Land Protection

Help needed! Patterson Property Success in Sight

Charlie Wyman, Senior Land Protection Specialist

Readers of Gaining Ground may recall our entry about the Patterson property in Barre (Thickening Around the Middle, August 2011).  That opportunity—to protect 50 critical acres surrounded on three sides by our Rutland Brook Wildlife Sanctuary—is at hand.  
Agreement with the family has been reached, “due diligence” (title, appraisal and environmental investigations) are complete, and of the total cost of $167,000 to acquire and care for the property, commitments totaling $123,000 are in hand.  The latter come thanks to a Conservation Partnership grant from the Commonwealth and a generous $45,000 contribution from a private foundation, the good news of which arrived in the last couple of months.  

If we succeed in raising the final $44,000 needed, this wonderful mix of pine/oak/hemlock uplands interspersed with swamp and marsh wetlands will be permanently protected and added to the sanctuary.  The property drains to Osgood Swamp, the magnificent swamp/marsh/fen that dominates the southern part of the sanctuary. 

With the aid of a $15,000 challenge grant that will double every contribution received, we are now in search of conservation-minded individuals who understand the importance of protecting large swaths of our natural areas and habitats. Click here to help us protect these important 50 acres.

Miracle in the Marsh - Great Marsh Conservation Initiative a Huge Success!

Bob Wilber, Director of Land Protection

For the last two years we have been working to protect 75 acres containing valuable salt marsh and upland within the Great Marsh ecosystem in Rowley. The unique location of this land, if protected, would knit together more than 8,000 acres of permanently conserved land.  After a myriad of last minute obstacles were resolved, we finally achieved that long sought goal earlier this week.

 I’ve often remarked that working as a land protection professional is sort of like working in an Emergency Room of a busy hospital. A seemingly endless stream of ‘patients’ come before you—in varying stages of ‘trauma’, generally requiring immediate attention, and with the continued well-being of each one being so very important to someone, sometimes  everyone.  With two polar opposite futures—imminent development and conservation forever—often swinging in the balance, it can get pretty heavy. Emotions can become frayed, physical energy depleted, and relationships sometimes strained from the tension often involved in these high stakes endeavors. 

But when a ‘patient’ is ‘saved’ after a threatening and complicated crisis is successfully unwound a powerful sense of satisfaction arises from being a part of doing something of real and lasting good. That is how we and so many of you who donated funds to make it happen feel about the news that the 75 critically important acres at the Great Marsh in Rowley were finally protected this week.

Because of the Chandler family who played such an important role, so many of you who contributed personal funds, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Open Space Institute(both of which awarded substantial grants to this worthy project) the Town of Rowley, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, and of course our valued conservation partner, the Essex County Greenbelt Association,  the plants and animals—both rare and common—that have quietly thrived there for eons will continue to do so forever.   Thank you all so very much.      

 
 

Thickening Around the Middle

Charlie Wyman, Senior Land Protection Specialist

Who among us (of which yours truly is surely one) hasn’t run across an old pair of jeans at the back of the closet and thought “I used to fit into those?!?!” That extra inch or two (or three) around the middle seems as inevitable as the relentless march of time itself.

Today I rise whole-heartedly in praise of “thickening around the middle”, at least as far as land conservation is concerned. Out at Mass Audubon’s gem of a property in Barre and Petersham known as Rutland Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, some much hoped for thickening is lining up to take shape. At 1,874 acres the sanctuary is one of Mass Audubon’s largest, and one of its many virtues is that it contains large blocks of unbroken habitat, which the ecologists tell us are particularly valuable in maximizing the diversity of species that a particular refuge can support.

But Rutland Brook has a narrow waist, leaving it vulnerable to development pressure from its edges. We now have an opportunity to thicken its waist, thanks to the conservation commitment of the family of the late Harold and Hazel Patterson. When Mrs. Patterson passed away last fall, two of her children expressed interest to our friends at the East Quabbin Land Trust in selling the property for conservation, and the land trust put them in touch with us. With assistance from an appraiser and surveyor, we have now reached agreement with the family on the purchase of approximately 50 acres on the east side of the sanctuary’s “waist”. 

