The last of the municipal bond money approved by voters in 2004 to preserve farmland in Corrales will be used to purchase a conservation easement next year.

Negotiations with heirs to a family farm here have been under way for about six months, but completion of the  transaction is not expected until next summer, according to Claudia “Taudy”  Smith.

The parcel under consideration for  the Village’s farmland preservation program has not been identified publicly while negotiations proceed. It is approximately eight acres, although perhaps only part of it would be protected from housing development in perpetuity.

Smith confirmed “the final bond fund is being utilized to preserve another farm easement.” But, she said, more funding is expected soon.

“We have received news that Corrales will be awarded another U.S. Department of Agriculture matching grant to  help fund this easement purchase. The USDA grant award will probably be finalized in the next few months.”

That additional funding would likely be used to take in more acreage.

“The easement should be finalized by summer’s end 2013, barring any unforseen delays or requirements to complete all the final negotiations which include final purchase agreements based on survey and easement appraisals.”

Earlier this year, the Village Council approved a contract with the New Mexico Land Conservancy in Santa Fe to negotiate the deal. The non-profit has facilitated earlier farmland preservation projects here, and is expected to be final holder of the easement and provide management of it.

Smith, former Village Councillor Sayre Gerhart and now-chairman of the Corrales Farmland Preservation and Agricultural Commission Bonnie Gonzales were prime movers in the community’s approval of general obligation bonds to start a municipal easement program. (See Corrales Comment Vol.XXIII No. 14 September 11, 2004 “Corrales Approves Bonds to Save Farmlands by 5-to-1 Margin”)

About $230,000 remains of the $2.5 million raised from the sale of municipal bonds approved in 2004. Earlier transactions to save farmland here have  protected more than 30 acres that would otherwise probably have been developed as residential subdivisions.

When asked whether villagers should be asked to support a new round of general obligation bonds to keep the Village’s conservation easement going, Smith replied, “As for considering another bond, we have not discussed  that option as the bond payments are not completed yet. It would be presumptive to discuss adding a bond at this point.”

Since the program began here, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program has  provided a series of grants to pay for easements. And a few years ago, the N.M. Legislature created a farmland and open space funding mechanism which might be used for the Corrales effort, when the State’s finances improve.

On Sunday, October 30, 2005, a celebration was held for the successful launch of the Village’s effort to set aside farmland.

“Way to go, Corrales!” exulted N.M. Land Conservancy’s Scott Wilber, who is now overseeing negotiations for the latest easement. “This is great.

“Corrales is the first town in New Mexico to pass bonds for a publicly financed program to purchase conservation easements on farmland. And the first community in the state to secure a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program.

“And as a result, 28 acres of prime Corrales farmland have been preserved.”

Wilber, contracted by the Village to negotiate perpetual easements with four Corrales landowners, was one of several speakers at the community celebration. His non-profit organization holds the easements, and is responsible for enforcing provisions which prohibit those 28 acres from being developed for purposes other than agriculture.

To much applause, those landowners who sold farmland preservation easements to the Village were honored for their community spirit and dedication to agriculture.

They were: The Koontz family, 18 acres; Dorothy Smith and Alana McGrattan, 6.3 acres; Shirley and Jack  Kendall, two acres; and Alan Minge, two acres.

All except Minge, who now lives in Kansas, were present for the celebration.

Since then, the Village purchased 5.5 acres of the Gonzales field (to the west of Wells Fargo Bank) for the program using much of the remaining bond money and grants.

Also on hand at the October 2005 celebration, and singled out for recognition, was Jonathan Porter, who  created Corrales’ first conservation easement on six acres several years ago before the Village's farmland preservation program got under way.

Another guest speaker at the event, was Ginny Parks of the Trust for Public Land, the national non-profit  trust that played a crucial role in acquiring what was expected to be the first of several easements on the Koontz ranch and Trees of Corrales.

“Corrales has become a leader in the effort to save farmland, not just in New Mexico, but throughout the Southwest,” Parks said in congratulations.

“I can’t think of any other community that has demonstrated the kind of commitment that Corrales has to the goal of preserving farmland.

“You all should really pat yourselves on the back.”