Us Volunteer Opportunities Easement Donation Safeguards Important Agricultural Land and Globally Rare Plant Richard and Barbara Ketchum have donated a conservation easement on their Saddleback Farm in Dorset to The Nature Conservancy. The conservation easement, encompassing almost 88 acres of their 96-acre farm, will restrict development, conserve 76 acres of important agricultural and forest land, protect a regionally important wetland containing a globally rare plant, and safeguard a third of a mile of river frontage on the Mettowee.
Conservation easements are an important and effective conservation tool.
They allow the landowner and organizations like The Nature Conservancy to protect ecologically important lands while providing tax benefits to the landowner. Easements can also reduce estate taxes, helping to keep property within the family, stated Robert Klein, executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Vermont. We are grateful to the Ketchums for donating this easement to protect one of the state s only globally rare plants. The land, with its undulating terraces left by the glaciers, is striking and quite beautiful, with views of Dorset Mountain to the north as well as southwesterly views of Mother Myrick Mountain. The Nature Conservancy has taken the lead in protecting fens throughout Vermont.