Faith and Cow Mountain Pond

Faith and Cow Mountain Pond

Cow Mountain Pond, a 10-acre body of water, was full of native trout, and parents had been taking kids there to fish for generations. The town even kept a community rowboat tied up on shore for anyone to enjoy—this being a place where folks can be trusted. Townspeople also had camped, hiked, hunted, snowshoed, and picked berries on the hills and meadows around the pond for as long as anyone could remember.

So when Champion International Paper Corp. announced in the mid-1990s it was selling the pond and 1,600 acres of surrounding forest for $500,000, the 86 residents of Granby, Vt., knew they had a problem. The town has only a one-room school, the nearest paved roads are 15 miles away, electricity hadn’t reached local homes until 1965, and Granby’s annual budget was barely $100,000.

Any chance of buying the pond and forest to keep it from development seemed impossibly remote—but Granby thought it over. After all, the town had raised the money to bring in electric power when the electric company thought Granby was too far off the beaten track. Accustomed to getting things done—and willing to act on faith—the town went into action.

At a town meeting it was decided to explore the matter. “Some folks were concerned the land would be developed by outside interests and Granby’s way of life would suffer,” says Bruce Berryman, a member of the town’s acquisition committee. Others were concerned access might be lost if strangers bought it. This was land worth saving because it was part of their lives—and of special interest was Cow Mountain Pond, Vermont’s last undeveloped native trout pond.

After months of research, a committee of citizens made a proposal that the town approved, Berryman says. The package included a grant of $300,000 from the federal Forest Legacy program and $150,000 from the state, with The Nature Conservancy donating expertise and legal assistance. That left the town’s contribution at $50,000, an amount equal to half of the annual town budget. The effort got underway.

Granby went to work in time-tested fashion, holding potluck suppers, cakewalks, and quilt sales. But in the limited time available to the town, only $1,500 could be raised. So when residents said they were willing to raise taxes to repay borrowed money, Granby sought a bank loan. At the 11th hour, additional funding by the state’s House Appropriations Committee averted a tax increase, so, all was right with the world—or so it seemed.

At the closing, the seller’s attorneys checked the figures one last time—and found the town was $500 short. “No deal,” they said.

“We were speechless,” recalls Berryman. They’d been to enough potluck dinners to last a lifetime, and now the sale had gone south. The meeting was put on hold while town representatives put their heads together.

“A call was made to a new resident of Granby, who, in turn, called his father whose relatives once lived in town,” Berryman says. “The father would donate $500 if a trail would be named for the Carpenter family.” Finally, the attorneys were satisfied and the Granby Municipal Forest was established.

There were other bonuses. Little Cow Mountain Pond, a pristine three-acre area harboring endangered plant species, is now protected. Also, a 200-acre parcel, home to 200-year-old trees, was declared “old growth” and permanently preserved.

The town got together with state and federal folks for—what else—a celebratory potluck. Following dinner, the group hiked to Cow Mountain Pond.

One notable stipulation for Granby’s forest: no new trails could be made. Trails were restricted to old logging roads, moose paths, and hiking tracks already in existence. As it turns out, this isn’t a burden—there were, and still are, plenty of moose, and residents can walk the Carpenter Trail.

And the community rowboat still is there for all to use.

Tony Lolli is a freelance writer and outdoor guide from East Burke, Vt.

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