Conservation groups preserve Middlesex Twp. land area
A 120-acre plot of land in Middlesex Township will be preserved for conservation use as a result of the collaboration between Glade Run Lake Conservancy and the Allegheny Land Trust.
Glade Run Lake Conservancy worked with the trust and longtime Middlesex Township landowner Joan Goswell to set up a conservation easement on a tract of land at the headwaters of Glade Run Lake.
“This is the first time that the Glade Run Lake Conservancy has done any sort of conservation easement,” said conservancy board of directors member Amy Jewitt. “It's really exciting for us to have this opportunity.”
In a statement, Chris Beichner, president and CEO of the trust, said that he was “extremely excited” to be working with the conservancy and the local community to preserve land around the lake.
“Conserving this land preserves the rural character and scenic beauty of the community and is essential to ensuring that the excellent water quality of the lake is maintained forever.”
“It is very satisfying to know that my land will contribute to the health of our lake and to the rural character of our community long after I am gone,” Goswell wrote. “I hope my conservation easement will encourage others to conserve their lands too. If we let our land be gobbled up by housing developments, then it will all be gone forever — and our lake and our community could never be the same.”
Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements between easement holders and landowners that permanently limit future development on an area of land. The landowner retains ownership and usage rights as specified in the easement.In this case, landowner Goswell will continue to own, live on and enjoy her property as she has for much of her life, and her land will be preserved in its natural state as woodlands and meadows for the future.“The word 'forever' is pretty crucial, and for some landowners that doesn't make sense for them, and for some others that is what they want,” said Lindsay Dill, marketing communications director with the Allegheny Land Trust. “It ensures that landowners today and in the future are making conservation-minded decisions for that easement.”If Goswell sells her land, the easement will continue along with the property.
Dill said the partnership with Glade Run Lake Conservancy was a unique aspect of the project.“It's outside of most of our coverage area, but fully in line with our mission,” she said. “They saw that we had that land trust tool belt and could do the work of buying and easing land, so rather than recreate the wheel, they said, 'How can we partner?'”Siggy Pehel, president of the conservancy, said the process to set up the easement has been in the works for about a year.“You have to get surveys and appraisals, and do your due diligence and get everything lined up,” he said.Pehel said the conservancy is trying to educate residents about methods of ensuring their land will be protected in the future.“If people own farmland and want to protect it in perpetuity, there are mechanisms available to them, and one is a conservation easement,” he said. “You can either donate it in entirety or donate part of it, and that helps with tax purposes either way.”Through reaching out to community members about conservation easements and farm preservation, the conservancy hopes to better protect Glade Run Lake, he said.“This is the first big keystone piece that we've been able to do. We've got one under our belt,” Pehel said. “It's about going out and talking to people, and telling them that there's more ways you can utilize your property and gain something back from it too.”
