HADLEY — The Select Board is moving forward with an arrangement that will incorporate 320 acres of town-owned property that abuts the Holyoke Range and Skinner State Park into a land preservation project as some residents express concerns that activities like hunting and snowmobiling may be restricted on the land.
The board on Wednesday approved a letter of interest for placing a conservation restriction on the property as a way for Kestrel Land Trust to pursue additional land protections using a $1.25 million Landscape Partnership Grant from the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Select Board Chairwoman Joyce Chunglo said correspondence from residents indicated that they want the land, located off Chmura and Bay roads, to remain open for hunting and fishing as well as snowmobiling, mountain biking and hiking.
Any contract with Kestrel, and possibly the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation, Chunglo said, would be written so that these activities would continue to be permitted.
The town’s Conservation Commission has also recommended moving forward with putting a conservation restriction on the land, which was acquired by Hadley’s water district in the 1950s. In addition to setting the rules for use of the land, the town would retain complete access to the reservoirs and dams for water supply purposes.
Select Board member David J. Fill II said there should be public education about what’s allowed on the land, which could include signs telling people where they can and cannot hunt.
Already, Fill said many hunters take a conservative approach and avoid hunting on any land where there are Kestrel signs.
Board member John Waskiewicz said he remains worried that the town land will become part of the state’s Skinner State Park, which has severely limited how residents can use the site.
“Since DCR took over, we’ve been ruled and regulated to death,” Waskiewicz said.
Paul Gagnon, conservation and stewardship manager for Kestrel, said unless the land is taken by another entity using eminent domain, the town would not relinquish ownership and would be able to set the terms of what activities would be allowed.
One resident who brought forward his concerns was George Moriarty, of Chmura Road, calling on the Select Board to form a group to study the issue and learn whether the property could still accommodate the uses residents want.
“We should be looking at whether the town should even be involved in this,” Moriarty said.
But the board was facing an Oct. 18 deadline to agree to a letter of interest.
Gagnon said Kestrel would not take ownership of the land, but rather would incorporate it into a wider swath of at least 500 acres of undeveloped and road-less land.
Even if Kestrel did own the land, Gagnon said that wouldn’t mean hunting would be banned, observing that of the 40 or so properties the trust owns, there is only one, located in Granby, where hunting is not allowed.
Meantime, the Select Board voted 3-2 to have 40 acres on eight parcels of land along the Connecticut River, five of which the town would acquire for back taxes, added to the land preservation project.
This riverfront land would not have a conservation restriction put on it, but instead would be sold at below market value, possibly for the price of back taxes owed, for inclusion in the existing Connecticut River Greenway State Park or the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge, according to Kestral Land Trust.
Both Fill and Waskiewicz objected to the letter of interest regarding the riverfront properties because of prohibitions on snowmobiles and other motorized vehicles that the state puts on its properties.
With letters of interest in hand, Gagnon said he would let state officials know that Kestrel is pursuing the project, get appraisals on land that could be part of it and then begin making deals and offers. Properties could be acquired in Hadley, as well as Amherst and South Hadley, Gagnon said.
Gagnon said Kestrel should know by December if the project is acceptable to the state and the group would then need another vote from the Select Board to remain committed to the plan.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
