$1.2 million awarded for conservation projects

Several conservation projects in the county will be able to move forward thanks to $1.2 million in grants recently awarded by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Two of the biggest winners in the state�s latest round of funding is a project involving the protection of serpentine barrens near Unionville and a farm in the Pigeon Run greenway in Charlestown.

The French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust received $500,000 toward purchasing a conservation easment on the Desfor Farm near Yellow Springs Road and Merlin Road.

The county has already granted the trust $426,000 toward the 46-acre farm.

�The landowners are absolutely thrilled with the support of the county, state and township,� said Pam Brown, conservation director at the trust, in an interview Wednesday. �It�s a beautiful piece of land. We�ll get trails and a scenic viewshed.�

The farm was identified by the trust as an important property in the protection of Pigeon Run, a tributary of Pickering Creek that feeds Pickering Reservoir, a drinking water supply owned by Aqua Pennsylvania.

The owners of Desfor Farm are donating the difference between the development rights, which are well over $1 million, said Brown, and the $926,000 they are receiving for the conservation easement. A conservation easement is also known as the development rights because once the easement is granted, the property can never be developed. The value of a property with a conservation easement is considerably less than what the property is worth without an easement. The easement is a permanent covenant on the land regardless if it is sold in the future.

Natural Lands Trust also received a $500,000 grant toward the purchase of the Unionville Barrens, an area in Newlin with outcroppings of serpentine rock. The deal that is still being negotiated, said Peter Williamson, vice president of conservation services at Natural Lands Trust, would add 261 acres to ChesLen. ChesLen is the county�s and the trust�s latest preserve � 1,068 acres. It was formed from county lands and property donated by Philadelphia philanthropist H.F. �Gerry� Lenfest. Lenfest also donated an endowment to maintain the preserve.

Williamson said the trust has been working with three landowners for quite a while in trying to acquire this land. While the barrens are about 60 acres, the remaining 200 acres would connect the barrens to ChesLen. Over the last two years, the trust has received $1.5 million from the county for this acquisition and $1 million from the state. With the latest grant, it brings the total to $3 million. Under the plan, still being negotiated, is an outright purchase of a 198-acre parcel and a 38-acre parcel and a conservation easement on the remaining 25 acres.

The French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust also received $150,000 for a conservation easement on a 15-acre property off Bodine Road in Charlestown. That easement is also in negotiation. If it is succesful, the property would be very close to the 91.5-acre Hillsover Farm on Conestoga Road that French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust is currently negotiating a conservation easement.

Charlestown has a goal of preserving 1,000 acres through conservation easements, said Aliena Gerhard, director of open space for the township. The emphasis is also to acquire conservation easements from all the property owners in the Pigeon Run and Pickering Creek greenways.

Other recipients of the state awards were $15,000 for West Pikeland for the preparation of a master site development plan for the 23-acre Windolph Knoll Park and $60,400 for French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust acquisition of 10 acres off of Bertolet School Road in West Vincent.

State Sen. Andrew Dinninman, D-19th, of West Whiteland, made the awards announcements Wednesday.

To contact staff writer Anne Pickering, send an e-mail to apickering@dailylocal.com.