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RoyalIndependence500 t1_j03ea8o wrote

How about contacting Vermont Land Trust, the Conservation Fund or Trust for Public Land and seeing if the town can work with them to create a community forest? This has happened a lot in Vermont!

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Dingo_2323 t1_j06lr27 wrote

A similar thing happened in CT. Deer Lake Scout Reservation, a 300 acre site was saved. The Community, a non-profit and the government, negotiated to buy and preserve 250 acres, leaving the remaining 50 acres to be developed sensibly. Might be worth looking into how they accomplished that.

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RoyalIndependence500 t1_j07calq wrote

Here in Vermont the Town would have to agree to buy the land after it was appraised. VLT or another land trust would agree to help fund the acquisition of the land for the town and they would get a conservation easement that would protect the property in perpetuity, even if the Town one day decided to sell the land, it would never be developed. The land trust may ask the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board to fund part of the cost as well, and they would co-own the conservation easement. This all takes time, but it is how dozens of town forests have been established in this state and the process is very well established. It would surprise me if this hasn’t been looked into at this point.

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