The property has much to recommend it.  Its topography ranges from steep, boulder-strewn slopes, through gently rolling terrain, to level flats.  The forested uplands are a mix of white pine, red maple, red oak, and eastern hemlock. Wetlands in the valleys include a hemlock/yellow birch swamp, another dominated by red maple, an abandoned beaver meadow, and small areas of shrub swamp that may provide breeding habitat for vernal pool-associated amphibians. The property drains to nearby Osgood Swamp, the magnificent swamp/marsh/fen that dominates the southern part of the sanctuary. 

We are currently working our way through title and other so-called “due diligence” items and plotting funding strategies, with hopes that we can add this wonderful land to the sanctuary sometime this winter or spring. Stay tuned.
 
Above map shows Rutland Brook Wildlife Sanctuary blue and the land to be added in red.

 
Above photo taken on the Patterson land, which will be added to Rutland Brook Wildlife Sanctuary 

Tying up loose ends

Dinah Rowbotham, Land Protection Program Assistant

Three land protection projects featured on this blog, our project in Norfolk, the Valencia project, and the Almy project, have closed and are now permanently protected! To refresh your memory on which land parcels I’m referring to, here’s a quick run-down on how these three projects enhance Mass Audubon’s sanctuary system:

Our project in Norfolk has brought 7 additional acres to Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary. The land was given to us by the developer of an adjacent parcel, who was motivated by the Planning Board and their new Open Space Subdivision rules. The newly protected land is upland pine-oak woods which partly surround Bristol Pond.

The Valencia project was a gift of 0.70 acres of wetlands mostly surrounded by Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary. The parcel was created when a house was built on an adjacent lot, and this piece was left over as a remnant. The little parcel of land fits beautifully into our sanctuary, and we’re very grateful that it’s former owner donated it to become permanently protected habitat.

Lastly, the Almy project is a new 5.7-acre conservation restriction adjacent to Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary. The protected land consists of upland pasture that was identified as a priority for protection by Mass Audubon in our sanctuary protection plan and consists of both high quality habitat and a scenic landscape.

Making progress on several fronts

Charlie Wyman, Senior Land Protection Specialist

We’ve made good progress lately on several projects reported on in recent months:

Western Mass Electric Company.  On Monday evening the Agawam City Council voted unanimously to approve these two conservation restrictions, totaling 65 acres at two sites, following Conservation Commission approval in late March. Western Mass. Electric is working to wrap up a few final permitting issues with the Corps of Engineers and the state’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, with hopes of completing the process and conveying the conservation restrictions this summer and initiating construction in the fall. Our crew heads out next Wednesday to gather baseline documentation (pictures, GPS locations of boundary points, etc.) that will help our stewardship staff monitor the property going forward.

Almy Property.  This 5.7-acre conservation restriction nestled against Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary in Dartmouth and other protected land will be placed on record any day now. The CR has been approved by the Dartmouth Select Board and by the state’s Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and is awaiting the blessing of the Dartmouth Planning Board as part of the Board’s approval of the family’s 3-lot Open Space Residential Design subdivision.

Valencia Property.  The gift of this 2/3-acre bit of wetland surrounded on three sides by our Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Worcester is a couple of steps closer to completion. Earlier this month I walked the property with Deb Cary and Martha Gach from the sanctuary staff as part of our routine evaluation of any contamination risk from oil or hazardous waste. The property passed with flying colors and we had a nice conversation with one of our prospective neighbors to boot.  A draft purchase-and-sale agreement is circulating.

 
Above: Mass Audubon staff Deb Cary and Martha Gach on the proposed Valencia gift. 

 

Channeling Sam Spade

Charlie Wyman, Senior Land Protection Specialist

Those of us working in land protection need to be part detective.  Not that I pull out my old Dick Tracy secret decoder ring or wear a fedora very often, but detection can be a handy skill.  Nowhere is it more useful than when we’re confronted with a parcel marked “owner unknown” by the local assessors.  There are not many such parcels in the state; such a label is an admission that the ownership is so tangled that it can’t be unwoven without a huge amount of effort, and these are generally low value properties that haven’t attracted the money and effort needed to untangle the web.

But what’s low value to a developer may be high value to wildlife.  When the parcel is good habitat next to one of our sanctuaries, we’re eager for the challenge.  We’re at it currently adjacent to one sanctuary, where thanks to the skills and generous help of one of the state’s best title examiners (and long-time Mass Audubon member), and some legwork by yours truly, we’re closing in on the answer for several parcels totaling more than 20 acres.  At the Registry of Deeds we were able to track ownership from the early 1800’s until the trail grows cold in the 1940’s.  Now our focus shifts to public records in towns where we believe the heirs settled. 

