Recommendations

Pasture wall is barely visible, yet complements the scene. Mansfield, CT.

There is a strong, growing, and recent trend towards greater protection of stone walls, especially in New England where they are signatures of the rural landscape. The movement is supported at all levels by individuals, nonprofit organizations, and local governments. Specific actions are often ad hoc, and are not yet coordinated by regional planning agencies and state governments.

The Stone Wall Initiative does not have the resources to monitor such changes because they are taking place too fast and at too many levels. At the present time, we can only provide the following generalized summary of communications.

INDIVIDUALS

Concerned for the loss of stone walls on the landscape, individuals are doing several things to help protect stone walls. They are:

• Becoming more aware of the stone trade, asking questions about where landscaping stone comes from and where it goes, when they chose to buy and sell it.
• Discussing the issue with neighbors and associates.
• Writing article in local newspapers and community newsletters.
• Joining the Stone Wall Initiative as members.

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

• Historical Societies, Land Trusts, Conservation Organizations, and Educational Organizations are putting stone wall preservation on the agendas of their meetings and adopting positions on specific issues.
• These groups vote to make decisions about the stone walls on properties they own and manage.
• These groups adopt positions in order to influence the decisions made by other groups.

GOVERNMENT

Government is involved at many levels. The best best place to start would be to contact your designated Town Planner. They can be reached through the town manager's office or through the blue pages in the phone book. The typical way in which towns are dealing with the issue is summarized below.

• Protection is usually implemented through amendment and revisions of planning and zoning documents, or through a town's official plan of development. The revisions usually involve subdivision regulations, building codes, and various ordinances.
• The revisions take the form of including stone walls into the previous list of criteria (or planning elements) that must be looked as part of routine environmental assessment prior to development. For example, subdivision regulations usually require that attention be given to special historic landmarks, archaeological sites, wetlands, aquifers and other factors. Stone walls are gradually being incorporated as a distinct criterion in such assessments.
• Residents and towns are also asking their state reps to sponsor enabling legislation, which would allow towns to back up their land use protection with respect to stone walls.
• State and federal governments are adding greater measures of protection for old stone walls on their properties such as parks, forests, landmarks, scenic roadsides, and preserves.
• Because stone walls often coincide with legal property boundaries, surveying regulations are increasingly recommends their protection.

Government agencies that have contacted the SWI for advice include:

• Connecticut Conference of Municipalities
• Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
• Connecticut State House of Representatives
• Connecticut State Library
• Connecticut State Historical Commission (now defunct)
• New York State (cultural and historical agencies)
• Town of Mansfield, Connecticut... (and dozens more).
• Windham Regional Planning Agency
• U.S. Department of Agriculture
• U.S. National Park Service Quinebaug-Shetucket Corridor
• U.S. National Park Service Minuteman National Park
• Westchester County, NY

RECOMMENDATIONS

For individual private property owners: Assume there are applicable regulations and laws in place. Consult state and local agencies before doing anything.

For group landholdings (Corporate office parks, golf courses, managed forests, land trusts, fishing/hunting clubs, etc.): Consider policies based on the above for private management of stone resources.

For town, state, and federal government agencies: Educate engineering, maintenance, and facilities staff (road crew, waste, planning, groundskeeping, parks, etc.) about wall resources.