Berkshire Community Land Trust

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Berkshire Community Land Trust

The Community Land Trust holds community owned land for homes, farms and businesses to ensure permanent access, control, affordability and stewardship.

A community land trust is a management tool for sustainable place-based communities. It enables people to balance land wealth in private control with community requirements for land. Food security, a productive workforce, energy independence and a robust local economy depend on access to land. A community land trust holds community-owned land to ensure permanent access, control, affordability and

stewardship of land for homes, farms and businesses. A sustainable place-based community needs to manage growth, protect ecosystems and maintain a safety net through democratic processes that cultivate diversity. This is the process of place-making. Today, communities that have been weakened by the forces of the global economy are developing ways to re-localize producers and consumers, businesses and jobs, skills and resources. Their evolution to more balanced ways of living builds their resilience. Access to land can be a critical factor in building community resilience. Markets may fluctuate here and there, but in general the value of land is increasing all the time. We have only one Earth to be divided among the growing number of people who live here. Eventually pressure on land access pushes prices beyond what most people can afford. A community land trust is a mechanism for controlling land access by sharing ownership of the land for the common good. It promotes collective stewardship of common resources. A community land trust is a model for creating a commons. As a people-powered tool for achieving community goals, a community land trust is a tried and true framework of legal documents and processes that govern occupancy, property pricing, sale and resale. By holding the land in perpetuity and leasing it to occupants, the value of land is removed from the price of the home, farm or business. That lower price reduces buyer debt and improves business profitability. Equity builds in the improvements made by owners to buildings while the incremental increase in the land value remains with the community. As an open, democratic organization, a community land trust enables long-term land use planning and allocation of resources to support goals for sustainability. We all need food, shelter, energy, transportation, healthcare, communications, a workplace and education. History teaches us whoever controls our land will control our future. Wise people committed to life in a shared place use a community land trust to share ownership of the land for the common good. A Community Land Trust can:
• Allocate land for strategic purposes
• Enable targeting of social benefits to specific groups
• Encourage investment in real property and business
• Reduce the cost of opportunity for entrepreneurs
• Increase farming and local food production
• Support workforce development and retention
• Provide equitable, inclusionary and affordable housing
• Protect natural resources

05/18/2026

Evening Birding on River Run Farm, home of Off the Shelf Farm, with Great Barrington Land Conservancy & Hoffmann Bird Club
Wednesday, June 3rd, 5:30 pm, River Run Farm, 200 North Plain Road, Great Barrington
Great Barrington Land Conservancy and the Hoffmann Bird Club are pleased to provide the community with a free guided bird walk at River Run Farm, home to Off the Shelf Farm, a beautiful farm property located beside the Housatonic River on Route 41 in Great Barrington. River Run Farm is held in trust by Berkshire Community Land Trust as part of the Farmsteads for Farmers initiative.
A great event for beginning and more experienced birders, we will explore the edges of field and forest habitats and expect to see nesting and migratory birds. Expect gentle terrain. Please wear long sleeves and pants, bug repellents are recommended. Please carpool if possible. Group size is limited by available parking.
Registration required: Register HERE, or email [email protected]

NOTE: Attendees who would like to place preorders from Off the Shelf's Farm store are encouraged to place an on line order which can be picked up at the end of the tour. www.offtheshelffarm.com to order.

Tuesday, June 9, 2026 - 9:00 am, River Run Farm, home of Off the Shelf Farm, 200 North Plain Road, Great Barrington, MA

Join Ben Nickley of Berkshire Bird Observatory for a leisurely bird walk around the grounds at River Run Farm. Ben will point out many of the brilliant birds that call River Run home during the summer. Expect gentle terrain. Please wear long sleeves and pants, bug repellents are recommended. Please carpool if possible. Group size is limited by available parking.
Registration required: Register HERE, or email [email protected]

NOTE: Attendees who would like to place preorders from Off the Shelf's Farm store are encouraged to place an on line order which can be picked up at the end of the tour. www.offtheshelffarm.com to order.

05/07/2026

Riotous. Subversive, pervasive. Enter the spring dandelion!

05/05/2026

05/01/2026

Up close and personal with a beaver, from Berkshire Community Land Trust's Forest Row. Thank you for the great video!

04/07/2026

Join us May 7th! Registration highly recommended!

