Joe Larson explains how the camp's land got put under conservation protection. Thanks Joe Larson for your dedication to Camp Clark. It's history and the land it occupies.

Massachusetts state law allows any city or town to create a Conservation Commission. Among many other responsibilities, each Commission is empowered to acquire Conservation Restrictions, or easements to protect land that has high conservation value. The Commission or a landowner can initiate a discussion. If both parties agree that the land should be preserved they come to an agreement on what the Commission should pay the landowner and what specific conservation practices will be carried out in the future. The landowner gets a substantial reduction in his property tax and the Town Conservation gets the responsibility for management of the property.

When we moved to Pelham the town had not established a Conservation Commission so I and some others got together and initiated a proposal to be agreed to by the Selectmen and voted on by Town Meeting. Our Commission has been a big success and we have a number of places under restriction. New Hampshire has a similar program and I think that some other states have something like this program.

My understanding is the new Cape Cod YMCA owners approached the Town because it would help reduce their property tax bill. They had to agree to be very specific about what camp activities would be allowed on the site and that no commercial activities would be allowed. From the Town's point of view, they knew that the New Bedford Y Executive tried to sell the land to a developer who had gone so far as to stake out potential house lots. They gave up the opportunity to take more revenue by taxation, but they would have lost a huge attractive landscape and pond border to yet another tacky subdivision. 

Best, Joe