November 2009 GreenSpace Connect Digest
The GreenSpace Connect Digest is a publication of the GreenSpace Alliance that highlights success stories about preserving and connecting open space throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania. To contribute or suggest future stories, please contact us.
List of Stories
Unique Collaboration with Plain-Sect Farms Allows for Preservation of Farmland in ChesCo
Plain-sect farms have long been part of the agricultural foundation of both Lancaster and Chester counties. However, until recently, they have been hesitant to participate in government sponsored programs or work with individuals outside of their order to change land management techniques. Pat Fasano, Manager of the Octoraro Watershed Association (OWA), along with his Amish liaisons, Henry Beiler in Lancaster County and David Fisher in Chester County, have worked diligently to change that by visiting over 250 plain-sect farms to discuss methods to reduce nitrate runoff from farmland into streams. Improving farmers’ land management practices because the water from the Octoraro watershed flows directly into the Chesapeake Bay. According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, agriculture is the number one cause of water quality impairment in the bay and along with other factors has led to a decrease in variety of aquatic life including Maryland’s famed crab and oyster population.
The Octoraro Watershed Association (OWA) is one of the largest groups working with farmers to establish better conservation practices that minimize pollution in the bay. The Association utilizes funding from Pennsylvania’s Resource Enhancement and Protection Act and the federally enacted Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program and is unique in that it targets plain-sect communities. OWA works within a 200 square mile area that covers parts of Lancaster and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania, and Cecil County Maryland. According to Fasano, “seventy-four percent of that land is agriculture and nearly all of the farmers we help are Amish.”
Fasano’s efforts have paid off in other ways as well, with government and privately sponsored land preservation programs beginning to gain acceptance in plain-sect communities throughout Chester County. Officials in Chester County credit a recent increase of plain-sect farmers participating in preservation programs to years of patient grassroots outreach by individuals like Fasano and a recent influx of private money from organizations like the Brandywine Conservancy.
Grant funding from the William Penn Foundation has allowed the Conservancy to target conservation easements to the plain-sect community in Chester County. Since 2007, William Penn funding for this plain-sect initiative has led to seven conservation easements on 380 acres. “They made all of these easements possible,” notes Kevin Anderson, Associate Planner with the Conservancy’s Land Stewardship Program. “More importantly, this effort has lead to greater acceptance and involvement of the Amish in the county’s public program.”
According to Bill Gladden, Director of Chester County's Department of Open Space Preservation “Historically, plain-sect farms have accounted for 6 percent of the preserved farms.” This is roughly 12 farms out of 237 farms preserved or 5 percent. However, that proportion is increasing. In 2008, plain-sect farmers accounted for 33 out of 111.
The Conservancy also works to link plain-sect farmers with consultants who develop conservation plans, a prerequisite to being considered for a conservation easement. Both the William Penn Foundation and the Conservancy feel strongly that engaging the Amish is key to the long term viability of active agriculture in the county.
Fasano pioneered the concept of working with liaisons to make the plain-sect community more comfortable with the idea of selling conservation easements and improving land management practices. The idea was first implemented in Lancaster County in 2001 and started three years ago in Chester County. Fasano explains “Over the years, the concept has been refined and it has proven to be a major breakthrough in improved relationships between the English and their plain-sect counterparts”. The program has proven to be so successful that it was replicated by the Lancaster Conservation District, which now has a full-time Amish liaison on staff.
Fasano points out that Amish farmers only meet with him if they feel that their livelihood is being threatened. Convincing farmers one at a time to embrace change is time consuming, but ultimately invaluable to long-term conservation efforts. “This is sustainability at the grassroots level,” Fasano said. Once the Amish see improvements on their farmland from these new techniques, they will continue to spread the idea through conversations with each other. He credits a lot of his recent success to changing sentiments in the plain sect communities. Fasano feels this is largely due to their bishops’ growing acceptance of receiving money for altering landing management practices and selling conservation easements.
