Choiniere Family Farm of Highgate Center, Vermont, has been honored as the recipient of the 2021 New England Leopold Conservation Award.

Sand County Foundation and national sponsor American Farmland Trust present the Leopold Conservation Award to private landowners in 23 states for extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation. In New England the $10,000 award is presented with New England Forestry Foundation; Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities; and American Farmland Trust-New England.

Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, the prestigious award recognizes those who inspire others with their dedication to land, water and, wildlife resources in their care. Dairy farmers Guy and Beth Choiniere receive $10,000 and a crystal award for being selected.

Dairy farmer Guy Choiniere believes the health of the soil is the health of the farm. This land ethic drives his actions on a dairy farm that’s been in the Choiniere family since 1945.

While navigating changes in the farm economy, climate and farming practices, the Choiniere Family Farm has become a model of innovation and adaptability for other New England dairies.

Located four miles from Quebec, Canada, Choiniere Family Farm’s 242 acres of farmland and 70 acres of woodland is crossed by the Rock River and its tributaries. Soil health and erosion control practices have kept the farm productive and resilient despite an increase in severe storms, rainfall and periods of drought in northwest Vermont.

Guy’s parents, Henry and Raymonde, placed a conservation easement on the farm and sold its development rights before transferring it to him and his wife Beth in the 1990s. A generation later, Guy and Beth’s children, Matt and Hannah, farm with them. The Choinieres sell beef, milk, pork, chicken, eggs, honey and baked goods at a store located on their farm.

Prompted by an unstable market for conventional milk in the 1990s, Guy studied and then transitioned to organic production. It’s a move he said was good for his cows, land and bottom line. A few years later he seeded 25 acres of corn to permanent hay and pasture in order to convert his herd to 100 percent grass-fed. That move fetched an even better price for their organic milk.

After taking over the farm, Guy also began addressing environmental issues with assistance from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The conservation plan he developed remains a work in progress today.

To prevent soil erosion and improve water quality, the Choinieres planted 5,000 trees along banks of the impaired Rock River. They also conveyed a 51-acre river corridor easement that designates an area where the river can meander naturally. The land can still be farmed, but the river will not be dredged. There is also a permanent 50-foot naturally vegetated buffer along 12,000 feet of the river’s bank.

Keeping nutrients on the farm and out of the river was also aided when Guy switched from conventional liquid manure storage to an innovative compost bedded pack system. During the winter the cows are fed hay in large hoop barns designed to mimic the comfort and atmosphere of being on pasture. Excess hay provides bedding and catches manure before being trod down into compost. When the cows resume rotational grazing in May, pigs are let into the barns to root around and expedite the composting process before it is spread on fields as nutrient-rich fertilizer. Guy is an ambassador to help other dairies manage bedded pack systems.

Guy is also an instructor for the Champlain Basin Watershed Initiative. This partnership between Vermont, New York and Quebec educates elementary school teachers participating in a course called A Watershed for Every Classroom. The teachers are then equipped to teach their students – future stewards of Lake Champlain — how agricultural conservation practices address water quality issues.

Choiniere Family Farm participates in Vermont’s roadside sign program that identify conservation practices like rotational grazing, cover crops, no-till and streamside plantings. The Choinieres, who were Vermont’s Conservation Farmers of the Year in 2009, are now the first New England Leopold Conservation Award recipients from the Green Mountain State.

Resources from New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) are available for land trusts and other organizations working in Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCPs) to increase the pace and scale of conservation as part of the Wildlands & Woodlands vision. The following are available for download or as physical copies by request.

From Engagement to Action: Supporting Woodland Owners in Decisions about Their Land shares lessons and strategies in this conservation resource resulting from a six-year project in the “MassConn Woods,” where sustained outreach about estate planning, sustainable forestry, and climate change resilience provided an opportunity for newly engaged owners to make progressively more active decisions about their land. Contact Lisa Hayden.

A summary of NEFF’s Exemplary Forestry standards with co-equal goals of improving forest management for umbrella wildlife species, addressing climate change and producing more and better-quality wood.

Pooled Timber Income Fund (PTIF), a tool that allows landowners to conserve their land while receiving lifetime income and tax benefits, is also an opportunity for land trusts to lease timber on their land into the PTIF to receive both management benefits and an annual income. Contact Sophie Traficonte.

About NEFF: Founded in 1944, the New England Forestry Foundation protects and manages working forestland and pursues innovative programs to advance forest conservation, sustainable forestry, and forest-related climate solutions in New England.

More than 400 participants tuned in for the December 15 webinar focused on Wildlands and Woodlands – and how both can play a vital role in conservation in New England. Bob Perschel, Executive Director of the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF); Jon Leibowitz, Executive Director of the Northeast Wilderness Trust (NWT); and Kristin DeBoer, Executive Director of Kestrel Land Trust, shared their views and fielded dozens of questions on the value and imperative of working together to conserve critical forests in New England and beyond.

While NEFF and NWT address forest conservation in different ways, they both advance the case that wildland and woodland landscapes are critically important solutions to preserving a healthy planet for all of its inhabitants.

“These conservation leaders led an inspiring discussion about how New England can best protect and steward its forests in a balanced fashion as the region sits at the precipice of climate change, biodiversity loss, development, and forest fragmentation,” says David Foster, Senior Conservationist at Harvard Forest and Board President of the Highstead Foundation, a sponsor of the webinar together with the Wildlands & Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities Initiative.

Bob, Jon and Kristen shared their perspectives on their organizations’ efforts to support an integrated approach to conservation. The result: a more complete picture of forest conservation in the northeast and its one-of-a-kind role in serving the planet and its inhabitants.