thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

Gerry Cohn, Southeast States Director of the American Farmland Trust, will conduct a public seminar about steps other communities in the United States have taken to protect farmland.

The presentation, which is free and open to the public, will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Cohn will also facilitate a workshop from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday on specific ways Blount County might develop a farmland preservation program.

Both sessions will be held at the Chilhowee Club, located at the corner of Clarion Avenue and Cates Street in Maryville. Parking is available on Cates Street.

The American Farmland Trust is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping farmers, landowners, communities and governments develop programs to strengthen and preserve farming and agricultural land. These free events are sponsored by Maryville College Center for Strong Communities, the Raven Society, Foothills Land Conservancy, and Citizens Against the Pellissippi Parkway Extension.

“We’re hoping the seminar will draw residents including farmers and concerned citizens, elected officials and community leaders to discuss the importance of farmland in the broader community,” said William Newton, director of the Center for Strong Communities.

“We’re very concerned about preservation of the historical treasures we have, but farmland is a great treasure of this culture and our environment and our economy. The Center for Strong Communities draws together collaborations on community concerns. ... This was a natural for us to partner with the Foothills Land Conservancy as well as the Raven Society. We hope to draw people together who may not be like-minded but have some common ground in solving problems in our community.”

Doug Gamble, secretary of the Raven Society, has big hopes for the seminar.

“We want to help Blount Countians understand that in communities around the country folks have figured out and developed methods to preserve agricultural land and encourage us in Blount County to put our minds to how we get through that here.”

Gamble is also a member of the Blount County Growth Management Advisory Committee whose mandate is to discuss the development of a program to purchase development rights to property to preserve open space.

For more information about the seminar, call (865) 256-8262.