A land conservation project in Pelham could become could break new ground.
The Niagara Land Trust received approval in principle from town council Monday to pursue preservation of about 100 acres of wood lots and wetlands around Merritt Road.
Council stipulated local residents should have access “where possible” to the area in granting its approval.
Don Campbell, a Niagara Land Trust board member and Pelham resident, explained the trust’s project to town council.
In addition to preserving an environmentally sensitive area in the developing East Fonthill residential area, it would have the unusual significance of being done in a residential rather than rural area.
“Managing land in an urban area would be a new experience for us,” he said.
The environmental area is already protected under the town’s Official Plan, said Campbell.
The land trust, however, is looking at who would own, manage and care for the natural area after developers finish and sell their subdivisions.
“They may have little interest in them after that.”
The land trust, he said, works with private landowners encouraging them to donate the land to benefit from tax credits, capital gains exemptions and an Environment Canada ecological gifts programs.
The land trusts will manage the land through ownership or easements.
It would establish a committee of local residents to assist the trust and keep an eye on the lands: “a woodlot watch rather than a street watch.”
Niagara Land Trust is a private, community-based organization and registered charity to conserve Niagara’s natural heritage of woodlands, wetlands and other natural features.
The 10-year-old group concentrates on particular Niagara concerns as opposed to provincial or national interests of other conservation organizations, he said.
In answer to questions from councillors, Campbell said the trust could put trails through the Merritt Road conservation areas to provide public access while keeping people away from sensitive areas.
Some private landowners, however, may not want public on their lands when they allow easements, he said.
There are three major landowners involved in the East Fonthill lands as well as smaller owners with five or 10 acres.
The trust has already talked to some of them and had favourable reactions, Campbell said.
In Pelham, the Niagara Land Trust has the former Smith Christmas tree farm on Orchard Hill Drive.
In answer to a question from Coun. Gary Accursi, Campbell said if Niagara Land Trust folded in the future, its lands would go to another conservation organization such as the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority.