The Resource Enhancement and Protection Act is a state-level program that provides funding for watershed conservation efforts by giving tax credits to farmers who utilize practices that reduce nitrate pollution from manure runoff. Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program is a voluntary program enacted by the federal government that provides cost sharing and technical assistance to land owners who seek to improve fish and wildlife habitat.
 Unfortunately, state and federal funding for these types of initiatives does not address the operating expenses of organizations like the OWA which leads and coordinate outreach efforts. In recent months, almost all of this type of non-restricted funding has disappeared. Fasano continues his outreach efforts with his plain-sect liaisons on a volunteer basis, but it is unclear how long the OWA can continue to operate under these circumstances. He notes, “It is getting extremely difficult to stay viable.”
“Thee are 87 Amish farms in the Octoraro watershed, which spreads across the southwestern border of Chester and into Lancaster County” Fasano said. “Just a couple of years ago, preservation was a hard sell. Now the demand exceeds the supply of preservation funds.”
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Bucks County Preserves Important Farmland in Haycock Township with the Help of State Money
More than 200 acres of farmland were recently preserved in Buck County’s Haycock Township. Agricultural easements were placed on the 86.4 acre Ahlum Farm and the 124.8 acre Isaac Farm. These easements were made possible through the Bucks County Agriculture Land Preservation Program and add two more working farms to its growing list of preserved properties. The easement purchases were made possible by the County, which footed 40 percent and the State which covered the remaining 60 percent of the funding. (apply same changes as above)
Located in the northern end of Bucks County, Haycock Township has almost 50 percent of its land area preserved. The majority of this land is preserved as either state game lands or Lake Nockamixon State Park. Additional land has been preserved through natural and agricultural easements, and as a county park. The Isaac Farm was the first farm in the township to be preserved through the county preservation program. With the addition of these two farms, the amount of preserved acres in Haycock Township is now 6,181 acres. An additional 570 acres have been evaluated for future preservation by the township. Haycock is updating its Open Space Plan so that it will be able to utilize its municipal share of the County Open Space bond.
With the help of state and county funding, the Bucks County Agricultural Land Preservation Program has preserved 134 farms and over 11,400 acres of land. According to Rich Harvey, Director of the Bucks County Agricultural Preservation Program, “Both these farms are located adjacent to each other, making a block of preserved farmland that is over 200 acres.”
The County currently has several additional projects underway locally and is working on creating a large contiguous block of working farmland in Haycock and adjoining Richland Township. Future projects that are in the early stages of approval include Horne and Landis Farms in Haycock Township and Coby and Wukovitz Farms in Richland Township. When these projects are completed, over 350 acres of contiguous agricultural land will be permanently protected in the two townships. “This is some of the richest farmland in the area,” states Harvey. With most of the top grade farmland in both towns now under easement, the Bucks County program is steadily accomplishing its goal of protecting the County’s best farmland.
Bucks County is well known for its Agricultural Land Preservation Program, which has operated since 1989 and is one of the oldest in the state. The program utilizes multiple funding sources with the state typically contributing 50 percent, the county 25 percent, and municipal sources the remaining 25 percent. Multiple funding sources are an important part of farmland preservation as it increases buying power. States and counties that have multi-source funding tend to be better able to pool together money for agriculture easements, and therefore have had more successful preservation programs.
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MontCo Farm Threatened by Development Permanently Protected through Government Collaboration
An 89 acre farm, once owned by a developer who had approval to subdivide the property, has been permanently preserved through a combined effort by the state, county and township. Located in Lower Salford, this marked the third preserved farm in the township. The county contributed 65 percent of the total costs for the conservation easements, with the state contributing 22 percent and the township 12 percent. The protection of this land creates a block of over 300 acres of preserved farmland within close proximity to each other.
