Please join us at the NRTB’s 2nd Annual Family Picnic for Family and Friends on Sunday, August 29th.
Call for details.

Growing from the Grassroots
Our land trust continues to focus on establishing the NRTB as a community-based grassroots group intent on preserving conservation land. We are autonomous from town government, but work in harmony with local leaders to ensure thoughtful and intelligent land use planning for open spaces. Our initial efforts have been aimed at increasing public awareness of the importance of open space – for the economic well-being of Bridgewater as well as for the quality of life that makes Bridgewater so special. Ultimately, our goal is to develop a strong base of understanding in the community and widespread support for balancing growth and development with planned natural resource stewardship.
Our 2nd Annual Family Picnic for Members and Friends will take place on Sunday August 29th. A big thanks to Carrie and Paul Silvia, Leslie and Mark Goldberg and Kim and David Sbabo for putting together this major event! Please join us and bring your friends.

If you would like to invite your neighbors into your home for a Coffee Hour and have the NRTB Outreach Team present an informal talk on environmental and open space issues, please contact James Hayes-Bohanan at 697-7317.

Remember, our land trust’s success depends on your involvement; we are what you make us. Thank you for participating to ensure the permanent protection of open space in Bridgewater.

Kitty Doherty, President

Town Park Design Project
On 1st June, a student team from the Conway School of Landscape Design (CSLD) delighted NRTB board members and interested citizens with a presentation of their plans for a comprehensive park system for the town of Bridgewater. Three graduate students in the masters degree program have been working since April on this project.

The NRTB, represented by Diana Draheim, facilitated the study for the town’s Open Space Committee. The NRTB funded the CSLD work by obtaining a $4,000 grant from the Boston Foundation’s Fund for Preservation of Wildlife and Natural Areas.

The focus of their study was four town-owned parcels with public park potential – Iron Works at Stanley, Tuckerwood, Titicut and Carver’s Pond. The team explored the similarities of the existing sites and also noted their unique qualities. The plans devised for each are intended to showcase the unique qualities while serving as models for sites with similar qualities. Thus their documents provide very useful tools as the town develops management plans for existing conservation land as well as for sites acquired in the future.

Each site has now been accurately mapped and described, including topography, vegetation density, and soil and wetland analysis. Each site plan also includes layouts and plans for parking, trail design, boardwalk construction, and seating as well as informational kiosks and signs for the sites, which will give the whole ‘park system’ a unified appearance.

The board of directors will present these park design recommendations to the Selectmen this summer for community use, as the conceptual park system becomes a reality.

NRTB Committee Updates
Fundraising Success! The NRTB has netted $400 from the sale of the Sprint phone system donated to us as a fundraiser by South Shore Mill Working! This money will be added to our Land Preservation Fund. Thank you to the people at South Shore and to our fundraising committee, Peter Colombotos, Kathy Papineau, Susan Hannigan and Carol Chaffee for persistence in making this fund grow.

The fundraising committee has also placed NRTB brochures and coin jars at checkout counters around town to raise visibility of the NRTB and attract new members and donations.

There are still a few of local wildlife artist Tom Lowell’s print, Dawn’s Early Light, for sale. Please call the committee at 508/697-7317 to be part of the land trust’s conservation effort.

PR & Outreach
The Public Relations and Outreach Committee is pleased to have the active participation of Betty Gilson as the Board of Directors' new liaison to the committee. The committee has prepared reprints of articles on the economics of open space for use in neighborhood "coffee hour" sessions and is currently working in cooperation with stewardship groups to prepare materials about each of the properties in the Conway School project. Bridgewater State College continues to host the NRTB web site, to which the committee has been adding informative pages, including the slide show presented by Christopher Modisette of the Southern New England Forest Consortium, Inc. (SNEFCI) at the college on June 9. If you heard Mr. Modisette's presentation but could not take notes fast enough, visit the "Links" section for all the facts and figures. The NRTB web site is easy to remember -- WWW.NRTB.ORG -- and includes a printable membership form.

Membership Continues to Grow
Twenty-five new members have joined the NRTB in 1999, raising our total to nearly eighty supporting members. Renewals of our 1998 charter members are also coming in. When you get your renewal reminder postcard in the mail, please send it back promptly to continue supporting the NRTB.

NRTB’s Mission
The Natural Resources Trust of Bridgewater shall work to acquire and preserve the natural resources and wildlife in the Town of Bridgewater and abutting communities. We shall strive to maintain the rural character and charm of the towns, protect the river corridor and wetland areas, preserve open space and wildlife habitat, and provide for recreational areas. The Trust will operate in harmony with each town’s Open Space and Recreation Plan.

If you would like to support the NRTB’s achievement of its mission, print out and return a membership form or contact NRTB at 697-7317 to find out about volunteer opportunities. If you are already a member, consider inviting a friend to join!

