The dire forecast for the future of the Vineyard environment, signed onto by the Island's major conservation groups 10 years ago this week, was wro

An investigation by the Committee on Finance for the United States Senate has thrust The Nature Conservancy and its conservation buyer program unde

Years of Talks Pay Off in 62-Acre Conservation Gift Along Middle Road

By JULIA WELLS

A wide swath of rolling farmland and wooded hillside that includes a high ridge perched above the scenic Middle Road in Chilmark and West Tisbury will remain forever wild, thanks to an unusual conservation gift from Virginia Crowell Jones and Everett Noteman Jones to The Nature Conservancy and the Vineyard Conservation Society, the Gazette has learned.

The Vineyard could see as many as 7,032 more homes on its 17,475 remaining acres of developable land, officials from the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) said at an Island forum held Thursday night.

"That's a relatively short time frame to be faced with some tough choices," said Christian Jacqz, director of Massachusetts Geographic Information System, in a presentation to Island officials at the Howes House in West Tisbury.

When Steven McCormick was a law student, he asked a professor to explain the exact meaning of the word perpetuity. The law professor's reply to the young student was simple and direct. "It means forever - and a day," the professor said.

Forever and a day is exactly how long the farm fields will now be preserved at the Herring Creek Farm in Edgartown, and on the Vineyard this week Mr.

It began with a suburban-style subdivision plan, polished like a shiny apple: Maximum density, 54 luxury homes, two beach clubs with swimming pools.

It ended last week with a record real estate sale and a subdivision plan of a markedly different color: Six new luxury homes added to five existing homes and a vast sweep of farmland saved forever.

But between the beginning and the end of the Herring Creek Farm story there is another story.