tax incentive that helps organizations like The Trustees of Reservations work with modest income landowners to conserve important natural or historic resources in our community.

Many of the donors of Conservation Restrictions to TTOR have benefitted from this federal income tax deduction in the past, and we support the LTA's efforts to re-establish it going forward. Since the incentive expired at the end of 2011, landowners with modest incomes now receive little tax benefit from restricting what may be their family’s most valuable asset. By allowing donors to deduct a larger portion of their income over a longer period of time, H.R. 1964 will help thousands of family farmers, ranchers, and forest owners afford to conserve their land.

For more information on the tax incentive legislation visit the LTA website at http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/tax-matters/campaigns/the-enhanced-easement-incentivehttp://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/tax-matters/campaigns/the-enhanced-easement-incentive.   A broad coalition of sportsmen, outdoor enthusiasts, farmers, ranchers and national conservation groups are working together to make this incentive permanent in the 112th Congress.