Keepin' It Rural

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The Bluegrass region is one of Kentucky’s quintessential landscapes. Scenic pastoral views are dotted with bourbon rickhouses. Mile after mile of black fences shelter world-renowned Thoroughbred horses whose bones are strengthened by the calcium-rich soil. Verdant farmland grows food and crops.

With the continued growth of Lexington, Fayette County residents in the mid-1990s became concerned that the agricultural and natural lands of the region were under increasing threat of development. This would be a major loss, of both the rural character of the area and of many rural enterprises that are foundations of Kentucky’s economy.

A group of concerned county residents gathered to strategize about solutions, ultimately creating a nonprofit committed to conservation. The Bluegrass Land Conservancy partners with landowners, offering a tool for them to maintain the traditional rural uses of their land. While landowners retain ownership and the right to sell their property or pass it down to others, conservation easements enable them to voluntarily entrust certain present and future development rights to the conservancy. The process works to protect a property’s agricultural viability, natural habitat and rural heritage in perpetuity.  

“We want the conserved lands to be locally owned and in the hands of farmers,” said Jesse Hancock, Bluegrass Land Conservancy executive director. “We encourage long-term usability and want landowners to live, hike, farm and hunt on the land. We want to preserve the rural uses of land while protecting it from major development or subdivisions.”

This focus on working lands makes the Bluegrass Land Conservancy unique in Kentucky. Spanning 26 counties between Lexington and Louisville, it is the largest regional land trust in the Commonwealth. It holds conservation easements for 159 farms totaling 33,000 acres.

Each easement is different, tailored to the specific needs of the landowner and the place. BLC’s role is as a steward, ensuring the easement is respected by all landowners in the future. As an organization, it is not opposed to development. Instead, it focuses on proactive land conservation as a way to preserve the state’s best resources and encourage local conversations about how an area can grow without encroaching on important agricultural and natural resources in that area.

There are as many motivations for conservation as there are easements. Sometimes, the motivation is financial, such as tax benefits. Sometimes, it’s a way for small family farms to remain in production with less pressure on the next generation to take over. Sometimes, it’s an environmental decision, a desire to protect habitats and waterways. Or it can be a community decision, a way to create contiguous conservation lands with ecosystem-level impact.

Two of central Kentucky’s best-known Thoroughbred farms have entrusted property to the Bluegrass Land Conservancy—Claiborne Farm in Bourbon County and Three Chimneys Farm in Woodford County. The late R.J. Corman put an easement on some of the acreage at his company’s Jessamine County corporate headquarters in his will.

Through the years, the conservation easement tool has proved to be a useful and flexible tool for a wide range of uses. Protecting farmland is a key to the conservancy’s work. In its quest to conserve the harder-to-define rural character of the region, though, it also includes water resources and natural areas in its portfolio. For example, Elkhorn Creek in Franklin County is a popular recreation destination that is experiencing development pressure. Hancock spoke recently with the fiscal court on how landowners can be proactive about retaining the waterway’s natural qualities.

A Future for Family Farms

Hoppy Henton’s family has farmed in Woodford County for generations. He has twice put land into a conservation easement with Bluegrass Land Conservancy and previously served on the organization’s board of directors. Henton, who is farm-dependent for his livelihood, readily shares his lived experience operating a commercial farm with an easement.

“It is vital to conserve farmland,” he said. “I am not a preservationist, but conservancy is different. It doesn’t constrain traditional agriculture and keeps the agricultural base in place. It is crucial that people realize it does not intrude on the commercial business of farming, and no one is going to tell them how to farm their own land.”

The first easement Henton donated was for tax purposes, reducing income tax after selling another piece of land. The 2022 conservation was a major family decision that included his adult children, who are part of the farm business. As a farmer, Henton sees the promise of conservancy to offer an alternative to the traditional choices of farming until you die or sell out. He considers it a major step in the future of the farm and its continuity.

Henton also sees it as a major step in the preserving the future of his community. Nearby landowners entering into contiguous conservation efforts together make the biggest impact.

“We have something pretty special here,” he said. “It would be a mistake to put prime farmland in the Bluegrass region under asphalt, even in the name of economic development.”

One of the surprises for Henton in land conservancy is that it fits a broader profile of rural Kentucky than he first thought. It is a solution for more than just a wealthy few and extends to people across the economic spectrum who want to keep their agricultural way of life.

A Faithful Land Ethic

The permanent conservation of the 650-acre Sisters of Loretto Motherhouse Farm in Marion County was a long time in the making.

The Sisters of Loretto and Co-members make up the Loretto Community.  They possess a deep commitment to social and environmental justice and have called their land home for more than 200 years. The Sisters first began talking about conservation in the 1980s. In those early days of the movement, they couldn’t find the right land trust to support their efforts.

In the 2010s, plans to build a natural gas pipeline threatened to take some of the Sisters’ land by eminent domain. They and numerous community partners successfully blocked the pipeline, but conservation again became a pressing issue.

They asked themselves important questions. What is their responsibility to this land and their community? How can they balance the needs of the human and other species that call it home? They needed a partner that could help protect regenerative agricultural lands, forested hills, waterways and pasturelands. And they wanted a partner that would understand the needs of the farm’s living community of 200 people.

Loretto Community Co-member Jessie Rathburn, who serves as the earth education and advocacy coordinator, has helped steward this process. “We absolutely wanted to protect the land, but we needed to give the community new ways to live into our mission in the future in ways we don’t yet know,” she said. “Bluegrass Land Conservancy helped us articulate what options we can leave on the table for the future and what options to take off the table forever, without committing to a certain path right now.”

In January, the Sisters of Loretto and BLC celebrated the conservation of 110 acres of cropland, 242 acres of pasture and hayfields, and 265 acres of woodlands. The altar of the chapel at the farm held pictures of the property throughout the seasons and fossils from the creek beds. Community members brought special rocks and milkweed pods, representations of the sacredness of the land. They sang; they prayed a litany of gratitude; they read scripture. It was a promise to give the land the freedom to do what it does forever.

“Bluegrass Land Conservancy made this possible,” Rathburn said. “They were willing to work with all of our intense and involved community processes. I really respected the manner in which they accompanied us as partners. They never tried to force a particular agenda but listened to what our desired goal was and figured out how to make it possible. I highly recommend them to other landowners.”