Going, going … but still here: Vt. landscape auction selling conservation, with a twist
By APFriday, August 13, 2010
Auction offers pieces of country for conservation
ROYALTON, Vt. — For $275, you can bid to adopt a purebred ram. For $1,375, you can bid to help create habitat for the chestnut-sided warbler and spend a day birdwatching. Or how about ponying up $13,750 to help preserve a covered bridge?
A Vermont conservation group is holding a “landscape auction” on Saturday. Private landowners will sell working landscape elements to raise money, promote sustainability and give city folks a dose of country life.
The auction is a way of promoting conservation by putting donors in the habitat they’re being asked to help preserve.
The idea came from Europe, where about two dozen have been held over the last three years.
Organizers say the Vermont auction is the first of its kind in the United States.
