May News

Sterling College

As we've reported in past newsletters (January, February, March, and April), Headwaters Community Trust has made two offers to buy the Sterling College campus. Both offers were based on the appraised value of the property.

Sterling’s leadership has now shared publicly that the college’s obligations significantly exceed the appraised value of the campus. This leaves Sterling’s trustees with a fiduciary obligation to “test” the property’s value by offering it on the open market.

Headwaters Community Trust remains committed to doing everything possible to secure the Sterling campus, a vital community asset, for community-led development. We hear and understand our community's concerns and sense of urgency. We are mindful that our partners at Craftsbury Saplings require a timely transition in order to move forward with their long-awaited expansion. We also support Sterling faculty and staff who are working to develop programming that will continue Sterling’s mission.

As we pursue and evaluate every possible path toward acquiring the campus and enabling Sterling to meet its obligations, the members of Headwaters' board deeply appreciate the support and encouragement we hear from community members every day. Community engagement is essential to the success of projects like this – thank you!

Planting for the Future

On May 15, Headwaters board member (and consulting forester) Rick Morrill led a band of volunteers in planting some four hundred red oak, hickory, pine, and spruce trees on land owned by Headwaters member John Stone and family. This fun outdoor group activity has many long-term benefits, including:

• Establishing a forest of species adapted to anticipated future climate conditions.

• Expanding forest cover and associated forested buffer along a stream corridor.

• Enhancing future wildlife food sources in the form of mast producing species like red oak and hickory.

• Increasing forest cover in a critical wildlife habitat travel corridor.

• Establishing trees that can become future housing stock in the form of lumber and other locally grown building materials.

Headwaters thanks Craftsbury Outdoor Center for donating the trees, the Stone family, and the Chronicle’s Gabrielle Gervais, who attended and wrote up a nice account of the event.

This was the second annual Headwaters tree planting party to mark World Community Land Trust Day. If you missed it, we look forward to seeing you next year!

Cultivating Partnerships

On April 29, Headwaters board members joined representatives from Greensboro Land Trust, Greensboro Community Trust, Habitat for Humanity, and the Greensboro Conservation Commission to walk a piece of land near the Greensboro-East Craftsbury line. Currently owned by the Vermont Land Trust, the parcel is designated for affordable housing use and has a potential homesite with a suitable area for a septic system. The surrounding acreage has important conservation values – connectivity, a vernal pool, and a wetland complex.

This property was of interest in the early days of the Community Housing Forum. With thanks to the many people whose many phone calls made this gathering happen, Headwaters looks forward to exploring the possibilities for this parcel.

Symposium on the Future of Vermont’s Campuses

On May 13, Headwaters board president Linda Ramsdell joined a panel entitled “Campuses Transitioned and in Transition” at the Symposium on the Future of Vermont’s Campuses. The symposium was hosted by The Creative Campus at Goddard on May 13.

Panelists included Kris Gruen (The Creative Campus at Goddard), Kalya Yannatos (Marlboro Music), Linda Ramsdell, Michael Cohen (Alfred Weismann Group / Southern Vermont College), Kristin Cantu (Greenway Institute), Denise Smith (VCRD), and moderator Joyce Judy (CCV).

Community Support Comes in Many Forms

Our members make up the community that guides the trust in fulfilling its mission. Please join us! Click here to learn more about membership, and to enroll.

As a new 501(c)3 nonprofit, Headwaters relies on gifts and grants to support our work. Donations in any amount help us to continue building a community-led organization that can respond to needs and opportunities as they arise. Click here to donate, and thank you!

Reach Out!

Do you have a question, comment, suggestion, or idea? We want to hear from you! Visit this page, or send an email to info@headwatersnek.org.

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And speaking of news, Headwaters has gotten some great coverage from local and statewide press. So we pulled together an album of our clippings here.

Our mission:

To care for our neighbors and strengthen our communities by creating permanently affordable homes and access to community-owned land.