Land Conservation
ClearWater Conservancy's Land Conservation Program seeks to balance the rapid growth of central Pennsylvania with the conservation of important ecological, cultural, and historic places. We work with landowners and managers to determine appropriate conservation methods, including land management recommendations, conservation easements, and land acquisition.
The Fisher Farm
On
December 28, 2007, Heritage Conservancy of Doylestown, Pennsylvania and
ClearWater Conservancy as co-grantees signed a conservation easement donated by
landowners, Barbara and John Fisher, protecting 197 acres of their scenic and
environmentally important property in Patton Township, Centre County. A
conservation easement is a legal agreement between a private landowner and a
qualified organization, such as a land trust, that protects natural, cultural,
and/or historic resources in perpetuity. A conservation easement allows a
landowner to retain ownership and use of his or her property while limiting
certain uses that may be harmful to the resources being protected.
The Fisher property was given the third highest priority for conservation out of 94 Patton Township properties when Patton Township established the “Patton Township Open Space Plan” in 2004. Factors that made the property rank highly by Patton Township, and recognized by Heritage Conservancy and ClearWater Conservancy, are its exceptional value wetlands, a portion of Buffalo Run (a High Quality Cold-water Fishery stream), its wooded areas, meadows, and scenic quality.
The
cooperative effort between Heritage Conservancy and ClearWater Conservancy to
conserve the Fisher property with a conservation easement is an example of how
two land trusts can combine expertise to work toward a common goal, and this is
the first time that ClearWater has worked with another land trust to co-hold an
easement. Heritage Conservancy took the lead role in completing the easement.
ClearWater Conservancy worked with Heritage Conservancy reviewing documents and
providing assistance to the Fishers. ClearWater is responsible for monitoring
the property, and together the two land trusts will ensure protection of the
conservation values of the property.
Heritage Conservancy and ClearWater Conservancy thank Barbara and John Fisher for providing a generous contribution to an endowment fund that will ensure the capacity of the land trusts to protect the property in perpetuity.
Read our Stories of Land, Water, & People... The Fisher Farm: Protected as a Labor of Love