Preservation efforts at Flat Point Farm topped the list of activities for the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank in 2023, followed by partnerships in affordable housing.

The long-term lease signed this fall expands the land bank’s holdings at Flat Point farm, which include a large field and pondfront property on the southern side of the farm that were protected in 2013.

The land bank commission voted Monday to open the Caleb’s Pond Preserve, a three-acre strip of marsh and other habitat near the Chappy ferry that the land bank purchased in 2020. The opening is going forward without any of the planned waterfront access.

The proposal would have turned a trail in the Wapatequa Woods Reservation into a “firebreak,” meant to improve vehicle accessibility at the property in case of a wildfire. Officials felt the plan didn't fit the conditions of the property.

Pimpneymouse Farm, the historic coastal farm that has graced the eastern-facing shoreline of Chappaquiddick for nearly a century, will be preserved in a joint conservation purchase by the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank and the Sheriff's Meadow Foundation.