Don and Esther Smith watched over the years as the landscape surrounding their 75-acre family farm changed from rural to suburban. They did not want to see their historic house and barn demolished, nor their land bulldozed for development. They preserved their land in December 2025 with a conservation easement held by the Centre County Farmland Trust — realizing a decision they made 14 years ago.
Don and Esther Smith’s newly preserved farm in Spring Township will continue to help keep water clean, sequester carbon and provide beautiful views and land suitable for agriculture, through a conservation easement with the Centre County Farmland Trust finalized in December, 2025.
“It’s just a nice, perfect little place to live,” said Don Smith, whose wife, Esther, grew up on the land that was her family’s farm. The conservation easement on the Smiths’ 75 acres of fields and woodland was finalized with CCFT on Dec. 5, 2025. The property is surrounded by development and the I-99 highway. The land is also adjacent to the Steeplechase residential sub-division and to the campus of the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology Vocational School.
“It was such a joy to work with the Smiths and learn about the unique natural and historic features of their farm,” said Dan Guss, president of the Centre County Farmland Trust. “It feels good that we were able to help them accomplish their dream for the future of their land. There is also great satisfaction in knowing that the natural environment and the community will continue to benefit from the long-term preservation of this area.”
ClearWater Conservancy helped secure the conservation easement on the Smith farm, through a partnership and contract with the Centre County Farmland Trust. ClearWater assisted with easement documents and mapping.
“ClearWater’s help was vital to completing this complicated process in a timely and professional manner,” said Guss.
A ‘nice little farm’
The Smiths have lived on the property for 30 years, tending their vegetable garden with hundreds of tomato and pepper plants. Their limestone house dates to the early 1800s and served as a stagecoach stop on the route between Lewisburg and Bellefonte.
Over the past several years, the Smiths have watched the landscape surrounding their farm change from rural to suburban, as developers have replaced houses, barns and out-buildings from nearby farms with many houses. They did not want to see their historic house and barn demolished, nor their land bulldozed for development.
“It is a nice little farm. We did not want to see it go,” said Smith, who until 2008 worked for West Penn Power to maintain equipment in two dozen power substations in the area.
The Ault family for many years has grown corn, soybeans, hay and grains on about 50 acres leased from the Smiths, an arrangement expected to continue.
A long-held dream
The Farmland Trust, a non-profit, farmland-focused land trust, preserves land like the Smiths’ through a legally binding conservation easement that is tied to the property’s deed and prohibits development of the land, no matter who owns it in the future. The Trust will continue to work with the Smiths and then future owners to safeguard the easement, ensuring that what happens on the land is consistent with the easement.
About 14 years ago, the Smiths decided they wanted the land to be preserved instead of developed. From that time until the easement closed Dec. 5 was “nerve-wracking” said Smith. “When it did happen, we were very happy,” he said.
Prior to 2011, Esther’s mother had signed a sales option agreement with a developer for the sale to occur following her death. When that time came, said Smith, the developer stated a lower price, opening the door for re-negotiation and for the Smiths to retain the development rights.
Initially, they approached Centre County’s Purchase of Agricultural Easements program, which preserves agricultural land by compensating landowners for their development rights. The program ranks land based on criteria including soils and development pressure, and there is often a wait-list.
In summer 2024, after several years on the PACE wait-list, Elizabeth Pirrone-Brusse, Ag Preservation Coordinator, encouraged the Smiths to contact the Centre County Farmland Trust if they could donate the development rights. The Trust does not pay landowners for the likely decrease in market value following a conservation easement prohibiting development on their land.
The Smiths sacrificed their valuable development rights to the property.
Benefitting Quality of Life in Centre County
The goals of the conservation easement are to benefit the community and greater good by improving the quality of surface water and groundwater on the land, as well as nearby and downstream of the land and promoting biological diversity by protecting the natural habitat of flora and fauna, particularly native species.
Trees on the 16 acres of woodland will help offset the harmful by-products of burning fossil fuels, since the trees store carbon. The trees on the now-protected woodland also trap air pollution particulates, cleaning air.
The new conservation easement also prevents the loss and depletion of soil on the land, protects scenic views visible from public roadways and maintains land usable for agriculture. The land provides ecosystem services including absorbing rainwater and sequestering carbon in plants and soil.
The Smiths plan to stay on the farm and continue to grow and preserve vegetables and berries to enjoy and to enjoy giving to friends. They intend to continue producing wine made from strawberries and raspberries. They also enjoy seeing crops and honey produced on their land by a local farmer and beekeeper.