Northampton’s conservation endowment quietly goes toward saving city’s available land
NORTHAMPTON — Some residents have been giving back to the city they love by sustaining a largely unknown endowment that's helping to conserve 30% of Northampton's land.
Unique to cities and towns, the fund gives the city of Northampton about $30,000 in earnings each year, totaling about $175,000 over the past 18 years. Now, the fund's driving force is going public in a final push to have the endowment reach $1 million.
Wayne Feiden, the city's former director of the Office of Planning and Sustainability, said an anonymous Northampton resident is putting up $25,000 as a challenge to others who live in the city. If others donate $25,000, the resident will match it.
Feiden, a longtime city employee, got the fund started in December 2007 and has been its staunchest advocate.
The reason for raising so much money, said Feiden, is to help Northampton reach its goal of putting at least 30% of its land in permanent conservation. The city has about 26% of its land conserved already.
The state Office of Environmental Affairs also has set a 30% goal for conserving Massachusetts land, as did the U.S. government three years ago. This February, however, the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of its "30x30″ commitment, an agreement that was part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, calling on countries to conserve 30% of their land by 2030.
Many cities and towns do the work of conserving land that's crucial for the public water supply or to protect biodiversity and endangered species, but having money available is an ongoing problem.
In Northampton's case, its Conservation Endowment Fund helps fuel such efforts. The $950,000 fund is managed by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, and the principal is beyond the reach of city government.
Separating the endowment fund from the demands of current politics was by design, said Feiden.
"Sustainability should be all things," said Feiden, who runs the Center for Resilient Metro-Regions at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "Funding is an important part of sustainability."
Wayne Feiden, seen in 2012, runs the Center for Resilient Metro-Regions at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. (The Republican, File)
Feiden and others in the land conservation movement say that Northampton is possibly the only community in the state to have its own endowment tied directly to buying land.
But, he noted that giving money to a fund is not as appealing to residents as donating for a particular parcel of land.
"Most people want to touch and feel what they contribute (to)," said Feiden. "Building an endowment that's going to be in a bank is not as sexy."
Glamorous or not, many people have donated hefty sums to the endowment. Before he passed away, Doug Kohl, a prominent developer in Northampton, donated $50,000 to the fund. Florence resident Kathleen Hibshman had donated $5,000 annually to the fund with her then-husband. After they divorced, the annual contribution stopped, said Feiden.
Hibshman died in September 2020 but remembered the endowment in her will. She left the fund an $83,000 gift.
To be sure, Northampton can generate a fund that is closing in on $1 million because of the wealth of some of the city's residents.
"I would say wealth and determination," said Feiden. "Some of the people I know (who've given to the fund) aren't rich by a long shot."
He estimated that the average amount of a gift to the endowment is $1,000, with some as small as $5. Some of the largest donors have given $25,000 each to the fund, said Feiden.
Brian Adams and his wife, Edith "Morey" Phippen, live on Old Wilson Road in Northampton, next to a stretch of land that once was the Pine Grove Golf Course. The golf course closed, the city stepped in, and now it is conserved land.
Adams and Phippen gave to the endowment fund three years ago, calling it "an easy decision to make."
Donating to a fund that advances the work of conserving Northampton land, said Adams, is compelling because the forests and hills and riverways in the city "are beautiful pieces of land."
The city has bought land in all geographic parts of the community, from the Mineral Hills in the west to a beach on the Connecticut River that forms the city's eastern edge, said Adams. That means nearly everyone is close to some portion of land that will remain open forever.
The land "is literally in the backyards of just about everybody," said Adams, who is the chair of the city's Community Preservation Committee.
Adams moved to Northampton nearly 40 years ago, drawn by the art and music scene and a brand of politics that matched his own. But he has come to admire the commitment to conserving open space that city leaders and many residents share.
"Northampton is unique in many ways, and this is one of them," said Adams, referring to the conservation endowment. "We have resources and a certain amount of wealth in this town that others do not."
Northampton's assistant director in the planning office, Sarah LaValley, leads the city's efforts in land acquisition. She called the distribution that the endowment fund provides the city "a guaranteed source of income." This year, it came to $28,100.
The fund's annual disbursement is not enough by itself to buy land outright, said LaValley, as there are additional costs associated with buying land.
LaValley and Feiden said the money gets used alongside matching grants from the state, and for paying consultants and for land appraisals. Perhaps more important, said LaValley, is that the endowment funds are available immediately, unlike money from grants and the local taxpayer-funded Community Preservation Act, which can take months to arrive.
LaValley said she knows that she is fortunate professionally to work for a city willing and able to conserve so much open land. It's important, she said, for reasons beyond providing hiking trails. The conserved land helps keep drinking water clean and gives diverse wildlife species space away from houses and roads, and the swaths of forest help sequester carbon on a warming Earth.
"It's something I'm passionate about," said LaValley. "Open spaces are critical for a healthy planet."
Those looking to donate can go to Northampton Conservation Endowment web page, found in the donate section of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts website at communityfoundation.org.
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