We are a small land trust in Easthampton that has operated for more than 40 years, protecting important land and other natural resources in the city for the public benefit.

The land we all live on in western Massachusetts was originally inhabited by the Nipmuc and other native people who sustainably managed the eastern woodlands for thousands of years. We support the efforts of the Nipmuc to reestablish a community and a connection to the land on Lampson Brook Farm in Belchertown. Their proposal for an agrihood — farming and community care-taking of the land — reflects our values of healing, preserving, and making the land accessible and enjoyable for the whole community.

Bill S2972 has granted the New England Small Farm Institute (NESFI) automatic ownership of a portion of the land without cost, and we support the Nipmuc to have ownership of the land they are applying for without cost as well.

The Nipmuc have suffered the dispossession of their land and other forms of oppression for centuries. Rematriation is a step towards healing from the past and offers some reparations for the injustices committed by European colonizers and governmental policies.

At the Pascommuck Conservation Trust, we are always looking for creative ways to conserve and protect land for the greater good, and it often involves not taking over the land ourselves, but working with others who have similar goals. We strongly urge the Board of Lampson Brook Farm, DCAMM, and our neighbors on this traditionally Indigenous land to return this piece of uninhabited land to the descendants of its original caretakers, and we offer our support and land conservation experience in any way possible to encourage this transition.

Jane Andresen, Mary Lou Dodge, and Rachel Telushkin, on behalf of the board of the Pascommuck Conservation Trust

Easthampton

]]>