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December 2004
Walton, N.Y. - Over one hundred guests attending the Annual
Forestry Dinner hosted by The Watershed Agricultural Council
gathered to celebrate the recent accomplishments of its
partnership programs for landowners, which operate to promote
farm and forest viability while protecting water quality.
A Silent Auction at the November 3 event, held at Belleayre
Ski Mountain in Highmount, raised over $6,000 to benefit
WAC's Easement Program.
Auction items from the farm and forest were donated by
over forty area businesses and restaurants and other supporters,
from finely crafted hardwood and rustic furniture to wool,
maple and orchard products. The funds will benefit WAC's
stewardship needs in the coming years to work with the landowners
of agricultural easements it has purchased on area farms.
The farm and forestry programs of the Watershed Agricultural
Council have gained national attention as an important landowner-based
strategy for conserving working farm and forest land while
protecting water quality in the Catskills. WAC has purchased
agricultural easements on over fifteen area farms, retaining
over 6,000 acres with some of the region's prime farmland.
Easements on these farms conserve the best soils for agricultural
use into the future, while housing development on that land
is restricted.
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