STEWARDSHIP NEWS

Improvements Continue at Guyette & Maitland 

 

Over the past year much has been accomplished at two of FLT’s properties. Both of the properties were donated to FLT by the landowners, and are being managed for wildlife benefit and public access and enjoyment. 

With the help of Bradley Bordewick of Bernardston, FLT finished mitigation of the worst damage from the 2009 ice storm on the Betty Maitland Memorial Forest. The forest is slowly recovering, water bars have been replaced on the trail and visitors can once again safely enjoy the forest. A new “patch cut” completed by FLT Land Steward Will Anderson is a point of special interest for hikers.  

The patch cut creates a small opening in the forest that yields views of early successional species accented by large “wolf” maples full of cavities that are home to birds and other wildlife. Work for the coming year will include improved parking, better access to the vernal pool and new interpretive signage and picnic tables. 

The Guyette Farm also saw a lot of stewardship activity. A crew from the Student Conservation Association (SCA) once again made significant progress on the public trail.  The crew worked for 10 days improving drainage, placing stepping stones and check steps and adding 1,200 feet of tread onto our existing trail. With the help of Bi-sek Hsiao and others from Plainfield we started a rotation of cover crops on Evelyn and Harry Guyette’s old garden in preparation for a new community garden.  

Will Anderson and AmeriCorps volunteer Sam Talbot also completed improvement projects at Guyette funded through the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program at the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The two did late season mowing in favor of migratory song birds, as well as sickle bar mowing within the old cow pasture that had been cleared the year before. They also cleared stone walls, made stone benches for sitting, continued invasive species control and installed bird boxes.  

The coming year will see more maintenance of our trail system, fields and wildlife management areas, a timber harvest and timber stand improvement. We are also looking forward to the completion of the Guyette Farm Master Plan, which has been undertaken by Emily Johnson, a former FLT intern and current SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry graduate student.

Conservation News

Land Trust Alliance Releases Census

 

The first census of land trusts in five years found 10 million new acres conserved nationwide since 2005, despite a down economy. A total of 47 million acres—an area over twice the size of all the national parks in the contiguous United States—are now protected by land trusts. In Massachusetts, land trusts conserved 333,334 acres between 2005 and 2010, a 19% increase in land protected.  

A significant percentage of the new acreage comes through regional land trusts like the Franklin Land Trust. In the past five years, FLT facilitated over 120 projects, protecting 8,118 acres, including 2,900 acres of farmland in towns such as Whately, Greenfield and Deerfield.  

The National Land Trust Census, released by the Land Trust Alliance, shows that voluntarily protected land increased 27 percent between 2005 and 2010. In the same time period, the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, a major federal conservation program, added just over 500,000 acres and saw a 38% funding cut. The census is online at www.lta.org/census. 

According to the Land Trust Alliance, an enhanced tax deduction for Conservation Restriction donations has helped America’s land trusts work with farmers, ranchers and other modest-income landowners to sustain a remarkable pace of more than one million acres protected by conservation easements each year.  If Congress allows this incentive to expire at the end of 2011, fewer landowners will receive tax benefits from the donation of development rights on their land. 

In Massachusetts, several Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of H.R. 1964/S and 339 bills to make the conservation tax incentive permanent. These include: John Olver (D-MA/1st), Richard Neal (D-MA/2nd), James McGovern (D-MA/3rd), Barney Frank (D-MA/4th), Niki Tsongas (D-MA/5th), Ed Markey (D-MA/7th), Michael Capuano (D-MA/8th), Stephen Lynch (D-MA/9th), and William Keating (D-MA/10th). 

Other findings of the new National Land Trust Census include:

·         Massachusetts Land trusts saw a 58% increase in volunteers from the previous 5-year period.

·         There are now 159 land trusts operating in Massachusetts, including 69 staffed groups and 61 all volunteer groups.

·         Operating budgets for land trusts are up 36% since 2005. State and local trusts nearly tripled operating endowments in five years ensuring that land trust-protected land stays protected.

·         The preservation of family farms and ranchlands is now a priority for 61% of trusts, up from 21% that listed farmland as the top priority in 2005.

·         Urban parks, gardens or open spaces is now a priority for 27 % of trusts, a threefold increase over respondents in 2005. 

More on the Conservation Tax Credit 

In September 2011, the MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs announced a new program to offer tax credits to landowners who donate Conservation Restrictions. Four landowners working with the Franklin Land Trust have applied for the tax credit. Their properties, located in Ashfield, Conway and Gill, total over 240 acres.  

If the land fits ecological criteria and the Conservation Restriction meets high levels of protection, they could qualify for a state income tax credit of one half of the appraised value, up to a maximum of $50,000.  Funding could also be available in 2012, and landowners may wish to speak with a tax advisor to see if they would benefit from this program.  For more information about the Conservation Land Tax Credit please visit the Land Trust Alliance.