You know after all these years of fighting development in the Pine Bush, and bemoaning yet another house being built in a woods or a farm field, I am seriously considering buying some undeveloped land and building a house on it. It’s really hard to find a property with lots of land that has a reasonably-sized structure for one person that is energy efficient and is powered by renewable energy.

How do I plan to address some of my moral quams about developing land?

• I am not looking to turn the land into a suburban paradise but instead rural use – homesteading with livestock and gardening, not inconsistent with rural uses
• I will work to minimize the removal of trees, especially quality native species and work to plant additional native species
• I will work to build the soil using livestock, wood ash and compost, minimize waste generation
• I will work to clean the land, remove debris and recycle or scrap as much as possible
• I will work to eradicate invasive species and will not plant introduced species except to the extent needed to produce food for myself and livestock
• I am planning to use solar panels and wood from on site trees as primary sources of energy

SEQRA calls it the inevitable irreversible consumption of natural resources which it is. But with a light hand on the land, much of it can be restored in the out years or continue to provide rural sustainable housing once I’m gone.