Scott Clemens and his wife, Sloane Six, purchased the farm in 2007 and protected it from future development in 2008. The recently preserved farmland, now known as Quarry Hill Farm, is located in a part of Lower Salford that has been actively farmed for generations. Clemens and Sloan have lived on a property adjacent to Quarry Hill Farm for over 10 years and Clemens’ family has farmed in the county for five generations. “We felt it was important to preserve this property in order to keep this part of the township as a farming community,” explains Six.
When purchased, the property was only weeks away from development. Six recalls “Residential bulldozers were at the ready. We decided to purchase the property at the ninth hour.” She emphasizes that “Without the county program, we never would have been able to purchase and preserve this land.”
Scott and Sloan approached Montgomery County about protecting their property in 2007 and based on this contact filed an application to be considered for the county’s farmland preservation program. The program allows property owners to sell development rights to their land. Known as a conservation easement, this places the property into agricultural production for perpetuity. A landowner’s participation in the program is voluntary and based on their own personal goals and objectives. To be considered for an agricultural conservation easement by the county, the property must first be located in an Agriculture Security Area (ASA). 450 active farms currently are within ASAs throughout Montgomery County.
“Each applicant is measured against the same scale and those with the highest ratings are accepted into the program.” states Elizabeth Emlen, Senior Farmland Preservation Administrator for the county, “the program’s acceptance criteria are very fair and straight forward.” The rating system has four major components which are soil suitability, farming potential, development pressure and proximity to other farms. The minimum size to be accepted into the program is 10 acres, but according to Emlen, they typically prefer tracts that are over 35 acres in size. Final acceptance into the program comes from the County’s farm board which consists of five members who represent the county, and farming and development communities.
Quarry Hill Farm achieved the highest ranking among the 47 farms eligible for the program in 2008. Based on this the county, in conjunction with the state and township, agreed to place conservation easements on the property. Six and her husband’s experience with the county’s preservation program was extremely positive. Six states “Elizabeth’s help throughout the whole application process was key. The township as well was great in their support for our farm.”
Another major goal of the program, Emlen explains, is to “provide a resource for farm business. It’s really about keeping farming economically viable in the county.” According to the most recent U.S. Census of Agriculture, farm product in Montgomery County is a $30 million a year industry. In addition to its importance to the local economy, farming can also have an impact on a community’s cost of services. In 2002, Montgomery County Lands Trust published a set of case studies that compared the impact of farmland and residential development on taxpayers. Funds used by townships in the study areas to purchase conservation easements on properties were generally shown to be recovered within five years. Low density residential development in contrast was shown to be a long term tax burden on residents in a community.
Salford Township, along with Lower Salford, Upper Salford, Souderton, Franconia and Telford is part of a multi-municipal planning effort that has created the Indian Valley Regional Comprehensive Plan. Through the plan, these townships are working together to ensure smarter growth in the region and better management of future development while retaining the unique historical, cultural, and natural amenities of the valley. In Franconia, for example, voters overwhelmingly approved an Open Space Earned Income Tax of a quarter of one percent that has secured over $4.4 million for the acquisition of development rights for farmland preservation.
Quarry Hill Farm is part of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s no till program and most crop production is currently being used to support livestock for a local dairy farmer. A barn has recently been constructed and a new grain house is planned. “We are strong believers in organic farming and feel it is important to strengthen local and sustainable farming.” explains Six. To this end, Six and her husband are becoming increasingly involved with a local food co-op and have planted an orchard as well as introduced livestock on the farm.
The protection of this land was made possible by Montgomery County’s Farmland Preservation program. County commissioners allocate money for this program yearly. Additional funding also comes from the state through cigarette taxes, the Growing Greener program, and other sources. Townships can also choose to contribute money to the preservation of property within its own boundaries. The county program began in 1990 and since then has permanently protected 127 farms and 7,934 acres. Long term goals for the program are tied to the county’s 2025 comprehensive plan which aims for the preservation of 225 farms on 17,000 acres.
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