Daily Hampshire Gazette,: Monday, April 03, 2006
Gifts let Audubon save parcel - $200,000 is donated for Williamsburg site
By SEAN REAGAN Staff Writer WILLIAMSBURG - A flurry of last-minute checks, lots of homemade dog bisquits and one read-a-thon saved 28 acres of wooded land known as O'Neil Hill from development last week.
The parcel's turbulent, roller-coaster ride ended when officials from Massachusetts Audubon announced they had successfully raised $200,000 to purchase the land from a buyer who had given the conservation group one year in which to save the parcel.
''I think it's great news,'' said Sally Loomis, who leads the town's Open Space Committee, which had identified the parcel as essential to Williamsburg's conservation strategy.
''It fills out a nice hole in Mass Audubon's protected land, but it also fills a hole in the scope of protected land in Williamsburg generally,'' she said.
The land - on the west side of Depot Road, between Williamsburg and Haydenville centers - was originally purchased by the state Department of Mental Health over 120 years ago. In 2004, the state identified it as surplus property and a Brookline developer bid $286,000 for it at auction.
In late December of that year, the buyer opted out of the purchase and the property was put back on out to bid. It was ultimately sold for $175,000 to the ''Depot Road Trust,'' an entity of unidentified individuals who gave Mass Audubon one year to buy it.
''In the end it was a great marriage of local funds, funds from the Valley and funds from outside,'' said Kathy Sferra, a land protection specialist with Mass Audubon who worked with state and local officials on conservation efforts.
Given its 1,000 feet of frontage, town zoning bylaws would have allowed up to five homes to be built on the parcel. Development on a larger scale would have required variances from existing bylaws.
The parcel has long been a focus of Mass Audubon's vision for conservation in the western part of the state because it links two larger parcels already owned by the group, one of which is landlocked. That parcel, which crowns O'Neil Hill, features mature hemlocks and an open forest understory.
The new parcel was in agriculture within the past 50 years and includes a blend of pine trees and local hardwoods on its steep slope. A spring-fed pond serves a multitude of wildlife, including moose, bear, deer and grouse.
Sferra said Mass Audubon hopes to work with town officials to build a low-impact trail that will allow pedestrians to readily explore both parcels.
Flood of support
While the campaign enjoyed some large-scale contributions - the state, through the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs gave a $35,000 grant, for example - Sferra said it was the huge outpouring of small gifts in recent weeks that saw the project to fruition.
Marty Guzowski, a second-grade teacher at the Smith College Campus School, said one second-grade class raised over $500 selling dog biscuits. The other group of second-graders held a read-a-thon - in which supporters pledged $1 for each book that students read.
They topped their initial goal of $400 by almost $1,000.
''We liked the idea of supporting a local cause,'' said Guzowski. ''Seven- and 8-year-olds love animals and they love nature, so it seemed like a win-win situation.''
Guzowski said that she hopes to take the students to visit the land they helped save. ''They worked so hard and they really believed in what they were doing,'' she said.
Loomis said she was pleased by the broad show of community support for conservation. ''I always held out hope that it would be saved,'' she said. |
