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200-Year-Old Farm Plays Role in Expanding

Saco Conservation Area

BRUNSWICK — A 180-acre addition to the Saco Heath Preserve in Saco will expand the conservation block to nearly 1,100 acres. The Nature Conservancy is working with two private landowners on a three-step process to expand habitat protection and ensure continued agricultural uses. The Conservancy purchased a 215-acre tract this month that included a 200-year-old brick cape, post-and-beam barn and an apple orchard.  The plans are add the bulk of the acreage to Conservancy’s Saco Heath Preserve, sell a 20-acre field to a local farm operator subject to restrictions preventing any non-agricultural uses and sell the house, barn and orchard on the open market subject to restrictions preventing any additional development

“Creativity is the bottom line with this project,” said Will Brune, Assistant Director of Land Protection for The Nature Conservancy. “Through the leadership of the John and Katherine “Roddy” Burrows,, we’re able to add to the Saco Heath Preserve and protect important community values by ensuring a working landscape and maintaining a historic farm.”

Under the agreement, The Conservancy purchased the entire 215-acre property from the Burrows family, which sold to the Conservancy in the face of offers for more money.  Some 180 acres are abutting the Conservancy Saco Heath Preserve and will be added to the conservation area, expanding it to nearly 1,100 acres. A 15-acre parcel with the cape, barn and orchard will be sold with a conservation easement restricting future development. Finally, the project includes a 20-acre field which has been used for agricultural purposes. The Conservancy is in the process of trading the parcel, after placing restrictions on it to ensure continued agricultural use, for 20 forested acres abutting the Saco Heath Preserve known now as the M. G. Milliken Knoll. 

"After living on the property for 30 years, we wanted to make sure that the next owner of the land shared our view of keeping the land in its natural state,” said Roddy Burrows.  “The Nature Conservancy was the only buyer that could assure us that the land would never be chopped-up into house lots."

“The field will be put back into production this spring,” said Brune.  “I think people will be surprised to see land being turned back into farmland, as opposed to a housing development. In order to keep things the same, sometimes they need to be changed."

The acquisition continues a long-standing commitment on the part of The Nature Conservancy to protect the Saco Heath, which harbors one of Maine’s largest and most intact Atlantic white cedar swamps and the state’s only known population of the Hessel’s hairstreak butterfly. Moreover, the Preserve provides exceptional habitat for wide-ranging animals such as fisher, moose, bobcat, deer and wild turkey. Since 1989, the Conservancy has conducted nine separate land conservation transactions at the Saco Heath site. The preserve, which features a mile-long boardwalk, is open to the public for a variety of traditional uses including hiking, bird watching, hunting and snowmobiling on existing trails.

The resale of the property will be through ReMax Heritage of Yarmouth, who brokered the original sale to the Conservancy. 

“There are often surprises in this business and this was one of the more fun ones,” said Mike Lepage, owner of ReMax Heritage.  “Although the Farmhouse on 215 acres was attractive to a number of other buyers, the Burrows opted to work with The Nature Conservancy as it provided them with peace of mind that their neighbors would not be effected by the sprawl that they and their Saco neighbors has just voted against. The town of Saco will long be the beneficiary of the goodwill of the Burrows and the good work of the Nature Conservancy.  It was a privilege to work with both.”