Conservation group has secured an additional 55 acres in this Bucks County township
Now protected by a conservation easement, the entirely wooded 55-acre Staff property is part of the 175-acre Kirkland Farm, where 120 acres were preserved last year through a Bucks County agricultural easement.
"The Staff property and adjacent farm have a big 'footprint' in Springfield Township, and the easement assures that the property and its natural resources remain intact," Heritage Conservancy CEO and President Bill Kunze said in an email. "The land can never be developed."
The newly protected land is "located within the ecologically important Cooks Creek Conservation Landscape and Watershed, an area vital for local wildlife habitat," Kunze added. "It has an 'exceptional value stream' that is a tributary to Cooks Creek."
A conservation easement is a voluntary, legally binding agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits the use of the land to protect its conservation values such as open space, natural habitats or historical features.
To ensure compliance with these conservation easements, Heritage Conservancy staff monitor their protected properties across the region to ensure the land is being preserved appropriately.
Over the last 67 years, the organization's members have protected more than 17,000 acres of land across Bucks, Montgomery and Northampton counties. They're on track to preserve an additional 600 acres by the end of the year, Kunze said.
"Bucks County is known nationally for its bucolic views, rolling farmland, and forests," he added.
"Our work protects the natural beauty that makes this place special. Beyond the preservation of natural beauty, projects like this have a deeper impact on the local environment, protecting and attracting local wildlife, contributing to clean air and water in the community, and helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change."
Lacey Latch is the development reporter for the Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer. She can be reached at LLatch@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Heritage Conservancy obtains easement near Crooks Creek
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