Land campaigners today notched up a major victory, as a bid to raise $1.7 million and secure a three-acre site for Bermuda was successful.

Campaigners were jubilant after securing the land at Somerset Long Bay for a nature reserve ? and hailed the response from the public as ?overwhelming?.

David Saul, spokesman for the Buy Back Bermuda Committee, said public enthusiasm for the beachfront conservation project meant the Somerset deal would not be the last of its kind.

?So many individuals have urged us to continue with this campaign that we feel duty-bound not to stop with the one single purchase at Somerset Long Bay,? he said.

Dr. Saul added: ?The public enthusiasm for the whole concept of Buy Back Bermuda will be sustainable.

?In a year or two, the public will undoubtedly respond to a second campaign to purchase another sensitive piece of land in a meaningful and positive manner.?

The committee was set up under joint sponsorship of the Bermuda Audubon Society and the Bermuda National Trust. Nine representatives of the two groups make up the committee, launching the bid to reclaim and preserve the eastern part of Somerset Long Bay last September.

More than 400 individuals backed the campaign, ranging from primary school pupils through to the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition.

Over the next nine months, campaigners will transform the piece of land in Somerset, installing fencing, planting flora and turning the site into a peaceful nature reserve.

Plans are in hand for a ?well designed, tastefully constructed obelisk? that will record the names of people who donated money to the project.

The aim is to have 100 names on each of five separate bronze plaques ? as part of the Island?s 500th year anniversary celebrations.

Committee member Wayne Jackson, former president of the National Trust, said: ?The committee intends to develop this Somerset Long Bay site into a nature reserve that Bermuda can be proud of. But it will take many months.?

In the wake of the Somerset deal, the committee has now been given the green light to look at the possibility of buying other sensitive sites across the Island.

Mr. Jackson added: ?We are truly delighted that the public have responded so strongly to our campaign. We believe that it shows the high value Bermudians put on preserving open space.?