Boxborough Celebrates Steele Farm conservation success with Local Heroes, with Legislators, and The Trustees!



Beautiful autumn colors at Steele Farm in Boxborough.

 

Last week, Boxborough residents and a lineup of special guests came together at Boxborough Town Hall to celebrate the permanent protection of town-owned Steele Farm, through a Conservation Restriction (CR) to The Trustees of Reservations (TTOR) and Historic Preservation Restriction (HPR) to The Boxborough Historical Society (BHSI), a project completed in close partnership with the Boxborough Conservation Trust (BCT) and the Town of Boxborough. This celebration was well-earned, to recognize the hard work of local heroes in Boxborough to complete a six-year cooperative conservation project that was twenty years in the making!  The 36 acres at Steele Farm protect beautiful meadows that host grass-nesting birds, three National Registry historic buildings that reflect the agricultural history of Boxborough including the Levi Wetherbee farmhouse dating to 1784, and offer hiking trails that meander through fields and woods on Steele Farm and connect to other conservation areas next door.  For our earlier exciting news and description of Steele Farm, see our August blog post by clicking here!

The Trustees provided a 'Protected Forever' sign which will be adapted to commemorate the collaboration that led to the property's permanent protection.  From L, Bruce Hager (SFAC) & John Fallon (VP of BHSI & Town Moderator), Alan Rohwer (BHSI & Historical Commission), State Senator Jamie Eldridge, Representative Jen Benson, and Duncan Browne (BHSI).

The guests of honor were the members of groups like the Steele Farm Advisory Committee (SFAC), the Boxborough Historical Society (BHSI), Boxborough Conservation Trust (BCT), the members of the Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator, and so many supportive local citizens, who all came together to make this project possible.  These dedicated groups saw this project through years of complex negotiation at the town level, to muster support for the farm's permanent protection - a process driven by passionate local citizens like Alan Rohwer of the Boxborough Historical Society, whose patience and dedication have paid off, despite what he described as a process sometimes feeling like "dragging a battleship across the desert!" 

Alan Rohwer (L) & Bruce Hager (R) accept commemorative hiking sticks, awarded to commemorate their roles as two of the Steele Farm "SF 3"! (not present was Arden Veley)

Boxborough acquired Steele Farm in 1994 - however, the land was not donated to the town as protected conservation land, as it would have been if it was donated to the town's Conservation Commission, and therefore qualify for the substantial protections of town-owned conservation land under Article 97 of the Massachusetts constitution.  Municipal land in Massachusetts, even if it functions as conservation land, is not securely protected if it is not owned under the care of the Conservation Commission or other such protection-oriented municipal body such as a parks department, or unless there is a conservation restriction on the land - in other words, such surplus land can be converted to other uses.  The committee was faced with finding a solution to how the land would be conserved - and to muster local support!  The negotiated solution garnered citizens' and Board of Selectmen support through an annual town meeting vote, and the conservation solution was to donate a conservation restriction to The Trustees and HPR to the Historical Society that now ensures Steele Farm's permanent protection.  Such restrictions are permanent and this one ensures that the conservation and historic values of Steele Farm will not be lost to other uses of the land.  
 

At the celebration, Committee members were joined by TTOR CR Program staff, and even the talented former staff member, Chris Rodstrom, who drove the project forward for The Trustees from the beginning of TTOR's involvement in 2007 until his departure from TTOR in May of 2013.  State representatives attended as well - Jen Benson of the 37th Middlesex District, and State Senator Jamie Eldridge as well, to add congratulatory remarks.  Senator Eldridge had this to say about the success, "The conservation and historic preservation restrictions placed on Steele Farm represent a 20-year effort to protect this special property for Boxborough residents for generations to come. I congratulate all of the stakeholders involved."

Senator Jamie Eldridge and Representative Jen Benson came to praise the successful conservation project.

Boxborough was also host to a very special guest, Irene Del-Bono of the MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA), Division of Conservation Services, the governmental body which reviews and approves all conservation restrictions at the state level.  Ms. Del-Bono is the EOEEA staff member who conducts legal review of every single CR document from all corners of Massachusetts, and her reviews ensure a gold standard that each CR be legally sound to protect land forever.  Irene expressed her appreciation for the invitation to get out of her office and into a community to celebrate their conservation victory, and loved the opportunity to meet with some of the local heroes who make successful conservation efforts happen! 

