Making (Her)story

On Friday May 18th NorthWoods board member Lydia Spitzer left her signature on a Vermont Land Trust map- and in the process single-handedly conserved 1,342 acres of Northeast Kingdom forest land forever. This event marked the largest easement ever established by the Vermont Land Trust through a donation from a single individual.

A long-time supporter of NorthWoods, Lydia purchased the bulk of this acreage in 1992, only a few years after a liquidation logging operation had reduced large swaths of the forest to raspberry bushes. From the outset she respected the multi-generation ties that neighboring families had with her land, welcoming continued access and recreational use and maintaining regular correspondence with these families. A few years later Lydia joined the NorthWoods board, offering the use of her land for educational programs, forest research, and demonstration forestry. The Center's Conservation Science program grew out of this work and now benefits from nine years of monitoring data gathered in the forests and wetlands of the property. Our Land Management program manages the site, using ecological forestry principles and following a 10-year stewardship plan completed in 2006. In this way the property has transitioned in little over a decade from an example of abusive land use to a valuable community resource and educational model for other landowners. Lydia has also pledged to donate the property to NorthWoods, further increasing its value as a resource for our programs.

With 1,800 feet of shoreline on Echo Lake and over 2,000 feet of road frontage, the property has presented an increasingly attractive target for subdivision and development - promising a sizeable short-term profit in the process. When asked why she chose instead to donate the development rights, Lydia responded succintly; "...there seemed like a lot more reasons to do it than not to." She further explained, "Land conservation is beneficial for not only human, but also plant and animal communities. The Iroquois based their policy decisions on this declaration: ‘In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.’ Like the Iroquois, I strongly agree that we need to think of future generations when we make decisions about our land."

This easement adds to recent conservation of several surrounding parcels, resulting in over 2,500 acres of conserved land. The resulting protection prevents fragmentation or development of the lands, while supporting continued sustainable forestry, agricultural, and recreational use. Thank you Lydia and may we all draw inspiration and hope from your generosity!

Photo: A scene from the easement signing event (Lydia Spitzer third from left).