NRTB Board of Directors
The 1999-2000 NRTB Board of Directors includes:
Carol Chaffee, Peter Dangoia, Kitty Doherty, Betty Gilson, Kyle Hamilton, Anna James, Peter Lehtola

The Nominating Committee is seeking motivated people to fill open slots on the board. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Linda Tokson at 697-7317.

Are we being "sprawled?"
"Sprawl" is generally defined as low-density development on the edges of cities and towns; poorly-planned, land consumptive, automobile-dependent, and designed without regard to its surroundings. Sprawl is widely blamed for contributing to dirty air, contaminated ground water, congested roads, expensive housing, noisy surroundings, isolated shopping areas, loss of recreational areas, crowded schools, declining open space, the loss of downtown communities, and a missing sense of place.

Consequences of sprawl can be quite damaging and virtually impossible to reverse. In Bridgewater and all over southeastern Massachusetts, the symptoms of sprawl are growing more evident every day. More land has been developed in southeastern Massachusetts in the last 40 years than in the previous 330 years, stretching back to the date the Pilgrims landed in 1620. Will we be able to recapture the essence of our community if sprawl is allowed to continue unchecked?

One group taking up the fight against sprawl is the Citizens for Responsible Growth, a new grassroots group that meets most Sunday nights at the Polish Club on Spring Street in Bridgewater. With energized optimism and a serious campaign aimed at bringing planning and management to our community’s growth, this organization is striving to have a mandate for a review of the town’s Master Plan on the fall Town Meeting warrant. If you would like more information about CRG, contact Ellen Sasson, Chair of the CRG.

Legislative Update
Bills pending on Beacon Hill which bear directly on Bridgewater and on individuals’ ability to protect their land for conservation purposes:

North Hay Fields (H.4081) – This bill would convey 39 acres, including the Flagg Street soccer fields, Rainbow's End, and additional property for athletic fields, from the state Department of Corrections to the Town of Bridgewater for recreational purposes.
Conservation Restriction & Agricultural Preservation Restriction Acts Amendments (H.3118) – Strengthens the effect of conservation restrictions (CRs) and allows non-profit organizations to hold agricultural CRs. Currently in House Ways & Means Committee.
Community Preservation Act (S. 1513) – Enables communities to establish Land Banks for the purchase of conservation lands.
Revisions to Current Use Tax Statutes (S. 1511) – Clarifies municipalities’ right of first refusal option to meet a developer’s price for productive forestry, agricultural or open space land.
State Income Tax Credit for Conservation (S. 1626, H. 2079, H. 1295) – Allows a donor of conservation land or CRs to take a tax credit for 50% of the value of the donation, up to $50,000.
For more information, contact The Trustees of Reservations at (978) 921-1944 or www.thetrustees.org; or call State Representative Dave Flynn at (617) 722-2140 or State Senator Mark Pacheco at (617) 722-1551.
Conservation Options for Private Landowners

(reprinted with permission from the Land Trust Alliance)

Editor’s note: This is the first feature describing some options for protecting your land. For more information, contact the NRTB or your own legal and financial advisors.

Conservation Easement Leaves land in private ownership.
Can result in an income tax deduction and reduced property and estate taxes.

A conservation easement (or "conservation restriction") is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. It allows you to continue to own and use your land and to sell it or pass it on to heirs.

When you donate a conservation easement to a land trust, you permanently give up some of the rights associated with the land. For example, you might give up the right to build additional residences, while retaining the right to grow crops. Future owners also will be bound by the easement’s terms, and the land trust is responsible for making sure the easement’s terms are followed.

Conservation easements are flexible land protection tools. An easement on land containing rare wildlife habitat might prohibit any development, for example, while one on a farm might allow continued farming and the building of additional agricultural structures. An easement can allow appropriate development and even permit some commercial use of the land. It may apply to just a portion of the property, and need not require public access. In short, and easement must protect the land’s conservation values, but it can also be fashioned to meet the financial and personal needs of the landowner.

A conservation easement donation that meets federal tax code requirements – in essence, that provides public benefit by permanently protecting important conservation resources – can qualify as a tax-deductible charitable donation. For income tax purposes, the value of the donation is the difference between the land’s value with the easement and its value without the easement.

Placing an easement on your property may also result in property tax savings.

Perhaps most important, a conservation easement can be essential for passing land on to the next generation. By removing the land’s development potential, the easement lowers its market value, which in turn lowers estate tax. Whether the easement is donated during life or by will, it can make a critical difference in the heirs’ ability to keep the land intact.

In the next issue: Land Donation and Bargain Sale of Land

If you have suggestions for articles in future editions of The Trust, please contact Pete Fuller at 697-7317.