Deep roots

For years, Beth McGuinn picked up fresh vegetables and produce from the Dimond Hill Farm in Concord during her commute to work.

At the farm last week, she wore a pair of hiking boots and examined a trail map outlining the 7-mile mile path winding from Dimond Hill, through Rossview Farm, to Carter Hill Orchard.

Its really doable, she said, looking at the wooden trail sign erected beside the farmstand.

Over the past several years, the Five Rivers Conservation Trust has preserved Carter Hill Orchard and Dimond Hill Farm under conservation easements, which protects the land from development, opens up trails for public use and maintains the farmland where local agriculture can flourish for decades to come, McGuinn said.

Its a community farm. People know Dimond Hill, she said. It is available to be a farm forever. Its really special.

McGuinn is now at the helm of the Concord-based conservation organization as its first-ever full-time executive director. She takes over at a time when the nonprofit has grown at a rapid pace: over the past four years, Five Rivers has nearly doubled its number of property easements, from 36 to 61.

With extensive experience in forestry and land conservation, McGuinn hopes to expand on Five Riverss success conserving open land in the Concord area, keeping a special eye on farms.

When you are preserving prime agricultural soils, that is . . . a public benefit,

she said. We have seen an increase in interest in local foods and its really important to be able to source at least some of your food locally.

Five Rivers Conservation Trust launched in 1998 as the Concord Conservation Trust, but in 2002 changed its name and expanded its mission. Five Rivers refers to the nonprofits geographic focus, between the Merrimack, Contoocook, Blackwater, Warner and Soucook Rivers, including Concord, Hopkinton, Bow, Hillsboro, Dunbarton and 10 more towns.

See the rest here:
Deep roots