Community, Economy, Climate, a cross-disciplinary exploration of life in the Berkshires
Thursday, May 7, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Doors Open: 5:30
The Guthrie Center, 2 Van Deusenville Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230
Free (please reserve a space ONLY if you are definitely attending)
A reception will follow the panel.

Email and phone: [email protected], 413 429 1176

Please join the Berkshire Community Land Trust for a panel with local leaders, asking the question what do we gain by working together, and what do we lose if we don’t? Moderator Katy Sparks will lead a panel of diverse non-profit experts in the fields of farming and food production, food access, housing, local business support, and environmental advocacy in discussion about how to make life in the Berkshires sustainable for everyone. What are we doing now? What can we do better? What do we need more of? What do we need less of?

Speakers Brittany Ebeling (Berkshire Environmental Action Team), Jim Harwood (Community Development Corporation of the Southern Berkshires), Dennis Iodice (BerkShares), and Margaret Moulton (Berkshire Grown) will share their work and thoughts.

The panel will be preceded by a brief Berkshire Community Land Trust annual meeting. A reception will close the evening. Everyone is welcome; you need not be a member to attend, but please do make a reservation.

03/19/2026

Thank you WTBR-FM and Pittsfield TV (PCTV) for this fun interview on Morning Drive by Bob Heck with Beth Carlson!

Our mission is to empower our community to create media and amplify diverse voices through the best technology and wide-reaching platforms.

03/18/2026

We are excited to announce that Berkshire Community Land Trust has created a new Executive Director position and promoted our Operations Director, Beth Carlson, into the role! Thank you to the Berkshire Eagle and The Berkshire Edge for your coverage of this announcement!

Berkshire Community Land Trust has promoted Operations Director Beth Carlson to its newly created executive director role.

02/20/2026

Prairie Prophecy

A film and panel on perennial agriculture presented by BIFFMA and Berkshire Community Land Trust
Sunday, March 22, 2026, 3 PM
Triplex Cinema, 70 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA

Tickets: https://biffma.org
INFO: [email protected]

Berkshire International Film Festival, Berkshire Community Land Trust, and the Roaring Brook Foundation team up to present Prairie Prophecy.

Prairie Prophecy explores a revolutionary way of thinking about agriculture—one rooted in nature, resilience, and long-term stewardship of the land. Drawing on the ideas of scientist-farmer Wes Jackson and the work of The
Land Institute, the film examines how perennial and natural systems agriculture offer practical responses to soil loss, climate change, and the future of food. Thoughtful, visually rich, and inviting, Prairie Prophecy encourages viewers to engage with sustainability not as an abstraction, but as a human-scale story with real-world relevance.

The one hour film will be followed by a panel discussion on perennial agriculture in the Northeast. Moderated by Lillian Lennox of the Roaring Brook Foundation, panelists will include Michael Johnson, (Director and Executive Producer of Prairie Prophecy), Bill Vitek, (Middlebury College, Director of the Perennial Project), Will Conklin (Executive Director of Greenagers who is a participant in the Land Institute's Perennial Atlas Project), Piyush Labhsetwark, (Grow Northampton

Farm and Land Stewardship Manager and Kernza farmer). All attendees are invited to join BIFF, Berkshire Community Land Trust, and the panelists for a reception in the Triplex Lobby after the discussion.

This event is being supported by and the

12/15/2025

End of year fundraising letters in the mail this week! Thank you for all your support!

*Now accepting gifts of stock.
Contact [email protected] for information.

*Donating by check?
Make your check out to Berkshire Community Land Trust with Farmsteads for Farmers
in the memo and mail it to P.O. Box 276, Great Barrington, MA 01230

*We are proud to accept BerkShares, the currency that supports our local economy.

*Want to donate online?
www.berkshirecommunitylandtrust.org/donate
Select Farmsteads for Farmers in the pull-down menu to target your gift.

*Considering a gift of land for
housing, farming, or local businesses? Please contact Beth at [email protected]

11/07/2025

Thank you Guido's Fresh Marketplace customers in Pittsfield and Great Barrington for rounding up and raising $14,285.81 for Farmsteads for Farmers!

Thank you to Guido's staff for making this such a wonderful experience and a successful campaign! These funds will go towards our work to provide land and housing access for Farmers and is truly appreciated!

Address

140 Jug End Road
Great Barrington, MA
01230

Telephone

(413) 528-4472

Website

http://berkshirecommunitylandtrust.org/

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