Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) Receives Land Donation Next to
Fifty Acres of Town Conservation Land Bordering Herring River

A 4.5-acre property next to 50 acres of town conservation land along the Herring River was recently donated to the Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) for permanent protection. The 4.5-acre parcel of oak and pine woodland contains a vernal pool and is located next to the town’s Sand Pond Conservation Area off Bell’s Neck Road. Two other Trust properties also abut this growing conservation assemblage, including a 6-acre property with 775 feet of shoreline on Sand Pond and a 2.6-acre bequest from Lamont Eldredge Smith.

“Dorothy Phinney’s proactive donation to the Harwich Conservation Trust will ensure this important property’s permanent protection in the Herring River Watershed,” said Michael Lach, HCT executive director. The land donation supports the HCT's Save Land - Save Water Initiative, a long-range plan to preserve priority properties that help protect water resources, including the Herring River. At her request, HCT will place a sign on the land in memory of her late sister, Grace Gorham.

Donating land to a nonprofit land trust can earn a landowner federal income tax deductions spread over six years against 30% of adjusted gross income. An appraisal is needed when the claimed value of the deduction is more than $5,000. The land trust simply certifies that it received the land gift and does not get involved in determining the value of the deduction. Land donors also no longer have to pay property tax or worry about liability. Often referred to as “fee simple donation,” several dozen properties are donated outright in this manner every year on Cape Cod, according to The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts (www.compact.cape.com).

“HCT is very pleased to accept this donation. The Trust’s ownership of this property will protect it from being used in a manner that would damage Sand Pond, wildlife habitat and adversely affect the vernal pool,” said Robert Smith, HCT President and a founding Trustee.

Vernal pools are unique wildlife habitats best known for amphibians like spotted salamanders and wood frogs that depend on them to breed. Vernal pools typically fill with water in the autumn or winter due to rising ground water and rainfall. Water remains through the spring allowing the amphibians to lay eggs. The pools often dry completely by the middle or end of summer each year. Since the pools dry out, fish cannot establish permanent populations. If fish were present in water held year-round, then they would eat the amphibian eggs. Spotted salamander and other vernal pool dependent species are uniquely adapted to the periodic wet and dry nature of this habitat. Volunteers with the Trust discovered 19 vernal pools this past spring. The Trust seeks more volunteers to launch its second annual vernal pool search in March of 2008.

The donated lot is also partially within BioMap Core Habitat defined by the state’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP). According to NHESP “The goal of the BioMap is to promote strategic land protection by producing a map showing areas, that if protected, would provide suitable habitat over the long term for the maximum number of Massachusetts' terrestrial and wetland plant and animal species and natural communities.”