Saint Michael's student Matt Crawford of Beverly, Mass., presents winning poster at Geography Conference

Study on conserving valuable rural land presented at Montreal meetings

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Matthew Crawford of Beverly, Mass, a student at Saint Michael’s College

COLCHESTER, VT (11/01/2011)(readMedia)-- Matthew Crawford, a Spanish major and human geography minor at Saint Michael's College of Burlington, Vt., won a scholarly prize in October for his work on conserving land in Chittenden County, Vermont. Mr. Crawford's research poster won the undergraduate student competition award at the New England Saint Lawrence Valley Geographical Society Conference (NESTVAL) held Oct. 14-16 at Concordia University in Montreal.

Crawford returned from studying abroad in Peru, started a summer SMC Vice President for Academic Affairs-funded research project, and this fall asked his Saint Michael's Geography professor, Dr. Richard Kujawa, if he could continue the project into the fall. The result is an extensive research project and the winning poster.

"It's an excellent poster and Matt did a super job at the conference," said Professor Kujawa.

Crawford is the son of David Crawford of Beverly, Mass., and Linda Crawford of Beverly Mass. He graduated from Saint John's Preparatory School before coming to Saint Michael's. In addition to his own academic work, Crawford tutors some of his peers at Saint Michael's in Spanish and Human Geography, and he works part-time at the farm that is featured as part of the poster.

Mr. Crawford's poster, titled Approaches to the Conservation of Rural Land: The Case of Conservation Easements, uses graphs, texts, maps and photos to explore conserved lands, and the location of conservation easements in Chittenden County, the most-populous county in Vermont and the site of Burlington, the largest city in the state. The maps on the poster were made using Geographic Information System (GIS) software.

Crawford's poster details the story of Bread & Butter Farm located in the high-property-value area of Shelburne in Chittenden County, just south of Burlington. Crawford also works part-time at Bread & Butter. The young farmer owners of this particular property are bound by the terms of a conservation easement. Their vision is to provide a community farm with an educational dimension. The events at the organic farm dedicated to healthy food and healthy animals included burger nights with food and live music, apprenticeships for young farmers, and a mission to conserve agricultural and ecologically-valuable land.

Managing rural land use

Crawford's winning poster summarizes findings regarding the use of conservation easements to manage rural land use. He discovered that easements have been used to maintain working forests and open land, provide habitat, and improve agriculture. In his research paper, Crawford explored the impact of easements in Vermont and Massachusetts, looked at how tax codes affect conservation easements, and presented the geography of easements in a computer-generated map.

With Professor Kujawa, Crawford took the study further in a paper also presented at the NESTVAL conference in Montreal titled "Working Landscapes, Conservation Easements and the Public Interest: A Preliminary Examination." The work explores ways that tax policy and conservation easements have been used to conserve agricultural and forest land as well as land of ecological or aesthetic value. The paper explores how these ways of stewarding the land, which continues to be held in private hands, are used in the interests of the public.

With his professor, Crawford came to several conclusions, presented on his winning poster and in his paper, including the fact that "conservation easements can be used to conserve a wide variety of significant lands." He also concluded that federal tax codes are the authority on both land trusts and conservation easements, while state statues enable their usage. He advised that "a rural economy can use conservation easements to its advantage."

Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu . Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead successful, purposeful lives that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's College is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns. Identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nations Best 376 Colleges, and included in the 2012 Fiske Guide to Colleges, Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's top-100, Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2012 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

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