Conservation Landowners

About Conservation Landowners

Wildlands Trust is proud to work with conservation landowners to protect over 90 separate municipal and privately-owned properties comprising over 2,200 acres throughout southeastern Massachusetts.  Conservation landowners are a special group of people committed to preserving the conservation values of their properties for future generations.  Through legal land protection mechanisms such as Conservation Restrictions (CRs), Agricultural Preservation Restrictions (APRs), and Deed Restrictions (DRs), Wildlands Trust is able to ensure the protection of many unique and precious habitats and landscapes. 

CRs, APRs, and DRs limit specified future uses of the land, such as development, but allow you to maintain ownership, management, and the right to sell your land or pass it on to heirs.  This may result in significant local and federal tax benefits.  As a conservation landowner, you are responsible for complying with the specific terms of the restriction as well as all of the local, state, and federal laws that regulate land-use activities in your area. 

Questions?

Wildlands Trust staff is always happy to discuss landowner interests and concerns.  Contact Scott MacFaden, Director of Land Acquisitions, by e-mail at smacfaden@wildlandstrust.org or by phone at 774-343-5121 x107.

Helpful Links for Conservation Landowners

• Invasive Plants of Massachusetts: http://www.massnature.com/Plants/Invasives/invasiveplants.htm

• Natural Resources Conservation Service – Massachusetts: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/ma/home/

• MA Natural Heritage Endangered Species Program: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/natural-heritage/

• Living with Wildlife: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/fish-wildlife-plants/living-with-wildlife.html

• Rare Plant Conservation: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/natural-heritage/species-information-and-conservation/rare-plants/

The Gift That Keeps on Giving . . .

Our new website, aside from being beautifully streamlined and user friendly, also offers the opportunity for you to donate with a recurring automatic gift.  We received many requests from donors and were unable to offer that feature with our old website. 

Now, through Network For Good, users can enter a credit card, choose the amount and frequency of their gift, and a donation will be made to the Wildlands Trust automatically.  Users can change or stop their donation at any time, choosing “edit a recurring donation” in the top right corner of the donation page. 

We are excited to offer this convenience because we know it makes it much easier to budget and who doesn’t love getting fewer appeals in the mail?  A small gift, even $5 or $10, goes a long way in providing a steady stream of funding to protect the land you love.

We would love your feedback on our new donation page.  Please email ddisabel@wildlandstrust.org to let her know what you think.

Thank you for supporting land protection!

CONSTRUCTION IS WELL UNDERWAY

Construction on the new Community Conservation Hall began just a few short weeks ago, and look how quickly it is coming along!  With the opening of this new community center comes the opening of many new and exciting doors for Wildlands Trust and southeastern Massachusetts as a community.  The Hall will provide necessary space for programs, educational workshops, volunteer/community trainings, appreciation events and social gatherings, and much more!

 As we are approaching the final stage of this project please consider making a donation to help create a local community center for conservation.

BEING A GOOD NEIGHBOR

By Karen Grey, Executive Director

Having meaningful and respectful connections to the people we live amongst is something to value these days.  Strong neighborhoods and good neighbor relations add meaning to our lives, evoking a sense of connection, security, and collective shared interests.

Being a good neighbor is an essential quality of a responsible land trust.  With 240 conservation parcels in our portfolio, the Wildlands Trust handles a steady stream of phone calls, emails, and other interactions with many of our neighbors who care deeply about our lands. We rely on them to keep watchful eyes on our properties, report problems, and help us when issues arise;  in return we do our best to be attentive to their concerns.

For the past year, we have been working closely with our neighbors at the Halfway Pond Conservation Area, an important wildlife habitat and passive recreation preserve in Plymouth. Threats to the pond shore habitat require the Trust to adopt new management protocols, which include closing a section of the dirt road that neighbors have historically used as an alternative route. This proposed change is being met with some resistance and raises issues for the neighborhood including the location of new parking areas and restrictions on activities around the pond. Through an open dialogue, we are trying to learn more about their concerns, and as well, they are coming to understanding why the Trust needs to take such measures. The outcome will likely be imperfect for both the Trust and the people who live around the pond, but it will be a solution born of trust, respect, and compromise.

If you live in the vicinity of one of our properties please know we always want to hear your ideas and concerns.

WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON NOW

Here at Wildlands, we take pride in our public trails and want hikers and trail users to know all about what a preserve has to offer.  As such, we have updated several of our kiosks with new maps and interpretive materials, making it easier to find which trails to take and to know what wildlife to watch out for.  Be sure to check them out!