Land Conservancy of Adams County

On April 11, we settled on our first easement of 2012, preserving 65 acres in Menallen and Butler townships.  If you participated in our Road Rally in 2010, you may remember Chris and Debbie Smith’s farm as the stop with the pumpkin bowling! We have been working with the Smiths for a couple years now and were able to purchase the easement in a bargain sale with funding from NRCS’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program and the Adams County Green Space Grant Program.

This property has several attributes that led to its selection as a project: it’s adjacent to a farm that was preserved through the county’s agricultural land preservation program, has high quality soils, and has a forested riparian buffer in the Opossum Creek watershed.  The Smiths have heifers, horses, field crops, and a growing agritourism business, which includes a corn maze and a zip line!

With the Smiths’ farm, we are now up to 116 easements protecting 7,494 acres of land.

It was great.  OK, it was more that great – it was AWESOME!  Our 15th annual Art Auction garnered over $18,500 for land preservation in Adams County.  Nearly 100 local artisans gave of their time, talent, sweat, and tears to help us power on.  They were the first third of the equation. 

Our not-nearly-highly-enough-exalted volunteers stepped in to set up, tear down, and choreograph the flow of the setting.  Second third. (You got that, right?)

The stage is set – artwork hung and otherwise displayed.  Holly and Allison (and staff!!) have prepared the delightful munchables.  Auctioneer Randy Hilker and emcee Bob Prosperi are chomping at the bit (and bites, while waiting).  Will they come?

Yahoo – did they ever!! Nearly 100 (not the same “nearly” as above) filled the Blue Parrot, sampled the delicacies, filled their conversational goblets, and loosed their wallets to the tune of more than $18,500.  Fabulous!  THANK YOU!!  The third third completed the elipse, to our great satisfaction.

See the Art Auction under EVENTS (above) for the names and websites of our donor artists.  And see the catalog below for the amazing artwork we were privileged to auction off this year.  Save the date for next year’s 16th annual Art Auction:  April 21, 2013.

Slideshow

Slideshow

Our Annual Dinner has cone and gone, and it was another great success.  Such a wide range of backgrounds of those who gathered for the common cause of preserving the rural lands and character of Adams County – and such convivality as is rare in today’s world!  Seven of nine landowners were honored for preserving their homelands in 2011, which was the highlight of the evening.

The Silent Auction was very well attended, with Fruit for a Year from Hollabaugh Bros. taking the top bid.  Vigorous bidding was also conducted on Mary Margaret Kuhn’s Pie of the Month and Ruthmary McIlhenny’s 1950s Retro Barbecue, so that the top two contenders for each were both winners.

We invite you to do some math with us:  by subtracting a bit from your bank account to give to the Land Conservancy, you benefit from the knowledge that you are adding to Adams County’s preserved lands, as well.

So far, that’s 2 adds for 1 subtract.  Sounds like a bargain – and we hope you’ll take advantage of it!  Then when you add the benefits to all Adams Countians of cleaner air, purer water, and gorgeous views, the benefits are immeasurable!

Many times the month of December is especially busy for land preservation, and this year is no exception.  By the end of the month, we hope reach our 2011 goal of 7500 Adams County acres preserved. 

Thanks to all Land Conservancy supporters – we surely couldn’t do this without you!