'Not a lot of communities left like this': How Westport Land Trust preserved 5,000 acres

WESTPORT — The meadow grasses sway in the wind on the Westport Land Conservation Trust’s keystone property, the Westport Woods Conservation Park.

The planting of native warm-season grasses has created a spectacular habitat at its peak in July and August with an abundance of birds, bugs and small mammals contributing to a functioning ecosystem.

Executive Director Ross Moran invites the public to enjoy listening to the sound of grasses and watching the birds seek out their prey at 573 Adamsville Road. Birders may see a couple of osprey and bald eagles in the area with the west branch of the Westport River nearby.

“I tell people it’s like an airport here,” he said. “You have to duck because of all the birds going after the bugs in the meadow,” he said.

They’ve also planted well over 100 trees at Westport Woods the last two years specifically focusing on native plants, including some that have more of a southern range to deal with climate change.

At its heart, the Westport Land Conservation Trust is an organization that invites the public to join in preserving farmland, open space and other land in Westport while welcoming new residents and preserving its assets and resources despite tremendous development pressure in southeastern Massachusetts.

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5,000 acres in 50 years

“We have supported the protection of 5,000 acres here in town in a variety of ways, and we own 1,600 acres and about 15 miles of trails,” he said. “This property in and of itself is an example of all that we do. We want people to get out on the land and enjoy it, interact with it.”

“We’re very lucky that Westport is a community that believes deeply in its heritage and has a huge connection to agriculture so a lot of the work that we do preserving farmland is very widely supported here,” he said. “It’s important to everyone and so is open space.”

Moran said its founders represented the many people in town who wanted to preserve its character, working agriculture and beautiful woodlands.

“The sentiment from the time when the Land Trust first started was very much that everybody realized Westport was such a special place,” he said. “There are not a lot of communities left like this that has that active agriculture, miles and miles of stone walls that you can see from the road.”

In the 50 years since its founding in 1972, the leaders and supporters of the nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable corporation have preserved more than 5,000 acres in Westport, and they aren’t done yet.

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New president shares vision

New WLCT President Tina Schmid has been a board member since 2013 and an active member of the organization for many years and shares the fondness many have for Westport whether they are residents, spent summers in town, have a strong family tie or moved to town from developed areas.

Schmid, who has lived in Westport for 50 years and her husband, Rep. Paul Schmid, who has lived in town since he was a teenager, own a farm where they raise grass-fed organic Angus beef cattle along the Westport River. She said it’s an incredibly special farming community near the two branches of the river and the ocean.

While celebrating the past, Schmid looks forward to the future. The dozen or so properties the Conservation Trust owns offer a variety of experiences. The Herb Hadfield Conservation Area consists of 239 acres with hiking trails through the woods along Angeline Brook.

“We’re looking to our history and celebrating the incredible accomplishments including preserving over 5,000 acres, having so many different locations that are also open to the public with over 15 miles of trails, and being really focused on providing the opportunity for people to get outside and appreciate nature and appreciate the open space,” she said.

The focus on programs connecting people to the land will carry on the Land Trust’s legacy.

“We are also now putting together a variety of programs to help connect people to the land through educational programs and activities and events which are on the properties so it’s really all about providing this opportunity for people to enjoy the types of properties the Land Trust has been able to protect and preserve and open for them,” she said.

How farmers work with the Land Trust

Through an agricultural preservation restriction, the Schmids have ensured that their property won’t be developed in the future and will remain a farm. The Land Trust supports farmers who similarly want to protect their land.

A farmer may work with the Land Trust to help with private fundraising while pursuing an agricultural preservation restriction from the Commonwealth to keep the land in agriculture. The Land Trust may also buy the farm and place a similar restriction on it and then resell it to the farmer. A conservation restriction not for agriculture is also a possibility.

The Land Trust started as an all-volunteer organization but is currently run by three full-time employees led by Moran, a bookkeeper and three part-time employees. The first staff member was hired about 20 years ago.

Moran started working for the Land Trust about five years ago after working for the Trustees of Reservations as general manager. He used to partner with the Land Trust and said he enjoys working for it because he thinks Westport is a really special town.

“We’re lucky that it’s one of these places that has agriculture that winds down to the ocean,” he said. “It has spectacular resources and spectacular habitat, and it’s something that people can really enjoy so in some ways Westport is so very well suited for land preservation work. The community believes in it, and there are still tremendous resources left to preserve.”

This year the Land Trust plans to protect Berry Hill Farm by buying the farm, putting a perpetual restriction on it and then selling it to a local farming at a restricted value.

“A lot of local farmers right now they can’t afford to buy at market value on the South Coast so the project not only preserves an important farm parcel but it also provides access to folks who are seeking to grow food locally at a reasonable price for the land,” he said.

St. Vincent De Paul summer camp property

The Conservation Trust acquired the former St. Vincent De Paul summer camp property in 2018 from the Catholic Diocese of Fall River to create the public park. Approximately 100,000 square feet of impermeable surface was removed, including 11 buildings and a swimming pool.

“We wanted to blend the ecological component, meaning a meadow, great forest habitat and wetland habitat, with recreation, so we have open space that is active recreation including a mowed field, picnicking and a children’s garden that also has an accessible path through it,” Moran said.

The new children’s discovery garden provides opportunities for children to connect to the land. He said they worked in partnership with the Disability Commission in town to make it possible for the trails through the woods to be accessible to everyone.

Moran said they hope to inspire the next generation of conservationists to carry on the tradition that started 50 years ago.

Five-year strategic plan

A new five-year strategic plan is in place to guide the Conservation Trust’s pace of preservation, creating a plan for sustainable growth and reaching new heights for connecting people to the land.

“In this 50th year we’re very much celebrating the past and the past accomplishments, but we’re really looking to the future,” Schmid said. “Our objectives going forward are really fourfold, and one of them is to continue to preserve land. There’s land that can be preserved in Westport. It’s a rural town, and we really look forward to preserving land in the future.”

She said they work hard to steward their properties, and stewarding really means taking care of them and making sure they utilize exemplary practices so that they can be open to the public in terms of trails.

“The four pillars of our direction for the future are preserving land, stewarding the land, connecting people to the land and growing the land trust’s resources,” she said.

“We want to do everything that we can to preserve farming in Westport,” she said.

Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Westport Land Conservation Trust 50th anniversary; 5000 acres saved