ROCKINGHAM — Malcolm Guild of Rockingham recently donated a conservation easement on 113 acres of forested and open land to the Vermont Land Trust, a member-supported land conservation organization.
The property is primarily wooded, and Guild manages the land for timber. The property includes approximately 10 acres of open pastureland and six acres of wetlands. Guild's son, Thad, raises a small beef herd on the protected property.
The conservation easement is a legal tool limiting development on the land. Landowners continue to own, manage, and pay taxes on such property, and are free to sell it; however, the conservation easement would apply to future owners as well.
According to the Vermont Land Trust's website, www.vlt.org, the group since 1977 has permanently conserved more than 1,650 parcels of land covering more than 500,000 acres, or about eight percent of the private, undeveloped land in the state. The conserved land includes more than 700 working farms, hundreds of thousands of acres of productive forestland, and numerous parcels of community land.
This latest donation is near similarly protected forestland on Atcherson Hollow Road.
Guild, a Rutland native, said he has always lived in southern Vermont. He worked for most of his career at the Fellows Corporation, a machine tool manufacturer.
It was in 1965 that Malcolm and his late wife, Mary, purchased their house and land in the village of Cambridgeport because they wanted to live in a rural area. Over the years, they raised six children there and acquired two more forested parcels.
“I've watched Vermont develop and, in some places, become overdeveloped,” said Guild. “This conservation easement is my way of giving a little bit back to Vermont.”
According to VLT spokesperson Joan Weir, Guild's generosity ensures that future generations will be able to enjoy this land as previous generations have.
“So much of the land we protect is through the donation of conservation easements by landowners who have a deep family connection with their property,” she said.