Sportsmen, land trust join > Easement aimed at saving parcel

DENNYSVILLE — While some may characterize their partnership as unlikely, members of the Dennys River Sportman’s Club and the Quoddy Regional Land Trust hope their agreement to protect 40 acres and one mile of frontage on the Dennys River will last forever.

During the past week, the two groups met and signed documents to establish a conservation easement aimed at forever protecting the parcel from development.

The partnership had its beginning in 1988 when the Sportman’s Club invited trust members to a meeting to talk about the creation of a conservation easement.

“That was just an informational visit. They had a lot of questions, and they were concerned about the future of the land,” said Nancy Nielsen, a member of the trust. “They realized that while they could pay the taxes now, circumstances might change, and the club might not be able to continue to support and maintain this land.”

Time passed, and the two sides did not resume their talks until 1990.

“At that point we drafted an easement, and we had a conservation plan done, which was a concept of what they might want,” she explained. Because they had talked about the club’s concerns over the years, the land trust was able to incorporate many of the expectations the club members had on how to preserve the land.

“I have real admiration and respect for these people, not only for the idea of preserving the land, but for the thoroughness with which they attacked this conservation easement,” she said.

Nielsen said the club members had been dedicated stewards of the land. “They wanted to make sure it would never be subdivided. They wanted to make sure that the gravel … is not commercially mined, and that the woods would not be commercially logged,” she said.

The club members, Nielsen said, also wanted to ensure public access.

In 1994, during their annual meeting, club members agreed to move forward with the conservation easement. At their annual meeting this June, the group voted to have the easement document reviewed by an attorney. Once that was accomplished, club President Bob Hinton signed the document.

Formed in 1936, the club purchased the land on the Dennys River in 1948. Ray Robinson, a longtime member of the club, explained why the land was purchased. He said then-owner Ralph Higgins had died, and one of his heirs decided to sell the land to a man from “away.”

“The price was $600. Well, in a small town like this, word got around fast and someone pressed the panic button. They said nobody from away was going to buy that because they’d bring their `no trespassing’ and `keep out’ signs. So they held a club meeting and raised the $600 to buy it in 20 minutes,” he said.

Robinson said that faced with a dwindling membership, the members believed it was in the best interest of the land to enter into a partnership with the land trust.

“If the club should cease to exist, what is going to happen to the property? We would like it to remain as it is, so we approached the land trust,” he explained.