Tuesday
November 11, 2008

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Scenic Hudson protects two Columbia County farms

STUYVESANT – Scenic Hudson has purchased development rights on two working farms in the Town of Stuyvesant, guaranteeing the combined 470 acres will continue supporting the town’s agriculture-based economy.

The transactions, which restrict future development on the properties, conserve 114 acres of BBTT Farm, owned by Marie Allen and 355 acres on the Robert and Lewis Allen Farm.

The BBTT fields support a heifer and calf operation and contribute to the production of grain, silage and hay — both critical to the success of the farm’s multigenerational 300-cow dairy operation. This is the third conservation easement engaged in by farm’s owner, bringing to 440 acres the lands safeguarded there.

The Robert and Lewis Allen Farm, featuring fields, hedgerows, steep ravines, woods and streams as well as panoramic vistas of the Catskill Mountains. The farm currently produces hay, corn and other crops to support the dairy operation of the adjacent BBTT Farm.

More than 60 percent of both properties are either U.S. Department of Agriculture Prime Farmland or contain Soils of Statewide Significance. Each transaction also safeguards Resource Protection Areas—nonagricultural lands essential to conserving local water quality and wildlife habitats.

Scenic Hudson Land Senior Project Manager Cari Watkins-Bates negotiated the purchases.

Since Scenic Hudson initiated plans to conserve a “critical mass” of working farms in Stuyvesant in 2000, it has protected 3,000 acres encompassing 10 farms. Additional farmland in the town has been preserved by the Columbia Land Conservancy, Open Space Institute and The Nature Conservancy.

“The lands we protected on these two farms are among the largest acreage in Scenic Hudson’s farmland priority areas,” said Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan. “In addition to being mainstays of Stuyvesant’s rural economy, they contribute to Columbia County’s iconic beauty and provide a local source for dairy products. Since the average meal takes 1,200 miles to reach our tables, supporting local farms is one of the best ways we can reduce the impacts of global climate change.”

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