Alan Rohwer poses with Irene Del-Bono, the EOEEA's Conservation Restriction reviewer.

Special thanks is reserved for the local groups who worked together to make this happen!  Duncan Browne, John Fallon, and Alan Rohwer of the Boxborough Historical Society; Rita Gibes Grossman of the Boxborough Conservation Trust; Bruce Hager, Jeanne Steele Kangas, Judi Resnick, Ed Whitcomb, and among former members David Birt, Eric Tornstrom, and John Skinner of the Steele Farm Advisory Committee; and Town Administrator Selina Shaw, are among the local heroes who saw this project through to completion!  On The Trustees of Reservations's end, Chris Rodstrom negotiated the project, Andrew Bentley saw this project through to completion, and the CR Program staff will visit annually and advise Boxborough on protecting its conservation values - sealing TTOR's collaborative promise that Steele Farm will be protected for everyone, forever. 

Steele Farm Advisory Committee celebrates their conservation victory!  From L, Jeanne Steele Kangas, Ed Whitcomb, Judi Resnick, Bruce Hager.

Wildlife Havens - on land protected by The Trustees of Reservations!

The latest pictures and videos from the Conservation Restriction Program's wildlife cameras are here!  We are pleased to share them with our blog readers and the broader group of Trustees of Reservations supporters (that's you!) who carry our work forward.

Eastern coy-wolf in the North Quabbin region: 

Fisher in action:

Bobcat along a stone wall in Central Massachusetts: 

Mama Bear is well aware that we are watching!

 

Mama Bear and Two cubs at play in the Western MA Hilltowns!!

 

 

And Climbing a Tree!

 

 

And rolling around!

New Videos from CR Program Wildlife Cameras!

The latest from our Conservation Restriction Program wildlife cameras are not just pictures but motion pictures!  Check out these videos to see what happens on irreplaceable wildlife habitat protected by The Trustees of Reservations across Massachusetts.  

Bobcat on a daytime prowl:

Heron on a stroll:

Curious young bucks pose for the camera:

We're watching her and she's watching us!

 

Conservation in Boxborough - Steele Farm CR and Historic Preservation Restriction protects a beloved landscape!

The hot month of July saw the closing of a new conservation restriction and historic preservation restriction held by The Trustees of Reservations that protects and increases access to a beautiful historic farm in an area of high development pressure!  

Steele Farm Conservation & Historic Preservation Restriction - Boxborough, MA

Beautiful open meadows at Steele Farm provide great bird habitat and quality hay.

The 1784 Levi Wetherbee House is listed in The National Register of Historic Places.

Steele Farm in Boxborough is a bucolic local treasure that will inspire nature and history lovers alike.  We are excited to announce that its 36 acres and historic buildings listed on The National Register of Historic Places are now protected forever through a partnership between The Trustees of Reservations and The Boxborough Historical Society, adding to Boxborough's network of conservation land.  The town still owns the property, purchasing it in 1994 to preserve one of its oldest and most historic farms, beloved as a former orchard and Christmas tree farm, and a reminder of the area's deep agricultural roots.  The house was built by Levi Wetherbee, a member of one of the town's founding families, and traces its origins to 1784.  Evidence of apple orchard and dairy farming can be found in the function of the beautiful 1940s barn.  A 1904 ice house was re-located to the property in the 1990s from another farm in town, preserving another kind of historic structure that you just don't see very much anymore!  A network of trails loops around the farm and connects to the adjacent Beaver Brook Meadows conservation land - and Steele Farm's protection brings this block of conservation land up to 100 acres! 

The ice house and barn hearken back to a different era.

A cacophony of grassland bird calls can be heard in spring when the bobolinks nest, and resident mammals seen peeking out of the woods or drinking from the streams on the property.  The Trustees will watch over the conservation values of the property, while Boxborough Historical Society will ensure that the historic features are preserved in perpetuity.  The Steele Farm Advisory Committee advises the town on land management and will be spearheading the property's long-term management planning process.  In the meantime, Steele Farm is a popular spot open for public use and recreation (for trail map, click here!) and local youth organizations are encouraged to organize camping trips (must be approved by the town first!) there too.  Find it at 484 Middle Road in Boxborough and unwind for a bit.

