Land Conservation

Renewing our Focus

2025 Marks the First of Many Years of Accelerated Land Conservation

By Josephine Brennan, Trustees Staff

If there is one word to describe the Trustees land conservation team this past year, it is “productive.” In the 2025 calendar year, the team conserved more than 3,000 acres of land, a sixfold increase over past averages of approximately 400 acres annually. Major acquisitions in 2025 include Beaver Brook in Williamsburg and Northampton, two properties in Pelham and Belchertown conserved in partnership with Kestrel Land Trust, and finalizing the Cooper Hill Land Conservation project in Sheffield, a multi-year partnership with nine other conservation organizations.

This increase in conservation is indicative of the Trustees’ bold land protection goals in the For Everyone, Forever strategic plan launched this year. The plan outlines ambitious goals including strengthening the land conservation community, conserving more than 12,000 acres in the next five years, and activating at least eight new reservations.

In preparing for the challenge laid out for the Land Conservation team, Vice President of Land Conservation Jennifer Dubois said, “We have to move fast, be bold, and think bigger. We need to partner with other organizations, support their work, and be creative in finding conservation solutions that work for landowners and for communities.”

Move fast, be bold, and think bigger, they have. Major acquisitions and conservation projects completed in calendar year 2025 highlight the importance of what Dubois shared: the power in partnership, support, and conservation solutions that work for many.

Cooper Hill, Sheffield, MA and Sailsbury, CT

Cooper Hill

Just over two years ago, The Trustees partnered with nine other conservation organizations in Massachusetts and Connecticut to create the Cooper Hill Conservation Alliance, which had a goal to protect more than 1,000 acres surrounding Bartholomew’s Cobble in Sheffield and into Salisbury, CT. This multi-state landscape-scale effort resulted in 160 acres acquired by The Trustees to be added to the Cobble, the 444-acre Pine Island Farm protected and sold to a new farmer, and two additional land areas acquired for conservation just over the border in Connecticut. Through three phases of this project, land was protected in 2024 and 2025, with the last land area to be protected in Connecticut coming in 2026.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts was a key partner in this landscape-scale project. The Healey-Driscoll Administration dedicated more than $4 million in Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) funding through the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and a $1.25 million Landscape Partnership Grant through the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. “This project is a wonderful example of the way that we can work together with other organizations, including the state, in public-private partnerships to achieve greater impact on a larger scale,” says Dubois.

Beaver Brook, Williamsburg and Northampton; Photo by Douglas Mason

Beaver Brook

In July, The Trustees acquired the Beaver Brook property, a former golf course, in Williamsburg and Northampton. Just one month later, The Trustees also acquired a 10.8-acre inholding that features a beaver pond and trail connections, bringing the total acreage conserved to 260 acres.

Stewardship staff are now working on “rewilding” and transforming the golf course into protected open space for public access by restoring wetlands and floodplains to make the property more climate resilient. This is the organization’s first golf course restoration project.

The Commonwealth awarded the Town of Williamsburg a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant of $1,194,255 toward local flood resilience and the restoration of the brook—funding which directly supports the acquisition of the land and preliminary assessments for the wetland and floodplain restoration that The Trustees will implement at the reservation.

Work started on the property in the summer of 2025, including cleaning out buildings, weed trimming, and control of invasive plants, with 50 Trustees staff members from all over the state pitching in. A consultant will delineate the wetlands on the property, to help shape trail and restoration planning, among other objectives. New planting—including native trees, shrubs, and flowers—begins in 2026.

“Beaver Brook illustrates the work we do in land conservation to bring special places to the public,” shares Dubois. “Adding a reservation in this area of western Massachusetts will make a direct impact on the local community, through offering passive recreation opportunities, and even will benefit those who don’t visit,” she continues. “The rewilding of this land directly benefits the neighborhoods surrounding it and downstream communities as we work to mitigate flooding risks by restoring natural features of the land.”

Beaver Brook is planned to open to the public by summer 2026, providing opportunities for hiking, dog walking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and more.

Pelham Hills, Pelham; Photo by Jamie Malcolm Brown

Pelham and Belchertown

In October, The Trustees and Kestrel Land Trust announced the permanent protection of more than 2,000 acres of forest in Pelham and Belchertown, which contain two of the largest contiguously forested tracts in the Connecticut River Valley. This represents an important step in The Trustees’ stewardship of “forests for the future,” as highlighted in the strategic plan.

In Pelham and Shutesbury, 1,094 acres of contiguous forest, donated by timberland management company W.D. Cowls, Inc. (Cowls) is now owned by The Trustees and stewarded in partnership with the Kestrel Land Trust, which holds a Conservation Restriction over this land. To be known as Sarah Cowls Forest at Pelham Hills, in honor of Cowls’ 6th-generation leader, the property will encompass an additional 150 acres (including Poverty Mountain in Shutesbury) that were donated by Cowls to The Trustees in December of this year.

In Belchertown, the 1,050 acres of conserved forest will be named Hop Brook Forest, adding to over 800 acres that Kestrel previously conserved with the Town of Belchertown. These reservations will be conserved for the benefit of wildlife and water quality, with guaranteed public access to sections of the Robert Frost Trail in Pelham and the New England Scenic Trail in Belchertown. Over the next year, The Trustees and Kestrel will be working with the Towns of Belchertown, Pelham, and Amherst to integrate these newly conserved lands and trails with other town conservation areas into a wholly protected landscape—with improved trailheads at Amethyst Brook Conservation Area in Amherst and Holland Glen Conservation Area in Belchertown.

“This conservation win in Pelham and Belchertown is yet another example of the power of partnership in land conservation,” says Dubois. “We are knitting together large contiguous tracts of conserved land, with important public access and ecological benefits,” she continues. “The regional trail connections are especially exciting. We are thrilled to reroute the New England Scenic Trail off of main roads and into Hop Brook Forest. If you continue north along it, it also connects to The Trustees’ Royalston Falls property over 30 miles away.”

Fiscal Year 2025 in Land Conservation

Each year, in our annual report, The Trustees reports on the many different types of land conservation projects completed in the last fiscal year. In Fiscal Year 2025 (April 1, 2024-March 31, 2025), The Trustees protected, or helped protect, 12 properties totaling 223 acres, as follows:

Project | Newly Protected Acreage | Partners | City/Town

Acquisitions

Conservation Restrictions

Assists

*This property’s 4.4 acres were previously recorded in 2000, when it was placed in a Conservation Restriction held by The Trustees.
**Acreage will be counted in FY26, when The Trustees acquires Conservation Restrictions over this land.