Alice Wright Conserves Family Land

In a cooperative effort with Vermont Land Trust and Middlebury Area Land Trust, Alice Wright conserved 87 acres along Cady Road in Middlebury.  The land has been in the family since the 1960’s and is currently farmed by the Foster Brothers dairy farm.  It has 77 acres of tillable soil and is next to the former Elmer farm that was conserved last year.  Alice will continue to own and rent the land and the conservation easement prohibits any further subdivision or residential and commercial development.

Alice remarked, “I’m glad this finally happened.  I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and the wait was worth it.  It’s a good feeling knowing this land will remain available for agriculture.  I hope my neighbors consider conserving their land too.  It is important to protect good farmland.  It is a vanishing resource and this area is developing very fast.  I also support affordable housing and I’m working with a local housing group to possibly build a couple of affordable homes on a small parcel on Route 116 that is not conserved.”

Funding for the purchase of the conservation easement was provided by the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and the Town of Middlebury Conservation Fund.  Fred Dunnington, the Middlebury Town Planner said, “This project is an excellent fit for our conservation fund.  Our small contribution of $5,000 helped leverage the VHCB grant and conserving this stretch of good farmland coincides well with our Town Plan.”

Alice also granted MALT a right of first refusal for a separate 3 acre parcel that overlooks the property.  If and when Alice decides to sell the land, MALT will have first option to buy it.  If they’re able to buy it, MALT plans to create a town park and possibly a connector trail to the Trail Around Middlebury.

Robin Scheu, MALT’s interim Executive Director, said, “Although there’s no public access as part of this project, we‘re always planning for the future and working with willing landowners to expand the trail network.   Gioia Kuss, our previous Executive Director, worked with Alice for many years to conserve her land.  We are very appreciative of Gioia’s determination and good rapport with landowners; she laid the groundwork for many future conservation projects“.

Allen Karnatz, VLT’s Champlain Valley Co-Director, commented, “These large meadows are easy to farm and important for dairy farms like the Foster Brothers.   Conserving abutting properties and creating blocks of protected farmland is also important, it helps maintain a critical mass of unfragmented land that dairy farmers depend on. “

For more information contact: Allen Karnatz - Vermont Land Trust Champlain Valley Co-Director 802 434-3079 allen@vlt.org or Elise Annes, Vice President for Community Relations 802 223-5234 or elise@vlt.org

Vermont Land Trust (VLT) is a member-supported, non-profit land conservation organization operating five offices throughout the state.  For more information see their web site: www.vlt.org.

Photos by Gioia Kuss