Many thanks to the tireless work of the Steele Farm Advisory Committee, Boxborough Historical Society, The Town of Boxborough, and the support of the citizens of Boxborough, the Boxborough Conservation Trust, and former TTOR CR Program Director Chris Rodstrom, to realize this community vision of conservation for public use and enjoyment!  

Steele Farm in high springtime.

Steele Farm as viewed from above! 

Farandnear Reservation - CR Wildlife Camera Program in action - and your chance for Volunteer Action!

Farandnear, one of our newest Reservations (click to read more!), is the name given by the Banks family to their land, now a Trustees' Reservation officially opening to the public in October, located in the classic New England small town of Shirley, Massachusetts.  If you're not familiar with Shirley it's just a stone's throw past Concord and Acton off Route 2 in northern Middlesex County and not too far at all from the city bustle at just over thirty miles from Boston.  You may know this beautiful and quiet town for the Bull Run which offers a lively restaurant and renowned destination music venue in a colonial tavern, the town's historic and well-preserved common, or if you're an Appalachian Trail buff you may know it as the home of the trail's visionary founding father, conservationist Benton MacKaye, a friend of the Banks family.  Now we hope it will become known, beyond a beloved community secret, for the natural splendor of Farandnear too!

Farandnear was named by donor, Professor Arthur Banks's, parents to describe Shirley's location, both far enough to be a two-day carriage ride at the turn of the 20th century yet near enough to be a seasonal home away from their urban home in the Wollaston neighborhood of Quincy.  Professor Arthur Banks donated a conservation restriction (CR) in 1995, and kept a reserved life estate for himself on his 80 acres, and we got to know him as a private yet unceasingly generous man who always allowed the public to come on his land and trails to enjoy nature until his passing in 2011 (Click here to read our 2011 memorial blog post to Prof. Banks)

By donating his land to The Trustees of Reservations, his legacy of community-minded generosity will continue. On October 5th, the grand opening of Farandnear will take place - in the meantime we invite you to get involved in helping to get this Special Place ready for official opening to the public with two volunteer workdays (click here!) on Saturdays, August 10th and September 21st!  

Farandnear joins the company of Cedariver in Millis and Rock House Reservation in West Brookfield, where the landowner and the land began their connection to TTOR with a permanent CR held by us, and eventually donated their entire property to become a Reservation.  That's not to mention the over 20 pieces of CR land given to us to become part of an existing Reservation, adding to such stunning places as The Crane Estate and Wildlife Refuge in Ipswich, Sherborn's Rocky Narrows, Dover's Noanet Woodlands, Petersham's Brooks Woodland Preserve, and Tyringham's McLennan Reservation and Ashintully.  And the 54 total Reservations that are additionally protected or connected by bordering or nearby CR properties.  This kind of generosity attests to the importance of CRs to our land protection work and the wonderful bonds that often form between CR landowners and TTOR through the relationships formed during the negotiation, annual monitoring, and perpetual stewardship of conservation restrictions on privately-owned land.

Farandnear is a true wildlife haven, featuring a variety of habitats such as open meadows interspersed with early successional patches, mature mixed hardwood forests, areas of mature white pine forest, a beautiful hemlock ravine, and copious wetlands including streams, vernal pools, red maple swamps, an old cranberry bog, and a couple newly created beaver ponds which are beginning to provide snags (dead trees) for bird nesting, feeding, and perching.  Its location close to town-owned conservation land in Shirley and Lunenburg makes it part of a much broader wildlife corridor than its 80 acres alone!   So are you curious yet what critters might be found out there?  We were too!

Lunchtime for a great blue heron!

The heron responded to an ad for real estate in a new beaver pond.  Here's that awkward first meeting with the landlord! (Look down, just above the words "Rapidfire Pro"!)

