Going Green:Leading the Way in Land Conservation

Meander through the countryside with Kim Jackson and learn why a Land Conservancy is important to your quality of life.

Goose Creek Easement, owned by Bob Beauchamp. This easement protecting the wildlife habitat is an example of a more natural resource easement.

In the Piedmont Plains area of Georgia, we are blessed to live in a “room with a view.” Our landscape is complete with picturesque lakes, rolling pastureland and working farms, rich with the best of rural life complemented by access to museums, concerts, plays and the culture of a more largely populated geographic area. At the same time we are immune, in many ways, to the aggravations our fellow city dwellers experience with daily traffic jams and nameless neighbors along with air, water and noise pollution.

Eleven years ago, local citizens were concerned that Morgan’s quality of life was being threatened by the expanding development of Metro Atlanta. Due to an ever-increasing tax burden and the lure of big bucks offered for acreage from developers, there was concern among the local populace that farmers in possession

of family farms for generations would be forced to sell. Add those two things together with the difficulty of making even a subsistence living, farming and, well – it is easy to see why farms are disappearing from the horizon like a ship in full sail. With the knowledge that once a family farm is divided it never goes back

into farming again, action was set in motion to control Morgan’s growth by protecting the very treasure which brings others to our area in the first place – our rural heritage.

The Madison-Morgan Conservancy was formed to ensure the area suffers from less of these aggravations in the future compared to other developing

Christine McCauley, Executive Director of the Madison-Morgan Conservancy, Mary McCauley, G. Kimbrough Taylor, Jane Symmes, Mark McDonald, and Wayne Vason at the Georgia Preservation Awards ceremony in Macon.

Ramble 2009, Cedar Lane Farm is listed on the Historic Register.

counties such as Gwinnett, north of Atlanta, which is a poster child for rampant development. Maintaining this standard for Morgan County is possible, through a preservation tool known as Conservation Easements (CEs), which perpetually preserve the land and guarantee we will continue to have the benefit of clean air, uncontaminated water, locally grown produce and humanely raised livestock with space to roam.

Founding members of the Conservancy including Whitey Hunt, Mary McCauley, Jack Miles, Adelaide Ponder, Jane Symmes, Robert Trulock, Wayne Vason, and Ellen Warren have took the first steps along the path to establish the state’s first county-wide Conservancy and Greenprint plan, which delineate the natural, cultural and historic resources of Morgan County.

“A Greenprint is to a community what a blueprint is to an architect,” says Christine McCauley, Executive Director of the Conservancy. “It is a sketch of the area, highlighting the natural, cultural and historic resources

of a specific area; it maps agricultural land, groundwater recharge, existing land use, tree cover, water resources, and historic areas – just to give you an idea of the extent of a Greenprint.”

With aid from the Trust for Public Land and Robert and Company Consultants, a three-way partnership was established with the Conservancy, the City of Madison and Morgan County. The Greenprint

was adopted as part of the Morgan County Comprehensive Plan in 2004 and is referenced in the planning of all future growth of Morgan County. The fervent hope of those involved with this massive undertaking of mapping an entire county was that it would provide a plan in protecting Morgan County’s natural resources and maintain the quality of life for area residents.

Visioning meetings were held where

the public educated the mapping consultants on the existing resources of the county. Drafts of the map were presented during Town Hall meetings for citizens to review and see exactly what the goals and challenges were. Everyone was invited to participate and attend, with the objective being education for the local populace to see what was available to be preserved; people turned out, listened, reviewed

and made suggestions. It was discovered by this group of visionaries that their dream had support in the county and they were mapping out a miracle.

The results have been

promising beyond wildest expectation. As of summer of 2011, Morgan County landowners have placed 1,012 acres of land into Conservation Easements. The easements protect this acreage from development and maintain its use for farmland, outdoor recreation or wildlife habitat. Morgan County gained valuable land resources that will remain protected for future generations at no cost to the county. In the United States as a whole,

MISSIOn STATEMEnTThe mission of the Madison-Morgan Conservancy is to provide

public education on conservation matters and to protect and enhance the heritage and quality of life of the residents of Morgan County by preserving historic sites, greenspace, farmland and timberland.

Wayne Vason has donated several easements to the Georgia Land Trust with the assistance of the Conservancy, including this gorgeous tract on the Vason Farm in southern Morgan County.

approximately 40 million acres are protected through Conservation Easements thereby ensuring the land’s conservation value and protecting our food supply.

Morgan County has a heritage of farming, primarily cattle, row crops, and hay but is now drawing a number of local farmers to grow and sell their products within our geographic area. If you think about it, this is how agriculture existed before the advent of the “large commercial” farm changed the landscape of farming, replacing small family-owned farmers with industrially raised food. In Morgan you can buy, if you so choose, food to fill your table from within the area including meat, eggs and cheese from Greendale Farm, certified naturally grown vegetables from Tewksbury Farms and from many other growers who are a part of the area’s Locally Grown distributor. This keeps food dollars within the county, while providing residents with fresh, nourishing food produced in their own geographic area. It is a win-win and is due, in large part, to efforts of the Madison-Morgan Conservancy.

The Conservancy has many things to be proud of but none so much as the awards it

received in 2011. The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation presented 23 awards recognizing the best of preservation in Georgia during its 34th annual Preservation Awards ceremony in Macon. The Mary Gregory Jewett Award for Lifetime Preservation Service was presented to Jane Symmes for her life’s work. In addition, the Madison-Morgan Conservancy received one of only two awards presented for Preservation Service, honoring its successful efforts to protect more than 1,000 acres of land through conservation easements.

The Madison-Morgan Conservancy hosts it’s bi-annual Greenprint Ramble in October when members

and friends explore the countryside, followed by a dinner of locally grown food. Two thousand and eleven will offer a 45-mile jaunt, taking you on a tour of the southeast portion of Morgan County, in and around Bethany, Buckhead and Swords. The Ramble is the culmination of the Conservancy’s work, which highlights what is best about our area – the land which is the key to our future of sustainability and the families who are stewards of that land and have helped to shape Morgan County’s landscapes.

For more information about the Conservancy program, to join, or to attend the Ramble: www.mmcgeorgia.org or 706-342-9252 ±

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TERNSLICEOFMORGANCOUNTY

Ramble Guide

Join us on a tour of the northwesternportion of Morgan County. Seats on the bus forthe Conservancy-guided tour are available forjust $5. These buses will leave from the AvadoParking Deck promptly at 2 p.m. Bus space islimited.

Anyone interested in taking a self-guided ramblealong the ’09 Greenprint Ramble route shoulddo so on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, when theMadison-Morgan Conservancy has erected signsto help guide the tour.

We recommend car pooling, or at least twopersons per car—one person to drive and oneperson to read aloud from the Ramble Guide. Besure to fill your tank with gas. Self-guided vehi-cles should plan to leave the Avado Parking Deckbetween 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. The tour will take twoto three hours, depending on how much talkingand sight-seeing folks choose to do.

Please call the Madison-Morgan Conservancy at(706)342-9252 to make your reservation for thebus tour.

We look forward to seeing you there.

SaturdayOct. 24, ’09%6jJ^5

Sponsored by The Madison-Morgan Conservancy, Inc.

GREENPRINT

Ramble

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Bicentennial

If you want to Ramble, the best bet is to join the Conservancy, as this event alway sells out.