Rochester Land Trust’s first Conservation Restriction

January 2006

The Rochester Land Trust began talking with Maureen and Steve Sperry several years ago about a Conservation Restriction (CR) on their forest.  Norene Hartley (one of the founders of the Rochester Land Trust) and the Acquisitions Committee walked the land with the Sperry’s along well-maintained trails, got our feet wet, and found what we thought to be a vernal pool.  The Sperry's have been there more than 25 years managing the woodlot for fire wood to heat their house and cutting timber and sawing boards to build the house, the chicken coop, the garden shed, and the mill.  Steve also cut the timber and sawed the lumber for a cabin they built in Maine.  Isn't it nice to think that there is Rochester white pine carefully assembled in a Maine forest?  Most lumber travels in the other direction.  Their love of the land lead them to wanting to preserve it "in perpetuity", as we say. 

All land conservation projects require collaboration among the property owners, the town, and the land conservation organizations -- and getting them all aligned is part of the fun.  We were fortunate to have Laurell Farinon, Rochester's Conservation agent, pursue a grant from the Buzzards Bay project to cover the cost of the land survey.  This all happened while the Commonwealth had an active program to identify and register vernal pools -- also coordinated by Laurell.  With the completed survey, registered vernal pool, and information from the Sperry's on wildlife, birds, vegetation, we started drafting a CR. 

RLT had just completed collaborating on the Rounseville Homestead CR (held by Wildlands Trust and the town) with Allen Decker and Mark Rasmussen from the Coalition for Buzzards Bay. Using that as a model and information from the Sperry's on what they envisioned for the future of their woodlot, our all-volunteer organization started drafting. Once we had the final draft, the work fell on the Sperry's -- not only to confirm that the document reflected what they wanted, but also to wade through some of the strange language that appears in all these documents... "Estoppel certificates" and "severability" became new vocabulary words whose usefulness may be limited to cross word puzzles.

Once approved by the Sperry's, Allen Decker stepped back in, acting as our "staff" to assemble all the supporting documents and sheparding the CR through the town board approval process with all the signatures and notarizations.  Most important, he made certain that the Commonwealth knew what we were doing and when we expected to finish.

In late December, everything was approved, and the 13.5-acre CR was registered with the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds. Thanks to the Sperry’s and to all the folks who helped preserve another piece of Rochester.

Susan Peterson, Clerk of RLT