The CR Program was lucky enough to apply for and receive a Norcross Wildlife Foundation grant to purchase several motion-activated wildlife cameras this Spring, thanks to a great idea hatched by CR Program staff and a land trust partner in the Berkshires.  This summer and going forward, we are placing them on CR properties with high wildlife habitat value across the state - our primary goals are to learn more about what wildlife uses these lands, share these photos with the landowners, and with the public via this blog and TTOR's Facebook page.  Since Farandnear is a CR property that is now becoming a Reservation, we thought it the perfect laboratory to test our cameras.  So far we have been nothing but thrilled with the results!  Thanks to the Norcross Wildlife Foundation for the grant, volunteer Lydia Rogers for a camera loan while we waited for ours to arrive and for her tracker's eye to help us place the first ones, and ecologist Bill Latrell of Heath for taking time to share his wildlife camera best practices to train staff and volunteers who will place the cameras on CR properties around Massachusetts! 

Our first photo of the year - a bobcat on a nocturnal prowl!

Beginner's luck, or wildlife paradise?  This post shows just a few great highlights of the shots captured at Farandnear over the past few months!  Other wandering critters included a family of ducks, raccoons in the nighttime mists, a grey fox, many curious deer, several hundred pictures (I am dead serious - this heron is particularly narcissistic and likes to strut around in circles for hours in front of the camera, day and night) of the heron, a bear which walked by so close that we got no clear pictures but could only conclude "Yes that was definitely a bear." and a few shots of the rare and endangered Sally Naser, CR Program Manager, coming to set up the cameras!  With wildlife cameras now set up in The Berkshires, Central Mass, and soon in Greater Boston and the Southeast, we hope to have much more to share with you soon!  I am holding out hope for moose, otter, or fisher cats in the near future!

Is this a bear?  Or is this a bear?  I'm going with it's a bear. 

In the meantime, we need your help at Farandnear to get it ready for opening in October!  Check out the flyer and link above (here's the link again! Click for the info page!) to find how you can help at our volunteer work days on August 10 and September 21st.  With your help this amazing property will be open in time for the height of Autumn! 

Tick Season is upon us - one CR landowner has a unique management approach!

You have likely already noticed them these past few years.  After a brisk hike or relaxing family outing on your favorite Trustees' property, you feel (or sometimes just imagine!) that telltale slight itch or discomfort, or see that speck crawling up the back of your son's or daughter's shirt, which, upon further investigation turns out to be our least favorite nasty arachnid parasite - a tick!  Or three!  Recent years have brought an alarming profusion of black-legged ticks, aka 'deer' ticks, and a spike in Lyme Disease, to our fair Commonwealth.  As professionals working largely in the outdoors, we are far too familiar with ticks of all varieties. 

Despite that we hope you don't let the ticks win, and keep you indoors! A little preparation and vigilance goes a very long way when it comes to detecting ticks: wear light colored clothing, check yourself often in the woods to see them and brush them off, and immediately change clothes (throw them in the dryer on high, too!) and check yourself carefully when you get home. Personally, I stay away from chemicals like permethrin or DEET, finding that light clothing and simple vigilance have kept me Lyme-free so far!  But you may want to consider those as well. 

One other piece of advice is to stay away from thickets of invasive Japanese Barberry!  A) It's thorny so you probably don't want to be there anyways; and B) Japanese Barberry patches function as escape habitat for white-footed mice, one of the primary host critters for ticks!  Recent scientific research has proved the connection between mice, ticks, and barberry, and our own experiences bushwhacking on CR properties in places like Milton, Westport, and New Marlborough, certainly corroborate it.  People often make a connection between deer over-population, ticks, and Lyme Disease, but with that note on mice, we'd like to insist that deer have been framed as the main culprit (click for the story!) for our recent tick inundation and increase in Lyme Disease! 

Open grassland and pasture on Fox Lea Farm in Rehoboth.

Speaking of ticks, there is one CR property in Rehoboth that we love to visit, not only to catch up with its delightful landowners, but because we truly notice that there are a lot less ticks on the property!  Peggy Dunn and Jim Rheinberger run Fox Lea Farm, and grow acres upon acres of organic hay, as well as raising horses, sheep, chickens, and heritage turkeys.  One unique critter in which they specialize recently is the guinea hen.  While these are often seen on high-end restaurant menus, we insist that their function is much more utilitarian on the land than on your plate!  Why?  Because guinea fowl are known insect pest connoisseurs and exterminators - and particularly fond of ticks!

Guinea fowl hard at work hunting ticks and other insects!

