Land Protection

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!

Updates, updates, and more updates!

Bob Ford, Land Protection Specialist

Warren Woods
Preservation of 120 acres in Ashland took a huge leap forward with the successful town meeting vote on November 27 to appropriate $5 million of CPA funds for the purchase of the land from Northeastern University. The very high attendance at town meeting was nearly unanimous in its vote. Mass Audubon is assisting the Town in various ways, financial and technical, and it is anticipated that a substantial portion of the land will be permanently preserved. Warren Woods is adjacent to a vast corridor of important open space, state forest, Ashland reservoir lands, and Mass Audubon’s Waseeka and Broad Hill Wildlife Sanctuaries. For more information on this initiative, visit www.savewarrenwoods.org.

 
Above: Warren Woods in Ashland, photo by Cindy Shields

Bechtold
Mass Audubon has recently been informed that generous landowners in Marshfield intend to add more land by gift to a previous 10 acre acquisition that expanded the North River Wildlife Sanctuary. The land contains important upland wildlife habitat.

Ocean Shores
In another Marshfield project, Mass Audubon expects to receive a CR within the next few weeks on nearly 30 acres of rare species habitat adjacent to Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary.  The CR is in the final stages of review at the State and here at Mass Audubon we’re finishing up the baseline report in preparation for closing.

Great Marsh Conservation Initiative
Our effort to preserve 80 acres of pristine salt marsh and associated upland in Rowley is advancing according to schedule with real estate due diligence inspections coming to completion. Mass Audubon will be meeting with the Rowley Conservation Commission next week to further discuss our plans for establishing the new wildlife sanctuary at the Great Marsh. 

Above: Great Marsh in Rowley, photo by Mass Audubon staff