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Campaign to Save Echodale Farm (MA)

Photo: Joel Walz

Agriculture has historically been an important part of Easthampton's economy, yet farms in the area are increasingly threatened with residential development. Like many towns in Massachusetts's Connecticut River Valley, Easthampton has recently seen a dramatic jump in housing starts with approximately 300 building permits granted in the last two years. Echodale Farm, the largest farm in Easthampton, is a jewel in the center of Park Hill.

Efforts are currently underway to protect the Farm from development, taking advantage of a rare opportunity to:

• Protect Easthampton's unique community character by preserving an historic working farm;
• Maintain the beauty and ecological richness of a rare property whose fields, forests and stream corridor provide habitat for wildlife and native plants;
• Build on—and connect to—lands already protected on Park Hill, forever protecting this unique landscape from incompatible residential development
• Create opportunities for public enjoyment of the property through the development of recreational trails that could connect Easthampton with Northampton.

The Challenge: Protecting Heritage and Habitat

With its dramatic views of Mt. Tom and its historic agricultural value, Park Hill has long been identified as one of Easthampton's most important landscapes. Echodale Farm's federal-style farmhouse was built in 1804 by Daniel Lyman, the first of the Lyman family to settle on Park Hill. Historic records indicate that Echodale Farm was part of an important public hunting ground in colonial times. Today the Farm is leased to a local farmer who grows field corn, hay, soy beans, and winter rye on its 86 acres of tillable soil. These crops support several dairy farms as well as small horse and sheep farms in the area that do not have sufficient land available to grow feed for their animals.

If successful, this project will not only result in the protection of Easthampton's largest farm, it will protect more than 100 acres (roughly 75% of the property) designated by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program as BioMap Core Habitat. That protection will provide linkage to more than 550 acres of protected land surrounding the Farm, including a significant stream corridor along Bassett Brook that provides habitat for wildlife, as well as threatened and endangered insects and plants. The area is rich with fields and forests that support grassland and migratory birds.

In recent years, Pascommuck Conservation Trust has helped protect two farms adjacent to Echodale Farm through Agricultural Preservation Restrictions (see attached map). Protecting Echodale Farm would build on that success, and provide public access to this scenic protected area.

Working Together: Public Support, Partnerships, and Funding

There is widespread support in the City to protect Echodale Farm. Pascommuck ConservationTrust (PCT) approached The Trust for Public Land (TPL) to help protect this critical property after the City of Easthampton was notified of the owner's intent to sell. TPL agreed to seek to purchase Echodale Farm for $2.85 million to prevent a sale for development—and to create an opportunity for its long-term protection. The goal of the project is to protect the property's agricultural and natural values through an Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) and conservation land purchase by the City. Once permanently protected, the farm will be sold to a private buyer for continued agricultural use.

TPL, PCT and the City of Easthampton are working in partnership to assemble public and private funds for the City's purchase of the property. To date, $1.5 million—nearly half of the total project cost of $3.15 million—has been committed to protect this unique landscape. In December 2005, Easthampton City Council voted to dedicate up to $650,000 in Community Preservation Act funds toward the purchase, and TPL has secured $800,000 in private contributions in support of the project. Additional public funds will be sought from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's Agricultural Preservation Restriction and Self- Help Programs.

In order to bring this critical project to completion, TPL, PCT and local residents have launched a campaign to raise $300,000 in private funds from individuals, businesses, and foundations by the end of November 2006. Together these contributions will comprise a critical ten percent of the total funding needed to make this project a success. Please join your friends and neighbors in making the protection of Echodale Farm part of your legacy by contributing generously to the campaign.

To help save the largest farm in the City, and to give generations to come the opportunity to enjoy this land forever, please contact:

Katherine Cooper
The Trust for Public Land
(617)894-3000
katherine.cooper@tpl.org

Posted 8/2006