The day was cold and clear at the old John Hoft Farm. Pale grasses danced in the wind buffeting the pasture, and nearby ponds were alive with wavelets. Gathered by the farmhouse were more than two dozen Islanders, walkers ready for a tour of this historic property off Lambert’s Cove Road.
The Massachusetts chapter of The Nature Conservancy announced this week it will purchase the John Hoft Farm, 90 acres of rolling pastures and unspoiled morainal woodlands which embrace Duarte’s Pond and the moist bogs off Lambert’s Cove Road in West Tisbury.
The farm is owned by Daniel Alisio and will be named the Hoft Farm Preserve, in memory of his late wife, Marguerite Hoft Alisio, whose family owned the farm for over 100 years.
A large parcel of land along the Edgartown Great Pond, which is now planned for an 18-hole golf course, was the subject of a legitimate and equivalent offer for purchase from a prominent and well-funded conservation group about 18 months ago, the Gazette has learned.
In a move that is expected to knock down many established barriers to the land protection movement, The Nature Conservancy announced this week that it will buy and put into private conservation 103 acres of land along the Edgartown Great Pond. The property just last year was planned for a private luxury golf club.
Formerly owned by Katharine and Robert Bigelow, the property stretches from Meetinghouse Way to the Kanomika Neck shore of the Great Pond fronting Mashacket Cove, and includes a large expanse of globally rare sandplain grassland.
The Nature Conservancy and The Trustees of the Reservations will be conducting five controlled burns at ecological restoration sites around the Island this spring.
The Nature Conservancy has sold its Lambert’s Cove office to BiodiversityWorks, providing a permanent home for the Vineyard-based wildlife monitoring and research nonprofit.
The Nature Conservancy has significantly cut back its presence on Martha’s Vineyard, eliminating staff and confirming plans to sell the Vineyard Haven office.
The roar of machinery and crunch of crushed vegetation were in the air at Long Point Wildlife Refuge in West Tisbury this week, marking the beginning of a pair of state-funded projects to restore rare Island sandplain grasslands.
Some 830 acres of unspoiled upland property in the rural perimeters of Edgartown - part of the vast place known to many as Pohogonot, whose total land area at one time included some 5,000 acres of magnificent upland and coastal farmland - will be sold by the descendants of the late George D. Flynn to the state Department of Environmental Management by the end of the month.
Prominent conservationists announced yesterday that they have acquired Barnard’s Inn Farm, a 60-acre parcel of land in West Tisbury that is highlighted by the arboretum created by Mary Louisa (Polly) Hill.
The property is important for several reasons. The farm is considered a key element in the rural stretch in the north part of town. It links several important pieces of conservation land.
