Officials and members of the public gathered in a Fairhaven meadow in the November sunshine to celebrate the opening of Carvalho Farm, the Buzzard Bay Coalition’s newest public reserve. This coastal property features a native grassland meadow, an active agricultural field, forested wetlands, and salt marsh on 61 acres along the shore of Nasketucket Bay.

For more than a century, this property was owned by the Carvalho family and served as a base for dairy operations, as well as land for pasture, corn, and hay.

When the Carvalho family decided it was time to sell this land, the Coalition knew there was a significant risk the land could be converted to residential development. Carvalho Farm’s open fields on Shaw Road make these pastures and fields excellent for agriculture, but they also make this site easy to build on, and its rural, waterfront location makes it a highly desirable home site.

With the support of private donors, Fairhaven Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds, the EEA Conservation Partnership Grant Program, and the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program, the Coalition purchased the land in 2017 and placed it under a conservation restriction that permanently protects it from development. Under this conservation restriction, the property will also continue to support agricultural operations.