Three Saratoga County towns are getting grant funding to help protect agricultural and natural spaces.
This year’s Farmland Protection and Open Space Preservation grant programs will help protect around 200 acres of land in the county.
Charlton Supervisor Joe Grasso is chair of the Trails and Open Space committee on the county’s board of supervisors. He says the total amount awarded was increased from $400,000, and he hopes to continue that trend.
“There was a lot of interest in the program. We received approximately $1.3 million in applications. And the committee felt that there were some really, really strong applications that were worthy of funding and we had some additional funds in reserve that we applied to [be] able to fully fund three of the applications for slightly over $600,000 dollars,” said Grasso.
Saratoga Protecting Land And Nature helps municipalities apply for the grants. Executive Director Robert Davies says the land these investments protect provide many public benefits.
“In terms of clean water, clean air, wildlife habitat. We’re seeing climate change so it provides a lot of additional resiliency that communities are in need of. We’re having these severe storm events that we’re seeing more and more of, and the stormwater protection that these conservation projects provide our communities really is priceless,” said Davies.
Davies adds that Saratoga County is among the fastest growing in the state.
“And it’s expanding outward, both east and west from the Northway corridor through the county. And conservation is critical for the vitality of all those communities in the county,” said Davies.
In Moreau, an award of $38,000 will aid in the protection of 81 acres of mixed forest and meadowed property.
The town of Stillwater received more than $180,000 to protect 47 acres of equestrian farmland on the Tanner Ridge Farm.
Owner Katie Ogden says this award was years in the making.
“So, essentially what that does is it buys out our quote unquote development rights. This land will be conserved now. We have about 40—almost 47 acres here and if we ever chose to sell, it’ll never be able to get subdivided or developed. Now, where the money goes, we plan to reinvest a good chunk of it back into our property,” said Ogden.
Ogden says the farm use the funds to repair and upgrade aging barns as well as take a chunk out of the mortgage.
Northumberland received more than $380,000 to protect 75 acres of the Butler Family Farm. Supervisor Bill Peck, a farmer himself, knows the value of these investments.
“Open Space, Farmland Preservation is a great, excellent opportunity for water recharge areas, wildlife habitat, and also, which is Northumberland’s number one economic driver which is agriculture,” said Peck.
Peck says balancing the town’s farm-centric economy with the benefits to nearby tourism hubs is vital.
“You know Saratoga Springs is known as the city in the middle of the country. So, the town of Northumberland, which is an agricultural community first and then a bedroom community serving other towns and businesses, it’s very important to keep this type of rural landscape. Not only for the environmental protection aspects, but also for the added traction of tourism,” said Peck.
Since 2003, the Farmland and Open Space preservation grants have helped to protect more than 6,000 acres of land within the county.