Q&A: Taking the long view

Q. What challenges were on your mind during VLT’s early years, and what feels relevant today?

Darby: Fifty years ago, most land conservation involved acquiring land outright for state ownership or as nature preserves. VLT was interested in conserving working lands — both farmland and forest land under active management. Easements are a more appropriate tool for this because the people who work the land remain the owners. After all, they are not only making a major financial commitment, but devoting part of their lives to the land. 

The problem we faced was that very few people in Vermont knew what a land trust was or how a conservation easement worked. For a new organization with virtually no track record, it took a long time to build landowners’ trust and confidence. Eventually, we were able to do this. 

Rick Carbin, VLT’s founder and my predecessor, believed that land conservation, housing, and economic development are all important in helping communities maintain and build vitality. In seeing the three objectives as parts of a whole, Rick was a true visionary. It was one of the reasons we focused on working lands that support our rural economy. This vision really started to flower with the creation of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB) in 1987. 

Q. What do you see as the accomplishments of the land conservation movement in Vermont? 

Darby: The creation of VHCB was one of our biggest accomplishments. In 1986, land conservation organizations formed a coalition with those working on affordable housing and historic preservation. It was an unusual idea, because at one level housing consumes open space and open space precludes housing. But they come together when we think about what makes communities strong and vibrant. 

Seeing them as parts of a whole caught the imagination of Governors Madeleine Kunin and Howard Dean and the Vermont Legislature. Almost 40 years later, VHCB has worked with its nonprofit partners to build and maintain over 16,000 units of permanently affordable housing and protect more than 450,000 acres of land. It is still going strong. 

Land conservation has really become part of the land use landscape in Vermont. In the beginning, land trusts were a tiny blip: a few hundred acres conserved here, a few more over there. That is no longer the case. With the help of many partners, VLT has now protected over 11% of Vermont.  

Finally, I am struck by how often people come together to save land. When you take on a project like Bluffside Farm in Newport, the Bolton Valley backcountry, Mt. Equinox in Manchester, or Hogback Mountain in Marlboro, there is a lot of public involvement. People collaborate who may not have worked together before, and that can create a new dynamic for the future. Communities feel a sense of ownership and pride. It can be time-consuming, but it is wonderful work. 

Q. What social and economic challenges can land trusts help solve? What role do you see conservation playing in the future? 

Darby: People still need food, wood fiber, and clean water, they still value wildlife and natural areas, and they want places for solitude and recreation. But we also need housing and economic development. We must be thoughtful about what lands to conserve, and what lands may be better suited for other public needs. And we need the input of local communities in these decisions. 

Land trusts play other roles as well. For the past 25 years, VLT has maintained a farmland access program to enable young farmers, who would otherwise be shut out of the land market, to become owners of farmland. With VHCB’s support, we are helping keep conserved farms available and, in many cases, more affordable for future farmers. We have helped other organizations acquire land to provide access to disadvantaged children or new immigrants, like at Pine Island Farm in Colchester. And we have helped communities acquire land for public recreation, town forests, and similar needs. 

Looking ahead, I feel great confidence about the leadership of this organization. I am a great fan of Tracy Zschau, VLT’s current President. I remember when she started working with Carl Powden in Peacham in 1998. It was only a few years later that my wife Liisa and I said to each other: “Tracy should lead this organization someday.” 

Q. Among the many conservation projects, are there ones that stand out? 

Darby: There are many, and it’s often the “people” side of a project that pulls on the heart strings. One is the Kempton Farm in Peacham that VLT and VHCB conserved in 1990 and have watched as the ownership has moved through the generations. Conservation occurs at a moment in time, but it’s only over a long period of time that you begin to see the secondary and tertiary impacts of what we did. The land may stay the same, but the human story changes, with both its joys and grief. 

Spring Brook Farm in Reading runs a program that brings 8- to 12-year-olds from large cities to experience life on a working farm. Well over 10,000 children have gone through that program in the past 30 years. For some it has been life-changing. Spring Brook also makes a world-class Tarentaise cheese, supports two other farms that provide milk, and is one of Reading’s largest employers. 

The iconic Mettowee Valley in southwestern Vermont [pictured at the top of this page], with sixteen conserved parcels supporting eight independent farm businesses along Route 30, is a legacy of and a tribute to the farm families who valued the farming heritage of their valley.

And finally, there are the former Champion lands in the Northeast Kingdom.* Had we not been successful when they came on the market in the late 1990s, those 132,000 acres would probably now be private preserves shut off from local communities, as are large parts of the Adirondacks in New York. Instead, they are permanently protected for wildlife, public recreational use, and to a great extent for timber harvesting with appropriate guidelines. A way of life has been preserved. 

Footnote

*The Conservation Fund took the lead in this effort involving 330,000 acres across three states. VLT, Governor Howard Dean, Vermont Legislature, Freeman Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, VHCB, and many others assisted in protecting the Vermont lands. Twenty-six thousand acres became a federal national wildlife refuge (pictured above), 22,000 acres became Vermont’s West Mountain Wildlife Management Area, and 84,000 acres were returned to private ownership, protected by a conservation easement with guarantees for continued public recreational access. 

Photo of Darby Bradley by A. Blake Gardner