If we can track the present day heirs down, we will then begin discussions with them about this land they didn’t know they owned, and hope we can find a way to see it into conservation hands.  Undoubtedly there is another plot twist or two for us in the pages ahead; stay tuned to see how this detective story turns out.

 
In land protection detective work, it’s sometimes the owner who is missing.

A little piece of habitat

Dinah Rowbotham, Land Protection Program Assistant

A friend of ours likes to talk about the little pieces of land “that hold the world together” – parcels that aren’t spectacular in and of themselves, but are an essential part of the matrix that gives larger conservation areas their ecological, scenic and recreational value.  One such parcel has just been generously offered as a gift to Mass Audubon—a 2/3-acre bit of wetlands and forest surrounded on three sides by Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Worcester.  The property is a remnant left over after a house was developed on an adjoining lot.  Regardless of its size, this little tract of land will be enlarging the expanse of permanently protected habitat overseen by Mass Audubon, helping to hold this part of the world together—for which, we are very grateful.

 
Skunk Cabbage at Broad Meadow Brook, photo by Russ Garre

Rocky Hill Wildlife Sanctuary is gaining pond frontage!

Bob Ford, Land Protection Specialist

We are working on the conservation of an important 10-acre addition to Rocky Hill Wildlife Sanctuary in Groton. Conservation of this land will add frontage on Long Pond to the sanctuary; the map below shows the existing sanctuary in blue and the land to be added in red. We recently reached an agreement with the landowner to move forward on the project and we hope to close within the next few months.

The land is important wildlife habitat and is identified as BioMap Core Habitat by the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program and as highest priority for protection by Mass Audubon.  This land is home to Blanding’s turtles, Bobcat and other widlife.

  
Above: Existing Rocky Hill Widlife Sanctuary in blue; land to be added to the sanctuary in red.

 
Above:  Mass Audubon plans to acquire 10 acres in Groton that will add frontage on Long Pond to Rocky Hill Wildlife Sanctuary.

More permanently protected wildland for Western Mass

Dinah Rowbotham, Land Protection Program Assistant

In New Salem, Mass Audubon is working with landowners to permanently conserve 98 acres at Whetstone Wood Wildlife Sanctuary, the only Mass Audubon sanctuary managed as a wildland. 

These 98 acres are high priority for conservation—the chance to protect a sizeable tract of forest adjoining the sanctuary and significantly expanding a protected wildland is a rare opportunity in Massachusetts. Conservation of this land will enlarge a substantial stretch of undisturbed habitat for interior forest species like moose and bobcat. 

The property’s northern and western boundaries are shared with our existing sanctuary.  Expanding Whetstone Wood through this acquisition helps build the bridge between the two largest areas of protected land in the state— the Quabbin Reservoir and its surrounding watershed to the south, and the nearly 80,000 acres of land protected by private land trusts and by the state in Wendell, Orange, Erving, Warwick, Northfield, and Mt. Grace State Forests located nearby and to the north. 

If it weren’t for the conservation-mindset of the landowners, this fantastic opportunity would not be turning into reality.  They have generously agreed to a bargain sale to Mass Audubon for 70 acres outright plus a conservation restriction on 28 acres containing the home and farmstead, which they will retain.  The conservation restriction on the farmstead will be structured to accommodate the landowner’s needs, while protecting designated areas as wildland.

We're hoping to close on this project within the next few months!

A Blizzard of End-of-Year Closings Make for Holiday Treats for All!

Bob Wilber, Director of Land Protection

For the second year in a row, we had a flurry of land protection activity in late December.  The fast accumulation of acres resulted in welcomed drifts of cherished conservation land for people and wildlife, sprinkled across the commonwealth.  71 acres in Sharon near our Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary, 15 acres in Wendell abutting Whetstone Wood, 8 acres in Wareham at the our newest sanctuary – Great Neck, and 2 acres in Marshfield as part of the North River Wildlife Sanctuary, all arrived on time.  While not all were “gifts”, each brought smiles to boys and girls, and salamanders, birds and turtles across the land! 

Look for more details on these success stories in our next e-newsletter, scheduled to arrive in your inbox in February.  If you don't already receive our e-newsletter, please sign-up here!