Activists have saved 413 acres of farmland and forestland near Brattleboro from being turned into parking lots, strip malls, McMansion vacation houses, or other forms of so-called “development.” In Hinsdale, New Hampshire, 244 acres of forestland were saved by the Monadnock Conservancy www.MonadnockConservancy.org. The land is home to bobcats, black bears, and other animals.
In Dummerston, Vermont, a 169 acre farm was recently saved by the Vermont Land Trust www.vlt.org. The group is looking for a farmer to take over the farm, which can never be “developed.”
The vast majority of land in the Valley is still unprotected and vulnerable to being paved. Between 1982 and 2000, the Connecticut River Valley lost 27 percent of its farmland to development.
In the 25 years ending in 2007, Massachusetts lost 85,700 acres of farmland to development. That’s according to the most recent Census of Agriculture by the federal government.
More information about land use in the Valley -– including a map of protected land -- is at:
To enlarge the map, click on it.
Another group that’s working to save open space in the Valley has a web site at www.KestrelTrust.org. These groups get most of their money from the government, and some from donations from individual people.
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