Leroux Property

Many of the conservation easements held by the Northern Rivers Land Trust are designed to protect important wildlife habitats, migration corridors, valuable wetlands, or threatened species. But that is not always the case.

Conservation easements can also be designed to promote or sustain agricultural operations. That’s the situation with property now owned by Ronnie Leroux of Wolcott. In late 2020, Phil Bertocci and his family donated a conservation easement to the NRLT covering their 200-acre property on East Hill Road. Shortly thereafter, Bertocci sold 79 acres of the conserved property to Leroux. Although this property was subdivided and sold as permitted in the easement, it remains subjects to the conditions established in the conservation easement.

Ronnie Leroux is a long-time maple sugarer and neighbor of Phil Bertocci. Desiring to expand his maple business, Ronnie was delighted when Phil offered to sell the property. The 79 acres is more than a grove of trees. The property contains a large hayfield, which Ronnie immediately set out to make more productive. Fertilizing and manuring the field last year resulted in two productive cuttings of hay this year.

Likewise, a small spruce forest was logged of its mature trees and thinned to promote better growth of the remaining pole-sized timber. A mixed hardwood plot was thinned of overstory trees and ill-formed timber to transform the area into a productive maple sugar forest. Ronnie estimates that the maple forest will result in 900 additional taps for his operation. 

His business is not just about tapping more maples and cutting more timber. Ronnie is a conservationist at heart as well as a business owner. He has left many standing dead trees that provide valuable habitat for nesting birds and bats that rest under the peeling bark. He has also left numerous other hardwoods, like yellow birch and ash, within the grove to avoid creating a maple mono-culture. A diverse sugarbush offers more places for wildlife to forage, find cover, and raise their young. To get from one end of his expanded property, he uses a four-wheeled gator with tracks to avoid the damage that tires can do to muddy trails.

Ronnie is looking forward to improved maple production in 2023, and NRLT trustees are eager to watch this sustainable agriculture operation in the future.