Several towns and land trusts across Vermont have secured funding to permanently conserve more than 2,000 acres of land, starting this summer.
The properties protect summits, expand town forests and will create new trail access to some remarkably old trees.
The Nature Conservancy, which provided funding for several of the projects along with Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, says the conserved land will connect large swaths of intact wildlife habitat that animals and plants can use to migrate and adapt to Vermont’s changing climate.
Athens: Athens Community Forest to expand
Bull Creek Common Lands has plans to conserve 15 acres as part of the Athens Community Forest, where the organization plans to expand trail and parking access. The property will be managed under a conservation easement held by Vermont Land Trust and Vermont Housing and Conservation Board.
Cambridge: Peter A. Krusch Nature Preserve to expand
Cambridge is expanding its popular Peter A. Krusch Nature Preserve and has plans to double the size of the trail system there. Volunteers are expected to start building the trails this summer.
The town purchased the parcel from the Bormann family.
As part of the project, Cambridge plans to build a new trail that will take visitors past a striking yellow birch tree that foresters have estimated to be more than 200 years old — a rarity in Northwestern Vermont.
“It’s such a lovely tree, and of course the old trees nearby in the Cambridge Pines are quite magnificent, very old, and some of them very tall,” said Sally Laughlin, who donated the land to create the initial preserve in memory of her late husband Peter Krusch and helped facilitate this new project. “It’s just wonderful to be able to open up this whole thing.”
Fairfield, Fletcher and Bakersfield: Wintergreen Forest
The Trust for Public Lands has announced plans to permanently conserve roughly 1,500 acres of forest owned by Forecastle Timber in Fairfield, Bakersfield and Fletcher. The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation and Vermont Housing and Conservation Board will hold the conservation easement for the property, which will continue to be harvested for timber and will be called Wintergreen Forest. The Nature Conservancy contributed funding.
The land is home to 70 acres of wetlands and nearly 5 miles of streams, including the headwaters for Black Creek, which provides drinking water to nearby communities and ultimately runs into Lake Champlain.
The property will be open to the public for dispersed skiing, hiking, hunting and wildlife viewing in a part of the state that has very little publicly accessible land.
The parcel is also home to a very rare spring ephemeral wildflower called false mermaid, which was thought to be extinct in Vermont for more than a century.
“The occurrence of false mermaid on Wintergreen Forest is over two acres, meaning hundreds of thousands of plants,” said Hannah Redmon, with the Trust for Public Lands. “And it is only the second-known occurrence of false mermaid in the state of Vermont.”
Marlboro: Winter Wren Nature Preserve
Long owned privately by the Ames family, the 531-acre Winter Wren Preserve includes the headwaters for the Green River and its tributaries. The family has decided to sell the property to the Green Mountain Conservancy, which will manage it under a conservation easement held by Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and Vermont Land Trust.
The land is home to bobcats, moose and snowshoe hare, as well as wood turtles. It will be open to the public for snowshoeing, backcountry skiing and hunting.
Thetford: Houghton Hill
In Thetford, Houghton Hill is home to a popular roughly 5-mile hike and two trails that connect to a larger trail system. The 120-acre parcel is part of a big swath of mostly intact forest, and is in a key wildlife migration corridor connecting the southern part of the Green Mountains with the White Mountains.
Upper Valley Land Trust has received funding from the Nature Conservancy in Vermont to purchase and permanently preserve the land, which hosts a vernal pool and headwater stream, as well as an open summit with sweeping views of the Upper Valley.
