A plea to be wild, scenic

We are fortunate to live in a region that has been recognized for its conservation significance at the federal, state and local levels. The rural character and quality of life that define our sense of home and place would be special to us even without this recognition, but with it we have a chance that many other communities have lost to keep it for generations to come.

There are at least four federal designations that currently apply to the Northwest Corner of Connecticut and beyond. The federal Forest Legacy designation for western Connecticut has brought millions of dollars to private landowners who have wild and working forest lands, and helped protect more than 6,000 acres in Kent, Sharon, Canaan/Falls Village and Norfolk. 

The Federal Highlands Conservation Area that encompasses 26 towns in northwest Connecticut has brought millions more;  helped willing landowners protect more than a thousand acres in Kent, Warren, Cornwall, Canaan/Falls Village and Norfolk; and has attracted matching state funding. 

The Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area (which includes nine towns in northwest Connecticut and more in the Southern Berkshires) has drawn much-deserved attention to the iron heritage of our region, with grants to the Salisbury Association and Sharon Historical Society for interpretive signs.

Federal USDA designation of prime and significant agricultural soils in Sharon, Salisbury, North Canaan and elsewhere has made farmers here eligible for grants from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the state of Connecticut Department of Agriculture that have protected farms and supported sustainable resource management throughout our area.

Each of these federal designations has brought resources to our communities to fairly compensate willing landowners for protecting their properties or to support local initiatives to highlight the rich cultural and ecological heritage of our region. None has resulted in the government taking land, and none of these programs has the statutory authority to do so. 

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The Housatonic River is a resource that defines and links our communities and deserves to be conserved. For many decades, citizen action by groups as varied as the Berkshire Litchfield Environmental Council (BLEC); my own employer, the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA); and appointed members of the Housatonic River Commission (HRC) has helped stave off some of the most urgent threats to our river while demanding accountability for upstream pollution. 

Wild and Scenic designation would help bolster the importance of these locally driven conservation efforts. It is noteworthy that the River Commission, which formed as a local alternative to Wild and Scenic designation when it was first proposed for the Housatonic River in the late 1970s, now fully supports it and has brought it back to our communities for consideration. 

I understand concerns about government overreach, but I do not see how that applies in this case. There is no acquisition funding associated with the proposed Wild and Scenic designation. Public dollars to acquire conservation interest in land are dramatically decreasing at both the state and federal levels. If we want access to what little remains, or even to encourage willing landowners to donate land or easements, the IRS tax code is clear that open space preservation be “pursuant to a clearly delineated federal, state or local government policy.” 

In the competitive world of conservation finance, the more of these policies that can be cited, the better. I worked for four years on a Forest Legacy project in our area that twice failed to rank nationally even though it was near the Appalachian Trail, was offered at a substantial discount, buffered a public drinking water supply area and would have protected 900 acres of highly significant forest land. I do not know whether Wild and Scenic designation would have tipped the balance, but I sure wish I could have included it among the citations for its conservation significance.

Federal designations of conservation significance have been tremendously helpful to our region and have made our own conservation and preservation initiatives more successful. Private landowners and the public at large have benefited, but so too have the natural resources on which we and the plants and animals with which we share this landscape depend. I am glad that my home community of North Canaan has endorsed the Wild and Scenic effort, and hope our neighbors will do the same.

Tim Abbott is program director of Housatonic Valley Association’s Litchfield Hills Greenprint. His blog is at www.greensleeves.typepad.com.