Drop In Land Value Opens Pathways For Conservation

Suzanne Rockett always imagined living close to nature. In 1996, she bought 108 acres on the side of a mountain in the Massachusetts Berkshires, bordering New York.

“Oh! It was my dream! I was in the middle of the woods and my plan was to build my house in the middle of the woods, which I did,” Rockett said.

At first, Rockett looked into selling part of the land for conservation, but that didn't pan out. She came up with a plan to build a small development of eight to 10 condominiums, and started by carving out a meadow. “After I cleared this, I put the two wells in,” she said. “I put this pond in for the condominium unit with a waterfall. I had already done most everything to get it prepared for the beginning stages of building.”

Rockett said this location has everything -– a view of Jiminy Peak ski area, hiking on the Taconic Crest Trail and concerts at Tanglewood. But by 2006, she was running out of money, she couldn’t find an investment partner and the real-estate market was starting to get shaky.“It took a little time to start to crash here, but once it did it really did,” she said, “so I had to let it go.”

Eventually Rockett found a buyer, one that would help fulfill her first dream, to keep the land wild. The state of Massachusetts bought 80 acres from her last fall. She said the price was about a third of what she would have made from the condos. Rockett worked with Keith Ross of LandVest, a real-estate consulting company, to make the deal with the state. Ross said in the past two years, he’s had six other clients who own land in western Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire in similar predicaments.

“In each case, these are significant sized properties, that when the economy was good they would have been sold for development,” Ross said. He added that some developers need to sell quickly. “For those land owners who have to sell, who need the cash, they have dropped their asking prices pretty dramatically 30, 40, 50 percent in some places. That makes it possible for conservation buyers, the ability to come in and acquire some of these pieces that they may have been priced out of previously.”

A few states have been able to take advantage of the changing market. Massachusetts closed on about 10,000 acres of open space this year.

Mary Griffin, Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game, said the state was able to buy land at a lower average price per acre. “We've had a number of landowners that we have been pursuing for years that have prime wildlife habitat, prime ecological lands that are of upmost importance from the state's perspective that really never had an interest in talking to us," Griffin said, "who have approached us and been interested in selling their land.”

Some conservation groups are also trying to get the best out of this economy. Chris LaPointe works in the Boston office of the Trust for Public Land. He said his group has negotiated deals with landowners that allow an entire year, or even two, for fundraising to buy a property — something that's key in this economy.“That allows us to have the opportunity to line up local, state and federal funding which can take anywhere from 12 to 18 months to pull together,” LaPointe said.

But in other parts of the Northeast, the downturn in the economy isn’t making land protection any easier. Lise Hanners is with the Connecticut Chapter of the Nature Conservancy which typically buys large parcels that are biologically diverse. Her group isn’t getting as many big donations as it used to. And there aren’t as many landowners who are ready to sell.

“Most people are sitting and waiting, holding onto their property, hoping the market will return because they want to get the full value that they feel their land is worth,” Hanners said.

Greg Ugalde, one of the biggest Connecticut-based land developers, said other big developers he knows are not only holding onto their land, they’re buying more.“Builders now have to look ahead and say, ‘Okay, how many lots? When we turn from this economy the way it is, how many lots do I need in the future?’ " Ugalde said. "And you're out there, trying to hunt around and try to obtain those, and buy them.”

A reasonable deal is all they're hoping for, he said. "A good deal would be even better."

Back in the Berkshires, Suzanne Rockett and her german shepherd, Nala, are walking uphill from the former condo site. She said she would have preferred to hold onto the land, but having the state preserve it is almost as good.“If it had to happen, it was really the best case scenario because the land will stay forever wild,” Rockett said.

Now, hunters and fishermen will always be able to visit this land along with the rest of the public.