Published: July 12, 2009 12:13 am      

Conservancy efforts help to preserve farmland

LIGONIER — Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has acquired an agricultural easement for a farm in Ligonier Township owned and operated by brothers Ray, Jack and Larry Kinsey.

Located near the historic Forbes Trail, the farm has 179 acres and is not far from Ligonier Borough. It includes about 2,000 feet of frontage on a tributary that drains into Upper Loyalhanna Creek.

The Kinsey brothers operate a sheep farm as well as an active seasonal maple sugaring operation.

The land has been farmed since the early 1800s.

The conservancy acquired the easement in collaboration with the Westmoreland County Agricultural Lands Preservation Board. Acquisition of the easement means that the farm will remain in private hands while permanently restricting future uses to farming and timbering only.

Said Tom Saunders, the conservancy’s president and CEO: “This easement conserves prime agricultural soils, protects water quality in the Upper Loyalhanna Creek watershed and protects a farm that is historically and culturally significant to the Ligonier community.”

The conservancy received funding to permanently conserve the Kinseys’ farmland through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program.

The program protects agricultural properties having prime soils and is administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The conservancy also received funding from Westmoreland County to assist with transactional costs, it was noted.

“We greatly appreciate the Kinsey family’s commitment to protecting the special character of the Ligonier Valley,” said Mike Kuzemchak, the conservancy’s Laurel Highlands program director.

“The easement is a true legacy that will be appreciated for generations to come.”



About Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

Since its founding in 1932, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has conserved almost 225,000 acres of natural lands in western Pennsylvania, restored watersheds and saved wildlife.

It has founded six state parks – Ohiopyle, Laurel Ridge, McConnells Mill, Moraine, Oil Creek and Erie Bluffs.

The conservancy’s community gardens help beautify communities in 19 counties, including Cambria. The Cambria County gardens are at Bedford Street and the Johnstown Expressway in Johnstown and along the Ghost Town Trail at Center and Virginia streets, Ebensburg; Chestnut and 2nd streets, Nanty Glo; and Main and 10th streets, Vintondale.

The conservancy maintains and operates Fallingwater, a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 that is built over a waterfall in Mill Run. Fallingwater exemplifies Wright’s concept of organic agriculture: The harmonious union of art and nature, notes the conservancy.

The conservancy’s main office is at 800 Waterfront Drive, Pittsburgh. The telephone number is (412) 288-2777 or toll free at (866) 564-6972.

Its Laurel Highlands Regional Office is at 208 W. Main St., Ligonier. The telephone number is (724) 238-2492.

More information: www.WaterLandLife.org.