Case Studies

Conservation Restriction With Life Estate Protects Land in Town of Washington

pictureWith no heirs, Jeanette Roosevelt had to decide what to do with her home and land in the town of Washington. She wanted to see most of the land preserved, and she wanted to keep living on the property indefinitely. In the end, she and her husband Curtis decided to place a conservation restriction on the property, and gift the house to the Resources Council. The Roosevelts reserved a life estate, meaning that they have the right to live in the house for the rest of their lives.

Council Preacquires Land to Save Baldwin Hill Farm in Egremont

The centuries-old tradition of farming atop Baldwin Hill in Egremont appeared to be doomed when the heirs to a key 194-acre tract put the property on the market. Working quickly, the Resources Council reached out to key philanthropists and the state Department of Food and Agriculture to put together a plan to save the farm. The heirs agreed to sell the land to the Council for $1 million, and the state in turn agreed to buy an APR on the land for $800,000. That meant a plan was in place to save the land, but the puzzle was not completed: Who would farm the land? Months of negotiations with six different farmers led to a most satisfactory conclusion. The Turner family, tenants on the land for over 50 years, agreed to buy the property subject to the APR. With all the pieces in place, the Council went ahead and bought the land from the heirs. A year later, the state purchased the APR, and shortly thereafter the land was conveyed safely into the good stewardship of Turner Farms.

BNRC Helps Preserve Strawberry Farm Through State’s APR Program

As her mother’s executor, Marianne Leslie felt torn. Along with her two brothers, she was one of three heirs to her family’s farm in Lanesboro. Marianne wanted to see the land stay in farming; her brothers were pressing her to cut the farm up into marketable houselots. The Resources Council helped Marianne apply to the state’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program, agreeing in the process to provide a local match for the state’s investment.

Since its establishment 21 years ago, the Massachusetts APR Program has protected 462 farms in 130 towns across the Commonwealth. Massachusetts has spent $111 million to permanently protect 41,476 acres of farmland, nearly every acre of which remains in production today. But the APR program is falling behind, and many landowners must wait years before their application into the program is acknowledged. As of July 1998, the backlog had reached 130 farms totalling approximately 16,000 acres.

The Council stood by Marianne’s side as she waited for the state’s money to come through, answering questions and acting as a facilitator during the state’s long, sometimes frustrating acquisition process. In December 2000, the story had its happy ending when the state closed on its purchase of the APR. Marianne and her brothers realized their inheritance, and the following July Marianne had the satisfaction of seeing another bumper crop of strawberries ripening on the soils of the old Rhinehart farm.

Gift to BNRC preserves land in Stevens Glen for Public Use

For a decade or two in the early 20th century, Stevens Glen was one of the Berkshires’ premiere sightseeing destinations for the social elite. This wonderful place no longer turns up in society page accounts, but it retains its powerful hold on the imagination, and, as we shall see, is more democratically accessible than it used to be. Stevens Glen is hidden in the heart of the Berkshires, not far from Tanglewood.

In the early 1900s, farmer Romanzo Stevens build a series of rough wooden staircases, ladders and platforms to afford views of his falls to the carriage trade. Tourists from Lenox, Stockbridge, Richmond and Pittsfield came here to visit and picnic, paying Stevens 25 cents a head for the privilege. Mark Twain was among those who signed the guest register. In 1995, Millard and Frederic Pryor, successors in title to Stevens, gave the land to Berkshire Natural Resources Council and the Richmond Land Trust. This great act of generosity reopened Stevens Glen to the public after three-quarters of a century. The final thanks must go to Peter Jensen and Bernard Kirchner of Openspace Management. These fine trail builders are responsible for the trail, the bridges and the viewing platform, all outstanding examples of making wilderness accessible without demolishing it in the process. All this, of course, with the spirit of Romanzo Stevens looking on, perhaps from one of the hemlock trees holding so tenaciously to the rock walls of the glen.

Conservation Restriction Preserves Hospitable Hen Farm in Sheffield

In 1988, Helene Lund placed a conservation restriction on Friendly Flock Farm in Sheffield, a 177-acre tract on which she and her husband had raised sheep for many years. Some 50 acres of this beautiful property are composed of rich bottomland along the Housatonic River as it passes through the Sheffield Plain; the balance of the acreage climbs June Mountain east of Boardman Street. After Mrs. Lund’s death, the land was conveyed to a niece, and then to a young family who raise vegetables and chickens on what is now called Hospitable Hen Farm.