Eighty-three acres preserved in Cumberland Township

The Land Conservancy of Adams County (LCAC) has announced a conservation easement donated by Sara and Jamey Tatman on their 83-acre property in Cumberland Township west of Gettysburg.

According to LCAC, a conservation easement is a voluntary land protection agreement between a private landowner and a land trust such as LCAC. It permanently protects the unique resources and conservation values found on a property – such as its ecological, scenic, wildlife, or agricultural resources.

The Tatman property is half-wooded and half-pasture land. Purchased in 2022, theTatmans have been working to build a home for their family as well as for a growing number of animals: horses, goats, pigs, alpacas, highland and longhorn cattle, as well as chickens and guineafowl. The parcel borders a stretch of Marsh Creek, and is nearly surrounded by other protected properties: a farm to the west preserved through the Adams County Agricultural Land Preservation program, and on the north and east by the Gettysburg National Military Park.

“We had significant help to get this conservation easement to the finish line,” according to Sarah Kipp, LCAC’s land conservation director. She said funding was put together from the Adams County Community Foundation’s Giving Spree, as well as a grant from the county’s Green Space Grant Program and a donation from the American Battlefield Trust.

 “We personally feel very strongly to keep the land in preservation,” said owner Sara Tatman. “We see nothing but farmland being turned over to residential and other developments. We want to be among the select few that preserve farmland in this area.”