This scenic 410-acre dairy farm with two miles of road frontage and views of Mount Monadnock was saved from imminent development through the action of the Trust for Public Land and the Franklin Land Trust (FLT), a local, non-profit land conservation group co-founded by Harry Dodson and directed by Mark Zenick. The 180-acre core of the farm was preserved and sold with a Massachusetts Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) to two young goat farmers. Sixty acres of forested wildlife habitat, a beaver pond and a stream containing a rare salamander were also permanently protected. To finance this farm and forestland preservation, nine house lots with careful restrictions governing the location of future houses, driveways and clearing of trees were located in the less sensitive portions of the property. On two of the nine lots, FLT collaborated with the Franklin County Community Development Corporation to develop two carefully sited and designed affordable houses built with native lumber and financed under Massachusetts’ Housing Opportunity Partnership (HOP) Program. Harry Dodson contributed his planning and design services to FLT to complete this project.
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