Bureau of Land Use 



James P. Alicata, Chief 



To maintain a sound agricultural economy, it is essential 

 that a sufficient amount of land suitable to agricul- 

 tural production be made available to the farming com- 

 munity. It is the role of the Bureau of Land Use to achieve 

 this objective. This can be accomplished through the 

 coordination of both the pubUc and private sector in 

 developing plajis for land use that are compatible to both 

 the needs of development and agriculture. 



1988 was a challenging and productive year for the 

 Bureau, highlighted by the passage and signing of an 

 Open Space Bill which included $35 million for the con- 

 tinuation of the Agricultural Preservation Restriction 

 (APR) program. Due to the previous allocation of APR 

 funds, the Bureau was able to direct attention to alterna- 

 tive preservation techniques which maximize the effect of 

 tax dollars when they become available. 



Professional planning services, for example, have 

 been employed to explore ways that values can be shifted 

 from productive farmland to non-agricultural land that 

 would be more suited to housing or other development 

 purposes. By working cooperatively as a Bureau and 

 with other agencies, an awareness and appreciation of the 

 available farmland in every community can be developed 

 and managed. By offering communities a total package 

 of opportunities that include the identification of active 

 farmland through the mapping program, the purchasing 

 of development rights through the APR program, or the 

 proven management experience of the Massachusetts 

 Farmland Stewardship Program and the Community Gar- 

 den and Fruition programs, the objectives of effective 

 land use management will be acheived. 



Municipal Farmland Identification 

 Program 



MFI is a three-year project which inventories and 

 maps parcels of active agricultural land on a town by town 

 basis. This information is valuable to the Agricultural 

 Preservation Restriction (APR) staff in their efforts to 

 create economically viable blocks of protected farmland. 

 In addition, these maps serve as a useful planning tool for 

 town boards and agencies involved in land use issues such 

 as zoning, preservation of open space and resource 

 protection. 



1988 has been a very successful year for the MFI 

 Program. Nearly all of the towns in Hampshire, 

 Hampden, Franklin, and southern Worcester counties 

 have been mapped. Martha's Vineyard has been finished 

 and several towns in Berkshire County are presently in 

 various stages of completion. Mapping has also been 



completed in a number of communities in Plymouth, 

 Bristol, and Barnstable counties. 



There has been excellent cooperation from the USDA 

 Soil Conservation Service, which performs the final car- 

 tographic work and the Agricultural Stabilization and 

 Conservation Service who have assisted in identifying 

 active agricultural land through the use of aerial photo- 

 graphs. 



A very successful pilot project between DFA and the 

 Hazardous Waste Facility Site Safety Council (HWFSSC) 

 during the summer produced a computer generated map 

 of APR distribution throughout the state. This map is the 

 first attempt at digitizing information from the Bureau of 

 Land Use using the computer capabilities of another 

 agency. The Bureau is currently in the process of assess- 

 ing the feasibility of digitizing all of the Municipal 

 Farmland Identification maps which would help immen- 

 sely in keeping the maps up to date as well as accurate. 



APR Program 



The Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) 

 Program was estabUshed by the Legislature in Decem- 

 ber, 1977 to protect the Commonwealth's rapidly 

 diminishing farmland resources through the purchase of 

 Agricultural Preservation Restrictions, commonly 

 known as development rights. It is a voluntary program 

 whereby farmland owners apply to the Department of 

 Food and Agriculture to sell a restriction on all or a 

 portion of their property. After field inspections, a 

 screening and selection process, appraisals, and approval 

 by the Agricultural Lands Preservation Committee, the 

 Commonwealth acquires deed restrictions, which run in 

 perpetuity, and prohibit all activities that would destroy 

 or impair the land for farming. Title to the land still rests 

 with the landowner who enjoys all the traditional rights of 

 the property ownership, such as the right to privacy, the 

 right to lease or sell the land, and of course the right to 

 farm the land. 



Since the program's inception, more than 25,272 acres 

 have been protected statewide, with an additional 14,300 

 acres currently in process. During the past six years the 

 Legislature appropriated five million dollars for each of 

 the first four years, twenty milUon dollars in 1983, another 

 five million in 1984, and $35 million in 1987 for a total of 

 $80 million to fund the program over the course of the 

 1980's. 



An active farmland preservation role by the Depart- 

 ment of Food and Agriculture came none-too-soon for 



