OXFORD – The Chenango Land Trust (CLT) members held their annual meeting at the Oxford Memorial Library, Oct. 19. Land Trust president Earl Callahan introduced guests, Jeff Hendrickson of Sherburne discussed conservation easements; there was a short business meeting; an officers election, and the presentation of the prestigious “CLT Land Stewardship Award” to Will Pryor of the Wolf Mountain Nature Center.  

The basic mission of the CLT is to promote the conservation of lands, and committed to that very goal was their first guest, Jeff Hendrickson. Jeff discussed the creation of his own conservation easement and why it was important to him. He explained that Fred von Mechow, the CLT Land Protection Director, worked with him to help him create his conservation easement on 24.5 acres of woods and meadows he purchased as recreation property for his family on Rte 12B in Sherburne. Jeff’s easement clearly spells out specifics such as no mining or fracking, but he retains certain rights like the ability to cut three cords of wood per year. A small log cabin and a light pole are unfortunately considered liabilities, so they will have to be removed. Jeff wants to keep the property “forever wild,” and now with the CLT conservation easement in place he can rest assured that his land will be protected from development.

Fred von Mechow gave a properties report which covered conservation easements in place. The current easement properties are in Pharsalia, Smithville, (2 in) Greene, Maine, Union, Sanford, and now Sherburne. In addition, the CLT owns twenty acres of shallow water wetland in McCall’s Pond in Preston. There is a total of 767 acres of easement land and they’re closing on another 90 acres.

In a brief CLT election, all of the officers were re-elected. Earl Callahan was re-elected president; Ann Altshuler was re-elected secretary and vice president pro tem; Isaiah Sutton – Treasurer; and Fred von Mechow – Director of Land Protection.