Since 2003, we’ve been working with local farm families to keep farmland affordable and in production in Jefferson County. But strong local farms require more than just affordable farmland to thrive. Farmers also need access to affordable housing—for interns, workers, and sometimes for themselves.
In 2013, we had a plan to help with this issue on an ambitious land protection project in Chimacum. We had a threefold vision for this project: 1) to protect 16 acres of valuable farmland in the heart of Chimacum Valley’s agricultural corridor, 2) to conserve and restore the 625 feet of Chimacum Creek salmon habitat running along the property’s western border, and 3) to find a partner willing to build and manage affordable, high-density and ecologically sound housing for local farm interns, workers and beginning farmers on a portion of the property.
Although this project succeeded on two fronts (the farmland was protected, and salmon habitat has been improved) we were ultimately unable to find a partner willing to develop and manage the farm worker housing we envisioned for the community.
Though this was disappointing, we’re still hopeful it will happen one day—if not on that particular parcel, then possibly on another.
Keeping us hopeful are national examples of creative partnerships that work at the intersection of affordable housing and conservation protection. It’s one of the reasons we’re paying close attention to, and learning from, the work of the Conserving Carolina land trust.
In 2016, two land trusts that later merged to form Conserving Carolina bought more than 1000 acres on Little White Oak Mountain in western North Carolina. In 2019, they transferred 300 acres to Polk County to create a local park next to a middle school and 600 acres to the state of North Carolina, expanding Green River Game Lands.
These 900 acres were ideal for conservation. They protect views of a local scenic landmark and rare natural plant communities, including an endangered wildflower, the white irisette. They also protect an important watershed—approximately 13 miles of streams that flow into White Oak Creek and then to the Green River. They are now protected public lands that, when new trails are built, will be open for everyone to enjoy.
The original land purchase also included some land that wasn’t especially valuable for conservation. An area clear-cut decades ago adjacent to a road was much more suitable for development.
Conserving Carolina decided to sell the parcel and use the funds to help protect the rest of Little White Oak Mountain. But rather than just listing it for sale, they reached out to another North Carolina nonprofit, the Housing Assistance Corporation, to ask if they’d be interested in building much-needed affordable workforce housing on the site. They were, and Conserving Carolina sold the land to them at a below-market price. Soon, a workforce housing development with 32 single-family homes will be built. A bonus is that the homeowners will have great views and live close to a new county park with lots of recreational opportunities.
As a land trust, our mission does not include housing development and management, but the tools we use to protect and conserve land can also open up opportunities for partnerships with housing advocates that advance shared goals. Issues as complex as affordable housing take partnership, vision, planning and hope and some day we’d like to tell a story similar to that of Conserving Carolina—a story where land conservation and affordable housing solutions connect for the common good.
Jefferson Land Trust’s column relating local stories of the land appears regularly in The Leader.
(Richard Tucker is executive director of Jefferson Land Trust. He has dedicated his entire working life to collaborative efforts protecting land and water—from the Puget Sound all the way to the Deep South.)
