Alexandersmap

    Tag: development

    • Fences and Forests

      “At present, in this vicinity, the best part of the land is not private property; the landscape is not owned, and the walker enjoys comparative freedom. But possibly the day will come when it will be partitioned off into so-called pleasure-grounds, in which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only – when fences shall be multiplied, and man-traps and other engines invented to confine men to the PUBLIC road, and walking over the surface of God’s earth shall be construed to mean trespassing on some gentleman’s grounds. To enjoy a thing exclusively is commonly to exclude yourself from the true enjoyment of it. Let us improve our opportunities, then, before the evil days come.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walking

      When I moved into the house I’m living in twenty years ago, when this cul de sac was just being built, I watched a dozen deer run through the woods and diagonally through the backyard out to the front where the driveway is and then off to wherever they roamed from there.  A few years after that I became annoyed with one of my neighbors central vacuum system which didn’t (and still doesn’t) have any form of muffler on it.  I put up a six foot privacy fence on that side of the house to block out the noise a bit.  Fences make good neighbors, they say.

      A few years after that we got a very energetic one year old black lab and put him on a run, which was a cable strung tightly between two trees in the backyard with his chain hanging down, giving him some freedom of movement but not enough.  Eventually we fenced in the backyard entirely, and he had room to roam without running away.  Well, we thought so at the time.  Snow pack and exceptional climbing skills proved the fence wasn’t always as high as it needed to be.

      Then came the pool, and it justified the investment in the fence.  And that fence continues to serve us well, in theory keeping the young neighborhood kids out of the pool while being compliant with the town’s codes which require a fenced-in pool.  With a pool you have liability.  Lawyers love pools. Insurance companies love fences.

      The forest remains timeless.  It’s just on the other side of that fence, and it’s largely as it was twenty years ago, and twenty years before that.  It continues to invite itself back into the yard.  After all the backyard was once part of the forest and perhaps one day it will be again.  I see the deer sometimes just on the other side of the fence.  But they don’t run through the yard anymore.

      Thoreau would find his walking to be very different than it was when he wrote those words.  Aside from conservation land and State Parks like Walden the landscape is completely different than it was for him.  Roads are paved, land is subdivided, fences are put up to screen annoying neighbors or to protect pool owners from wandering toddlers.  Thoreau might say that the evil days have indeed come.  And looking at the building boom going on seemingly everywhere I can’t help but think that myself.  Houses and residential communities popping up everywhere.  Roads getting more and more congested.  Mixed-use development projects all the rage.

      I read a book recently that described the frustration that a family had at the development of Bedford, New Hampshire back in the 1960’s.  I know the stretch of road they described as it is today, but never knew it as the quiet country road portrayed in the book.  They ended up moving further north into Maine.  And maybe moving further away is the answer.  Or maybe it starts with taking care of your own backyard before it’s too late.  Conservation and preservation, zoning restrictions, political will and public demand are the formula for open space.  Developers rule most town halls nowadays.  When people are indifferent to the land around them the void gets filled by people who build 55 plus housing developments.  This isn’t developer bashing – developers do a lot of great things and I’ve directly benefited from development.  It’s more a call to all of us to demand more for the environment we’re creating for ourselves and future generations.  A little preservation goes a long way.

    • Population Growth and Conservation

      This morning there were six to eight deer in the woods behind my home.  It was hard to tell exactly how many since they blend into the woods so well.  That camouflage helps with survival in a harsh world full of predators.  The wild turkeys that make an appearance almost daily around the area sport similar camouflage.  It’s no coincidence that both are rebounding in record numbers in New England. While there’s some irony that this is happening while development encroaches on more and more of the undeveloped areas that they live in, wild animals enjoy the relative security that comes with fewer predators.

      I know a few hunters, but I know a lot more people who don’t hunt.  According to the Quality Deer Management Association, there are 5-8 hunters per square mile in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, 9-12 hunters per square mile in Connecticut and Vermont, and 13-16 per square mile in New York and Rhode Island.  Pennsylvania leads the way with more than 20 hunters per square mile.  Of course, when you factor in the length of hunting season, and restrictions in where hunters can hunt, you see why deer and turkey populations continue to increase.

      I’m not a fan of urban sprawl, and I hate to see new developments pop up in the town where I live.  I recognize that the very neighborhood I live in was once woods that someone else valued for it’s pristine condition.  Being a preservationist or a conservationist is tricky business.  Ultimately, the market determines real estate values and the appeal of new developments.  Towns determine zoning restrictions, size of lots, and how many building permits are issued annually.  Towns like Carlisle, Massachusetts have a lot of conservation land, mixed with unbuildable wetlands.  Real estate prices escalate as a result of supply versus demand.  Carlisle happens to be in a desirable part of the state and shares a school system with another desirable town (Concord), so those two factors combine for one of the more expensive towns to live in.

      Contrast that with neighboring towns Billerica or Chelmsford.  Each of these towns have conservation land, but they’ve also allowed significant development as residential and commercial development has snatched up much of the available land in these towns.  The train has left the station for large tracts of conservation land.  What they have is largely what they’ll have going forward.  Even in neighboring Concord, which has large tracts of conservation land and significant cultural and historical value, the fight to save Waldon Woods from developers has taken decades and millions of dollars to secure, and that fight is long from over.

      Perhaps the future of development will be Serenbe, the “progressive community connected to nature on the edge of Atlanta” that blends large tracts of preserved natural areas with properties for sale or rent, restaurants and recreational facilities.  As rural areas become increasingly developed, this may be one way to stem the tide of urban sprawl.  As we’ve seen with the current President, designating lands as public doesn’t necessarily protect them from those who would profit from them.

      My own development was built when there was a four acre minimum for each house.  This restriction created a natural buffer that theoretically limited development.  My neighborhood utilized a loophole where the lots could be smaller – my lot is 3/4 of an acre – while still preserving large tracts of the land as natural buffers.  So the land behind my home is preserved for wildlife and for us all to enjoy.  Sadly this hasn’t been the norm, and many of the developments that have popped up in this and surrounding towns are designed to maximize the profits of the developer versus ensuring open space.

      While cities seem to be gaining more popularity, there seems to be a parallel explosion in 55+ and condo/townhouse developments spreading into previously rural towns.  Hunters and conservationists can work with developers to protect large tracts of land for future generations, but the time to do it is now.  Ultimately money and political will drive much of what will happen.  Time will tell who wins.