The Delles Farm Easement closed in the summer of 2009. This easement is 105-acre working dairy farm in Philadelphia, NY. This project was the first completed through the Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) Program – an exciting partnership with Ft. Drum and Ducks Unlimited (DU).
The objective of the ACUB program is to establish a buffer around certain areas of Ft. Drum to minimize encroachment to the installation while protecting conservation values and open space. Encroachment is defined here as an urban development surrounding military installation that affects the ability of the military to train realistically. The program is a win-win-win for the Army, the land trust and the land owner. The Army maintains or enhances training capabilities, the land trust protects open space (in this first project, a working dairy farm) and the landowner is paid to not develop the land. In addition, this also forwards the NYS Open Space Plan which identifies the Ft. Drum Conservation Partnership Project as a regional priority and states that "a conservation partnership could provide significant benefits to dual goals of maintaining/enhancing training capabilities and open space conservation values." The land trust, as a partner in this program, is negotiating the easement with the landowner and will hold the conservation easement and assume the monitoring and stewardship responsibilities.
Through the ACUB program, the Army contributes funds to purchase conservation easements on properties from willing landowners. Since there are not many sources of funding for land protection in the North Country, the land trust considers this program a great opportunity to protect significant farmland and open space in Jefferson County and we are proud to be a partner.
