Vermont Land Trust Responds to Community Needs

What is the link between rural spaces and urban communities, and what relevance does this hold for social justice and sustainability work today? As globalization takes hold in ever more remote corners of the world, the relationship between people and places once perceived as wholly separate entities has become increasingly interconnected and interdependent. On Friday, Nov. 18, students, faculty,  staff and community members gathered for a lecture and discussion aimed at unpacking this issue. Entitled “Land Trust Innovation in Service to Changing Urban Community Needs,” the talk was a part of the Franklin Environmental Center’s year-long exploration of urban innovations and sustainable solutions.

The event began with an overview by law professor and conservation attorney Jessica Jay, who works to protect environmentally significant lands in Colorado and the Rock Mountain West. She explained that the land trust community is engaged in a new, dynamic vision: to better understand community dynamics and more effectively serve diverse populations. The goal of this evolving, innovative work is to be responsive, reactive and proactive to the unique needs of each community.

“We are taking on roles that may not have typically been viewed as our roles in the land trust administration,” Jay stated. “But it’s an opportunity to take on a challenge and social obligation.”

Land trusts can enhance public good by increasing access to clean air, shelter and green spaces for everyone. Often referred to as the “new frontier” of  conservation, the vision described by Jay requires that land trust administrators look at old property through new lens and innovate in response to changing community needs, particularly in urban areas. This involves the re-development or un-development of certain parcels of land.

For instance, administrators evaluating polluted properties may identity an eco-friendly way to reuse a building, or relocate it to a place where it will be better utilized. A unique form of social entrepreneurship, this transformation within the land trust community is an obligation that state and national administrations have not yet taken on.

“The work is incumbent on cities, states, nonprofits, institutions of higher educations and individuals more than ever,” Jay explained.

Following Jay’s introduction, Gil Livingston, President of the Vermont Land Trust, grounded the issue in a local story. He began his speech with a candid observation.

“Frankly, I think it’s kind of ironic that a white guy is here to talk about an urban story in a state that is 97 percent Caucasian,” Livingston said.

Yet it is precisely the unexpected intersection of the rural and the urban that makes land trust innovation an issue relevant to all, even to residents of a small college town in Vermont.

A non-profit environmental organization with a huge stake in local affairs, the Vermont Land Trust impacts over 10 percent of the state through conservation holdings. As its mission statement articulates, “Whether these places are dairy or vegetable farms, forests or wetlands, sledding hills or swimming spots, the Vermont Land Trust is working to protect the land that gives Vermont its rural character and makes our state so special.”

As part of the broader, pioneering movement within land trust administration, the Vermont Land Trust is actively engaged in communities where they hold land, fighting for social justice at a time when residents need it most. To demonstrate this, Livingston pointed to the case of Pine Island Farm, a Vermont Land Trust holding that began as a conventional dairy and has since evolved into a goat and vegetable farm operated by and for the refugee community.

How did this transformation come about? The Burlington Refugee Settlement Program has concentrated hundreds of people into one small area of Vermont. When Pine Island Farm, a traditional dairy operation with highly productive soil and a variety of wetland features, went up for auction in 2012, the Vermont Land Trust purchased it with the intention to “serve people who are not ordinarily beneficiaries — namely, individuals who fled violence or lives of exile to seek integration within the United States.

Now, through a six-year agreement, the farm is leased at no cost to the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, and managed by a multicultural group of residents from the Burlington and Winooski area. Multigenerational families raise goats, chickens and garden crops on the land, representing countries including Bhutan, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Congo and Burma. Additionally, in a model driven by affordability rather than by commercial profits, approximately 350 goats are sold to refugee families in the area each year.

The primary focus of this land trust project is a sense of food security and permanency for new Americans, in contrast to the uncertainty and displacement that these individuals have experienced throughout their lives. Judging by the growth in production on Pine Island Farm (for instance, the number of goats has jumped from 60 to 400), the partnership between the Vermont Land Trust and the Association of Africans Living in Vermont has been successful. That is not to say that the transition from a commercial to a community-managed system has been devoid of challenges, however.

Navigating the power dynamics within a large organization, as well as the various cultural perspectives that influence business styles, has been a work in progress for all parties involved. Additionally, while the land trust administration is accustomed to overseeing up to 80 conservation projects per year, such a high-speed cycle would not support local leadership. As a result, the organization has had to adopt a slower pace of management, which better supports its mission of community-based operations.

To address the challenges that have arisen thus far, plans are in the works to hire a long-term intercultural coordinator, evaluate if the current model of access and affordability is sufficient and potentially grant direct ownership of Pine Island Farm to the refugees.

Livingston emphasized that within the continuously evolving movement of land trust innovation, mistakes are inevitable, and difficulties are to be expected. In light of the recent presidential election, however, an unwavering commitment to social justice is crucial.

In his closing lines, Livingston articulated three questions that have and will continue to inform decisions concerning the Pine Island Farm community: How is history manifested in current ownership patterns? How is structural privilege embedded in the land conservation community? And how do race, power and privilege dynamics influence the places where we work?

The challenges accompanying the transformation of Pine Island Farm show that there are no easy answers to these questions. Through small but purposeful steps, however, the work of social justice-oriented land trust organizations may begin to make sense of these complexities, creating public good and opportunities for all.