To complete the project, towns along the entire length of the island had to secure easements from oceanfront residents.
Lawrence Shapiro, who argued for the borough, said he expected that towns would have an easier time securing easements.
So far, Historic New England has secured easements on only three modern houses: two here in Lincoln, where more than 60 such homes were built, and one in New Canaan, Conn., where dozens of modern houses remain.
So he asked his real-estate scout, a semi-retired businessman named Seth Ward, to drive out and look into securing an easement.
So lush and variegated is the new portrait of biological variety in America that the conservancy will also announce today its commitment of $1 billion in new money to its long-established effort to protect the wild landscape by buying up large parcels of land or securing conservation easements on them.
Though about 40% of the land was purchased outright, the bulk was secured through easements that require the owners to continue living and working the property while protecting the land from development.
A nearby landowner acquired the parcel, secured a conservation easement and agreed to lease the acreage to Mr. Lewis.
In 2013, the family worked to secure a permanent conservation easement through the Vermont Land Trust.
The easements secured by the Farmland Trust in the past 10 years have not quite kept pace with the forces of commercial development, yet they represent far more than a respectable show of resistance.
Development and quarrying threats to the Metacomet Ridge have resulted in public open space acquisition efforts through collective purchasing and fundraising, active solicitation of land donations, securing of conservation easements, protective and restrictive legislation agreements limiting development, and, in a few cases, land taking by eminent domain.
The company has also spent more than $90 million since 1997 trying to secure the entitlements, development rights and easements to build a retail project on wetlands near Giants Stadium in New Jersey.
