In the Valley, farmland and forest land are being permanently protected from development. Meanwhile in the Valley’s downtowns, parking lots and run down, single family houses are being transformed into attractive apartment buildings.

Construction is scheduled to begin soon on a new building in downtown Keene that will contain 16 energy efficient apartments. The building , at 75 Railroad Street, will be owned by the Monadnock Economic Development Corporation.

Last month, 31 acres of farmland on Leyden Road in Greenfield, and 188 acres of forestland in Northfield, Massachusetts, near Greenfield, was permanently protected from development. Both pieces of land were saved largely because of the work of the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust www.MountGrace.org

The Northfield land is along the New England National Scenic Trail. That’s a walking trail that runs from near the Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut to New Hampshire’s border with Massachusetts south of Keene. Activists are trying to close the only gap in the trail. The gap is near Amherst. Details are at www.NewEnglandNST.org

More information on land use in the Valley is at www.valleypost.org/2008/01/09/place-open-space

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This map shows the Pioneer Valley section of the Connecticut River watershed. Land outside the watershed is light green, meaning streams in that area do not flow to the Connecticut River. Dark green land has been protected from development. Red land is vulnerable to being paved with single-family homes, Wal-Marts, parking lots, roads, and ChemLawns. Map by the Trust for Public Land, 2006. Click on the map to enlarge it.