What happens in the world happens. What we are personally aware of depends upon where we live and what our concerns are. When we lived in Portland, we had an urban point of view. We live in the country now, and although our interests are much the same as they were in the past, different things happen close to us than did during our city days.

Just now, yet another of our neighbors is having trees cut. It’s rather like a war going on, an ugly local slaughter. Huge metal machines grind their way into the silent woods, gouging up the forest floor as they go, compacting the ground, crushing the air out of the loamy earth, pulverizing every living thing in their paths that cannot run away.

The noise keeps us inside… a relentless grinding interspersed with the screaming of chainsaws, followed by the crash of yet another fine, tall pine brought to earth. Inside our house, windows closed, we still hear it. Day after day, the sound continues till our teeth clench and we find ourselves feeling angry and wanting to strike out against the destruction and the noise.

Sadly there is nothing we can do.

There is science here, regarding the necessity of wildlife corridors and the capacity of older trees to sequester huge amounts of carbon. But the woods are not ours and apparently those things are not part of the landowner’s current priorities. These woods have been home to animals and other life for many years. They do not have any legal standing, nor any avenue of protest, nor do we for them.

This is “normal commerce.” The landowner will be rewarded for this destruction with money. And the animals will be homeless. This mining of trees is taking place in October. The creatures that stored nuts for the winter may starve, for the machinery will crush their nuts. Anything already affected by the cooler weather; such as snakes, bats, wood frogs, turtles and other lesser creatures, will be out of luck. If not killed outright, they will need to move quickly to find another location to winter over in and they will be stressed by that effort, less able to make it through to spring. And if they are actually able to move, which way will they go? Where will they find safety from this relentlessly grasping hand of commerce?

The woodpeckers have already flown. Now they hammer on our wooden house instead of dead branches in those woods. We won’t hurt them, but another person could easily make a choice to put house before birds.

The people who bring our firewood each year tell us of machinery and expenses too big for selective cutting or working little lots. They tell us the woods replenish themselves, but we don’t see it happening. Each year we see more tall trees gone, more eroded soil. Still, we buy our three to four cords of firewood. It replaces the oil. We now use less than a quarter tank of each winter season. This we know is not a perfect solution.

We do not stand alone, any of us. We are instead in close embrace with all life and we forget this at our peril. But right action is often hard to figure out in our world of complicated transactions in which medical bills can bring down a stand of pines. We hear a story of a person who cared for those woods so close to us until illness interfered and medical bills grew too great. Perhaps it’s true.

Living in the city, we could more easily ignore unsustainable lumbering practices and the devastation they cause. Our minds understood, but our hearts were not as engaged. Here in the country it is impossible for us to be disengaged, there are too many reminders. So we monitor our wood consumption and look for better ways of doing what needs to be done.

One possible thing a person might do is to make sure his or her own land is legally protected from destruction. Nationally Maine is a leading state in the number of small land trusts established here. According to the Maine Land Trust Network, in addition to larger regional and national land trusts, there are more than 100 local trusts operating within the state. They maintain a list of these groups on their website at www.mltn.org.

Small land trusts generally have quite specific boundaries that they operate within; for example, within a particular local watershed, around a certain lake, encompassing the foothills or highlands of a particular range of mountains.

There are three basic ways of conserving land:

• By outright donation to a conservation organization
• By sale to a similar group
• By conservation easement

Making an outright donation offers the benefits of income and possible estate tax deductions, both of which are worth discussing with an informed tax advisor. Should you experience a year of unusual prosperity, a donation may be used, in part, to offset taxes on any income gained. In the case of outright donation, the land is given to an organization; with conservation easements the land is best given to a different land trust. In essence, this provides two layers of protection for the land.

An outright sale to a land trust is possible but far from likely unless the property is strategically located in or near an area of extreme importance to that particular trust. Another option is an easement, which is a legal document limiting the type and scope of development on the property to which it applies. When an easement is given to a conservation organization, the land may remain in family ownership while the restrictions the property owner has chosen are upheld in perpetuity by the land trust. Much like real property deeds, easements are filed with the appropriate registry of deeds

Conserving land takes time. Although each situation is different, some people figure an average of two years from first contact with a trust to completion of a transaction. The people we have talked with who handle trusts think a year is a doable length of time.

Agreements which are acceptable to both landowner and conservation organization need to be negotiated. Tax benefits need to be determined. However, despite the time involved, it is a way you can insure protection of the land you own which is dear to your heart. This process can save another place, where creatures large and small can live in relative safety. If the property contains large trees, carbon will be sequestered. As we each reach out to embrace and care for more of life, our whole world can change. But first we must act.

Maine Land Trust Network; www.mltn.org

Green Mountain Conservation Group, NH; www.gmcg.org

Northeast Wilderness Trust, MA region-wide office; www.newildernesstrust.org

Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust; www.wlt.org

© Pat Foley, 2009