In May, Heritage Conservancy completed a conservation easement to protect the 55-acre Staff property in Springfield Township, Bucks County. This land is part of a larger 175-acre farm, Kirkland Farm, where 120 acres were preserved last year with a Bucks County agricultural easement.

This newly protected plot is located within the Cooks Creek Conservation Landscape and Watershed. It is entirely wooded and is bisected by a shallow, “exceptional value” tributary to Cooks Creek.

“This was an especially satisfying closing because of the long time it was in process,” says Conservation Acquisition Specialist Kim Johnson. Heritage Conservancy worked with the owners for many years to get their property preserved.

The owners started the process several years earlier, before Kim joined the team at Heritage Conservancy. It is an example of the work and dedication sometimes required from Conservancy staff to complete an easement, in securing resources and navigating changing circumstances. At any given moment, Heritage Conservancy has multiple projects in various states of progress. We currently have over two dozen in the works.

And when a closing like this happens, our ongoing work to monitoring the property is only beginning, and that is a perpetual commitment. Read more about Heritage Conservancy’s annual easement stewardship work.