MARSHFIELD – Two families donated conservation easements to the Vermont Land Trust last month, adding nearly 170 acres of land to more than 2,000 acres already conserved by other Marshfield landowners.

Chuck and Barbara Bohn protected their farm on the north end of Hollister Hill Road from most future development with a conservation easement on 83 acres – all but the land immediately around their house.

Chuck Bohn began teaching art at Spaulding High School in 1965 and taught for some 30 years. Barbara Bohn was a longtime secretary at Twinfield Union School. Their farm, with its wetlands, fields, orchard and sugarbush, enabled the couple to live out the Vermont dream of self-sufficiency.

The Bohns fixed up the old farmhouse, which had no indoor plumbing or heating when they bought it, and while their three children were growing up, they raised beef, sheep, pigs and chickens for the family's use. Chuck Bohn cut wood to heat the house and hayed the fields with a scythe. For 35 years the couple raised and sold Christmas trees.

"We just loved the land so much, and loved working it, that we wanted to keep it the way it is," said Barbara Bohn.

"Rather than viewing ourselves as possessors of the land, we have felt more like we're caretakers," her husband observed. "We know we are merely passing through, but the land will be here forever. We want to leave it in its natural state so that the next caretaker will enjoy it as much as we and our neighbors have."

The Bohns allow hikers, cross-country skiers, snowshoers and horseback riders to use the trails through their woods. "We don't feel possessive," Barbara Bohn said. "We're very grateful."

Five miles across town on Maple Hill Road, Elinor (Randy) Randall and her daughter, Dorigen Keeney, were simulta-neously deciding to conserve Rungrim Farm. The stunning views from Maple Hill Road to the west made the 84 acres highly attractive for development, but Randall didn't want to look at buildings.

"I have a beautiful field where you can see Camel's Hump, and that would all be obscured. Many people have tried to buy the hayfield, and I say, 'How would I feed the horses?' I think the Land Trust is doing fantastic things," she declared.

She and Keeney are passionate about protecting land for food production and wildlife. "Our farm has wonderful soil and a long history of being cultivated," Keeney noted. "We think it would be a shame to lose these productive soils to development."

The springs that provide the water for Plainfield Village are located on town land adjacent to the Randall-Keeney property, and the recharge area for the springs lies partly on the conserved land. The permanent conservation easement will prevent activities that could threaten the village water supply.

"Marshfield has benefited by an amazing string of generous acts by landowners in the last few months," said Mark McEathron, the central Vermont director of the Vermont Land Trust. "First was the purchase of the 620-acre Stranahan property at a hugely discounted price, which created the new Stranahan Memorial Town Forest. Now two more (families) have stepped forward to preserve beautiful pieces of land in active farm and forestry use," he said in a prepared statement.

Unlike the Stranahan Town Forest, the Bohn and Randall-Keeney properties will continue to be privately owned, although they will be permanently protected against most development by conservation easements.

Conservation easements are land deeds that prohibit or limit future development while allowing farming, forestry and recreational uses to continue. Conserved land stays in private ownership, can be bought and sold like any other property and remains on the tax rolls. The easements "run with the land" – they stay in place permanently, regardless of who buys the land in the future.

The Bohns reserved two house sites in the Christmas tree field at the top of the hill in case their children or grandchildren want to build on the farm. Randall and Keeney did not retain rights for any houses on their land.

Starting in 1989, when the Vermont Land Trust conserved the property now known as Wellspring Farm off Route 2, the organization has helped 11 landowners protect 2,050 acres in Marshfield.

"Over the past 35 years, the population of Marshfield has increased by 50 percent and the number of houses has nearly doubled," observed John Warshow, a Marshfield selectboard member. "With that background, it is important to pause and appreciate the efforts and contributions that so many have made – and continue to make – to ensure that there will be land for farming, forestry, habitat protect and recreation for future generations."