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McDougal Orchards201
Hanson Ridge Road, Springvale, Maine 04083 |
Land for Maine's FutureThe next time you see Robert (Bob) or Pat McDougal thank them. On May 25th 2005, Robert and Pat McDougal, the owners of Hanson Farm, Inc., realized their dream to preserve the family's orchards, hayfields, pastures, and woodlands, forever. Known as McDougal Orchards to farm customers, apple aficionados and cross-country skiers alike, the 284-acre farm located on Hanson Ridge Road is the most recent farm protected through the Land for Maine's Future Program and USDA Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program. "For 225 years each generation of the Hanson/McDougal family has done its part in keeping this farm going," said Bob McDougal. "Today, thanks to the efforts of our daughter Ellen, our son Evan, and many public agency partners, we're granting an agricultural conservation easement on our farm. We are doing this to slow sprawl and protect farmland to make good land available for future farmers in York County ." Thanking the McDougals, Maine Farmland Trust's President Frank Miles said, "Maine Farmland Trust is pleased to accept the easement on this wonderfully diverse farm. We are grateful for the leadership and technical expertise contributed by the Maine Department of Agriculture and we are pleased that the federal farmland protection program is able match all state efforts dollar-for-dollar." "Partnership is key to addressing preservation of farmland in Maine ," stated Joyce Swartzwendruber, State Conservationist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Maine . "In cooperation with land trusts and local and state government agencies we are making a difference for the future of agriculture in Maine . The USDA congratulates the McDougals and the Town of Sanford in their joint endeavor."
Maine Department of Agriculture's Farmland Protection Specialist, Stephanie Gilbert, thanked the family for their patience and perseverance, and delivered a message from Commissioner, Robert Spear. "Many other farm families are seeking the opportunity to sell development rights and preserve their farmland as a legacy for Maine 's future. Without the funds to support new projects and with a growing list of needs statewide, this coming year will be a period of missed opportunities to preserve some of our most productive farms and farmlands. Bills presently before the Maine Legislature call for renewed funding of Land for Maine's Future and are supported by members from all parties." "The need to replenish the Land for Maine's Future Program is driven by sweeping changes in Maine 's landscape," said Land for Maine's Future director, Tim Glidden. "Real estate prices, driven by private market demand, are increasing at double-digit rates throughout southern and coastal Maine . Indeed, our experience is that attractive properties throughout the State are drawing prices that were unheard of when the program was founded." In an independent Land for Maine's Future evaluation and progress report; The Land for Maine's Future Program: Increasing the Return on a Sound Public Investment , published in 2004, the authors conclude "we find that there continues to be urgent need for a state-funded land conservation effort in Maine, for which there is broad public support, that Land for Maine's Future both deserves and needs to continue its efforts for the foreseeable future, and that new funding is needed at this time, to continue this most important effort."
So when you see Bob, Pat, Ellen or Evan say "Thank You So Much". The above information
was taken from the Maine State Planning Office Press Release. | |
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