According to the United States Department of Agriculture Census Report for 2002, there were 51 active farms in the town of Lyme. Today there are two dairy farms, four livestock (beef cattle) farms and roughly a half-dozen field crop (poor quality hay cut for mulch) farms. The town of Lyme has 43 miles of shoreline, and today there is roughly 3.5 miles of natural shoreline that has not been developed.

Historically, the town of Lyme has been an agricultural area. Farming has always been a rewarding way of life for many hardworking families and a vital economic aspect of this area. Local farmers took pride in their lifestyle and their property, but now that way of life has been threatened, and they have had to make some tremendously difficult choices.

Over the past six years many farmers have been forced to subdivide their property in order to pay their taxes just to retain their homesteads. Sadly, in the process they have sacrificed more than the land. Some have lost their heritage because many of these farms have been in families for several generations.

A pattern has clearly emerged. Waterfront property was parceled off to individuals who have claimed these valuable resources in order to build waterfront homes. What is the cost? Not only have the farmers been forced to sell out their way of life, the natural wildlife habitat has been altered and redesigned, so these habitats are now covered with docks laden with loud, polluting motorboats and noisy personal watercraft.

Spawning grounds have been disrupted. The elimination of vegetative buffers has caused increased soil erosion, nutrient runoff and chemical pollution. Birds, fish and other animals have been negatively impacted to accommodate the development of the shoreline.

The town of Lyme board signed into law an amendment that hugely restricts wind turbines on what little bit of land farmers have left. Some of these same waterfront landowners, who are not in favor of wind farms, are once again violating the rights of the farmers, by supporting the authoritarian regulation of farmland. Town officials will not stop until every farm is gone and every inch of waterfront is usurped. Moreover, the new ordinance and waterfront development will dictate the eradication of the few remaining farms.

Stephen A. Cornell

Chaumont