Land Use & Open Space Conservation

Gov. David Ige today announced his nominations for the Board of Education and the Land Use Commission. The appointments are subject to confirmation by the Senate. The governor also reappointed Commissioner Jonathan Scheuer, whose current term expires on June 30th. Read more

A regional collaboration of resource agencies learned today that it will receive an $8 million grant to protect agricultural lands and ecosystems for drought and climate resiliency.

We are pleased to share that Tom Robinson will join the Open Space Council as Director of Conservation, Science, and Innovation. He will start February 16. We set out looking for an experienced, strategic, collaborative, and engaging professional. And we are confident that we found that person.

The new statewide president of Mass Audubon has filed for intervenor status for its West Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary in Plainfield, just over the border from Berkshire County, in the federal review of the proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. project. ... "At this stage, we're optimistic that in working with the Conservation Commission and Stantec, the restoration plan will be adequate and that letter will be the only need we'll have for legal counsel," said Becky Cushing, director of the Berkshire Sanctuaries.

Forty percent of the world’s people share the tropics with 50 percent of the world’s terrestrial life. World population has more than doubled since 1960. Land use decisions will become increasingly controversial as it soars from 7.2 billion to a projected 9.6 billion in 2050. A downloadable publication from the Smithsonian and the BIO Program of the Inter-American Development Bank, “Managing watersheds for ecosystem services in the steepland Neotropics,” offers new tools to weigh trade-offs between water, timber, biodiversity and development.

“One of the major problems with this draft Environmental Impact Report is it is not including the Brockway Campground,” said Isaac Silverman, staff attorney for environmental group Sierra Watch. “What we have are two projects proposed by the same developer on continuous landholdings owned by the same person. Common sense, CEQA (and) good planning requires an approach that considers the full impacts of these two projects together.

Clemson scientists Rob Baldwin and Paul Leonard have recently published a research article that examines the existing distribution of conservation easements in the Appalachian Mountains.