Farmlands are a part of the environmental data collection process
and the impacts on them are evaluated throughout the development
of alternatives. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT)
and the Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA) recognize
the value of farmlands and have sought to help protect Pennsylvania’s
and Maryland’s farmlands from conversion to nonagricultural
uses. In order to achieve this goal, PennDOT and MDSHA have incorporated
farmland assessment studies into their Environmental Evaluation
Process for all federal and state-funded transportation projects.
The first step in a farmland assessment is to identify the agricultural
resources in the study area. This includes farm fields, farm buildings,
and farm support services (such as equipment retailers, farmer's
markets, etc.), which are identified using aerial photographs and
field views. Further investigations are performed to identify farmland
in special preservation programs. In Pennsylvania, these programs
include agricultural easements, Agricultural Security Areas (ASA),
and lands enrolled in Act 515 or 319 (Clean and Green). In Maryland,
farmland programs include: Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation
easements, Maryland Environmental Trust (MET) easements, Maryland
Agricultural Water Quality Cost-Share (MACS) Program, Maryland Department
of Agriculture (MDA) Low Interest Loans for Agricultural Conservation,
and Rural Legacy Program easements. Many agencies such as the Somerset
and Garrett counties agricultural extension offices, Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture, the United States Department of Agriculture,
and private conservation organizations are contacted to collect
this data. After the data is received, it is added to the environmental
resource mapping.
As alternatives are being developed, all efforts are made to avoid
and/or minimize impacts to farmlands while meeting the project's
needs and objectives. If avoidance of a farming operation is not
possible, detailed information on the operation is collected to
best minimize harm to those operations. Detailed data collection
includes tax parcel research, the identification of soil capability
classes, and interviews with property owners and farmers. Based
on the data collected, a determination of the agricultural impacts
for each alternative is assessed.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania farmland regulations and laws require
that a Farmland Assessment Report (FAR) be produced if condemnation
of Pennsylvania productive agricultural land would be required by
a project. The FAR documents the alternatives analysis process and
efforts to avoid or minimize impacts to Pennsylvania agricultural
lands. This report provides a description of the development and
analysis of each alternative, its impacts to natural, socioeconomic,
and historic resources, engineering information, and an assessment
as to why this alternative was carried forward or dismissed. The
FAR also includes a detailed description of the preferred alternative,
its impacts to agricultural resources, and the efforts made to minimize
harm to this resource. FAR information is then presented to the
Agricultural Land Condemnation Approval Board (ALCAB) for approval
to condemn Pennsylvania agricultural lands impacted by the preferred
alternative. However, if an alternative is available that avoids
Pennsylvania farmlands and minimizes other environmental impacts,
then ALCAB requires that alternative be recommended as the preferred
and a FAR may not need to be prepared.
The State of Maryland’s agricultural regulations do not require
approval from any agency before productive agricultural land can
be condemned. However, as stated above several programs are available
in the state to protect farmland. No land in the Maryland portion
of the project area is enrolled in any of these programs.
Additionally, agricultural land impact assessment regulations required
by state and federal laws include the Agricultural Lands Protection
Policy (ALPP), which applies to Pennsylvania only, and the Federal
Farmland Protection Policy Act (FPPA), which applies to both Pennsylvania
and Maryland.
The ALPP requires agencies of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to
adopt measures to mitigate and protect farmland from conversion
according to the following five priorities: 1. Permanent Agricultural
Conservation Easements or deed restrictions, 2. ASA's, 3. Farmland
enrolled in preferential tax assessments (i.e., Clean and Green);
4. Agricultural protection zoning, and 5. Soils determined to be
most suitable for agricultural use by the Department of Agriculture.
The purpose of the FPPA, which applies to both Pennsylvania and
Maryland, is to “…minimize the extent to which federal
actions contribute to the unnecessary and irreversible conversion
of farmland to nonagricultural use.” The FPPA does this by
providing criteria that allows federal agencies to identify and
account for the effects of federal actions on farmland. The act
requires federal agencies to consider alternatives that could lessen
adverse effects on farmland and to ensure federal actions are compatible
with state and local government farmland protection programs and
policies. The FPPA requires that a Farmland Conversion Impact Rating
Form be prepared for each project or each section of a project that
falls within a separate unit of local governmental jurisdiction
(i.e. each county).
Farmer Interviews Conducted
In March 2003, PENNDOT and McCormick Taylor, Inc. interviewed 20
full and part-time farmers in the project area. The farmers included
dairy, beef, and crop farmers along with maple syrup producers.
The purpose of the interviews was to determine how the farmers use
their land and how their farms/sugar camps operate. Features vital
to the operations, such as water supplies, limited tillable land,
and high yield cropland/maple trees, were identified. Identification
of these features allowed the Project Team to develop highway alternatives
that minimize impacts to the farmer operations.
Additional interviews were conducted with potentially impacted,
full-time and large part-time farm operators in January and February
of 2004. These interviews were conducted to help assess the impacts
of the proposed preliminary alternatives on the operations. Interviews
included, but were not limited to, discussions of direct impacts
to productive land and what affect a take would have on the operation,
of potential lost access or need to redirect access, and potential
shifts or modifications to alignments to reduce impacts.
The results of the farmer interviews and the analyses of impacts
to productive agricultural land will be summarized in the Environmental
Impact Statement.
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