The Franklin Land Trust recently placed a conservation restriction on 46 acres in Leverett.
Alain Peteroy, deputy director of the Franklin Land Trust, said conservation restrictions — the trust also reached a deal to conserve 93 acres in Colrain — will help preserve critical farmland and wildlife habitats, and the trust is always happy to assist private landowners or small land trusts in conservation efforts.
“If we’re helping their mission, we’re helping our mission,” Peteroy said.
The land in Leverett includes two adjoining properties, the Whitney Road Conservation Area and the Marvell Family Conservation Area. Combined, the 46 acres form the Rattlesnake Gutter, a glacial ravine with hiking and biking trails. The transaction was completed with assistance from the Rattlesnake Gutter Trust.
“Back in the late 1980s, a 40-acre parcel that encompassed a large part of the ravine was about to be sold,” Rattlesnake Gutter trustee Eva Gibavic said in a statement. “A number of people came together to make sure it was saved. We helped raise money for the town to buy that property, and that was really the beginning.”
Preserving the land ensures the public can continue to enjoy the hiking trails and historic sites on the property, including the remnants of a stone cellar hole.
“There’s a historic cellar hole on the parcel, and unlike many that are hidden away and not easily accessible, this one is on a trail that people can actually access and enjoy. That was of real interest to us,” Gibavic said.
While the Rattlesnake Gutter Trust has no plans to sell or develop the property, it wanted to permanently conserve the land in case the trust was ever disbanded.
“We knew that if [the Rattlesnake Gutter Trust] ever disbanded, the land we owned could be sold for development because they weren’t under [a conservation restriction],” Gibavic said. “We felt very strongly that it should never happen. These places were meant to be protected.”
Peteroy said the Franklin Land Trust was happy to support Rattlesnake Gutter Trust, and the conservation restriction was supported with $2,500 from the Wharton Trust. She said that, similarly to the Colrain property, the trust will maintain ownership of the land. However, unlike in Colrain, the property is open to the public with popular trails.
“Partnering with a small land trust is the right move for us,” Peteroy said. “This way, the land is double protected.”
In Colrain, the trust last month assisted Colrain resident Judson DeCew with protecting land across three parcels along Ed Clark Road and Hillman Road. With help from the Deerfield River Chapter of Trout Unlimited, which received a $5,000 grant from the Trout Unlimited Land Conservancy Fund, the land trust conducted a survey of the property and placed a conservation restriction on it.
According to the Franklin Land Trust, the conservation restriction will preserve 9 acres of working hayfields and 84 acres of forest. This includes 1 mile of Tissdell Brook, a coldwater fisheries resource that flows into the west branch of the North River, providing a habitat for brook trout and other wildlife.
“By helping preserve that land, that river will be maintained as a habitat for the trout,” Peteroy said.
According to the land trust, “much of the property has been identified as Prime Farmland or Farmland of Statewide Importance, and two-thirds of it is designated as Critical Natural Landscape under the state’s BioMap3 program.” Additionally, “its forest soils are classified as Prime Forest Soils.”
Peteroy said the property will remain privately owned and maintained. The hayfields have been maintained by a neighboring farm for years. She added that the forested land is in close proximity to H.O. Cook State Forest and is also near the Franklin Land Trust’s Crowningshield Conservation Area, “helping to form a corridor linking protected habitats along the west branch of the North River.”