Jim and Peg keep over forty guinea fowl on the property, sheltered in mobile coops.  These are allowed free range around the property, but find sanctuary in a penned-off area with two watchful canine sentries - two beautiful Italian Maremma sheep dogs watch over the fowl, sounding the alarm when predators like red-tailed hawks soar by, or coyotes or foxes come to visit.  Sadly, when the sheep dogs' watch lapses, tragedy can strike.  Just recently they lost ten birds to a fox, when the dogs went to get fixed - mostly males who had the habit of roosting in the trees at night rather than seek shelter in the coops which made them prime targets for owls and foxes. 

Maremma sheep dogs, Lily and Rio, guard the guinea fowl from birds of prey and other predators.

Horses and sheep round out the collection of animals at Fox Lea, and we have been lucky enough to visit right after lambs have been born, and helped feed them from bottles!  The latest news - one of our favorite four-legged friends, elder matriarch (age 12!) Buttons the ewe, just had her tenth and probably final lambing and gave birth to two healthy males. Buttons does not possess what you would call a "traditional" sheep appearance but this is part of her... charm. 

Buttons (R) is the elder sheep matriarch of Fox Lea Farm.  A "normal" looking flock-mate (L) accompanies her.

Landowner Peggy and volunteer intern Justina feed a lamb (not one of Buttons's) at Fox Lea in March.

Fox Lea Farm epitomizes what we aim to protect with conservation restrictions.  The farm boasts a scenic and low-impact working landscape which protects water quality in the Palmer River.  Its 70 acres are protected forever from development, allowing hay production and other agricultural uses, while protecting riparian (vegetated land by riverbanks) habitat for a variety of state-protected animals.  Working farm uses are allowed and encouraged by the conservation restriction agreement, and help preserve this tradition in southeastern Massachusetts from fading away.  It is stewarded by conscientious landowners who are using innovative methods to grow hay without chemicals (Peggy is a former research scientist whose compost fertilizing methods are home concocted, producing live cultures, and are natural, and environmentally sensitive), and are dedicated to protection and improvement of the land's conservation values in the present, setting it up for productivity and perpetual conservation.  While Fox Lea is private property, and not publicly open, in this case the conservation values listed above provide substantial public benefits.  The Trustees are proud to partner with landowners like Peggy and Jim to protect privately-owned land across Massachusetts forever, some of whom bust arachnid parasites through innovative means like guinea fowl!

Vernal Pool Workshop with Hilltown Land Trust & The Trustees of Reservations - this Thursday and Saturday in Williamsburg!

The weather may have turned our forests a bit dry these last few weeks, but vernal pools (aka "wicked big puddles" full of snowmelt and interesting amphibian and insect life!) are still holding water in many places across Massachusetts!  Trustees of Reservations' affiliate, The Hilltown Land Trust, in cooperation with The Trustees' Conservation Restriction Program are holding a Vernal Pool Exploration in two parts this Thursday and Saturday, May 2 and May 4.  Free and open to the public, we invite people to attend and learn more about the fascinating biology of vernal pools, and how you as interested citizens can help obtain greater legal protection for local vernal pools through documenting the life within!  

The large vernal pool we will explore covers nearly an acre on a beautiful ridgetop, supplying critical breeding habitat for amphibians and other pool life, and a cool drink for the deer, bobcat, bear, fisher, and other creatures that call the Western Massachusetts Hilltowns home!  This is also a rare opportunity to see a privately owned conservation restriction property up close, and we thank the landowners for allowing us to hold this fun springtime event on their land.  Also of note, Professor Scott Jackson of the UMass Department of Environmental Conservation will accompany the Saturday field day, to offer his expert knowledge on the amphibian egg masses, tadpoles and larvae, and invertebrates we are sure to find! 

If you cannot make Part 1, please do feel free to attend Part 2!   RSVP appreciated - info on the flyer pictured above!  Event info also available on Hilltown Land Trust's Website and Facebook Page. 

Part 1 - Vernal Pools - Introductory Presentation
Where: Williamsburg Library - 2 Williams Street, Williamsburg, MA 01096
When: Thursday - May 2, 2013.  7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Part 2 - Exploration of a Vernal Pool!
Where: High Ridge Farm - Ice Road, Williamsburg, MA, 01096
When: Saturday - May 4, 2013.  9:00 AM - Noon