Serving:

Ashburnham

Athol

Barre

Bernardston

Erving

Gardner

Gill

Greenfield

Hardwick

Hubbardston

Leyden

Montague

New Salem

Northfield

Orange

Petersham

Phillipston

Royalston

Templeton

Warwick

Wendell

Westminster

Winchendon

Inside This Issue

Views from Mount GraceVolume 20, No. 3 • Winter 2009-2010

C O N S E R V I N G T H E L O C A L L A N D S C A P E TM

Common Ground and Commonwealth Corps • Margaret Power-Biggs Society ProfileSouthern Monadnock Plateau, Ashburnham • Small Utopias

Mount Grace Updates • Wish List • Forest Stewardship • Upcoming Events

Protecting Davenport PondB Y D A V I D K O T K E R

The North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership’s landowner meetings have been an important

outreach tool for land protection in the region. Working with Mount Grace and other land trusts,

the Partnership has set up dozens of meetings around the region, inviting landowners who may be

otherwise unfamiliar with conservation options to hear the stories of friends and neighbors who have

conserved the land they cherish. This April, Aleza Beauvais and Soren Rono attended a meeting in

Phillipston at which long time Mount Grace supporter Bill Rose spoke of his experiences protecting

Red Apple Farm and other family land. Mount Grace’s land conservation specialist Paul Daniello was

on hand to answer questions and advise landowners. Beauvais , Rono, and Daniello discussed various

possibilities for land conservation to see if one would be a good fit for the couple.

Beauvais, who teaches at the Gardner Middle School, and Rono, an architect, own 80 acres of land

on the Athol side of Davenport Pond. The land is a mix of woods and open fields, with the forested

land covered under Chapter 61 and managed according to a forest stewardship plan with oversight

(continued on page 3)

Livestock will still be allowed to graze the land under the terms of the conservation restriction.

Please Support OurYear End Appeal

PAGE 2 • VIEWS FROM MOUNT GRACE • WINTER 2009-2010

Dear Friends,The colorful days I spent hiking up and down the ridgelines of the New

England National Scenic Trail reopened my eyes to the wonders of nature

and my mind to the importance of simple things, like having clean water

to drink.

I met many people along the trail, the first a landowner who said simply,

“Oh, I don’t mind it,” when I thanked him for allowing the trail to pass

through his otherwise private and neatly landscaped yard. Then there was

the retired boat owner on the Connecticut River - thru hikers hitch across –

who spends countless days every year taking in nature’s beauty as a respite

from her urban home, but in response to hearing about my line of work

remarked that she had a close friend she called a tree hugger.

Whether walking alone or talking with others, the trail’s message seemed

to be that forest and trail corridors not only make it possible for plants

and animals to thrive, but are avenues that allow people to connect to

themselves and to the bigger picture, whether realizing it or not. We all

need reminders. Daily life is busy and all too complex. How easy it is to

take the water, land, and air that sustain us for granted.

Hearing the stories of supporters like Nina Barszcz and Dan Leahy,

landowners like Aleza and Soren, and active land stewards like Tom

Wansleben and Alana Morlock, help us remember our own deep love for

the land and why it is important to be involved.

Thank you for doing your part,

Leigh YoungbloodExecutive Director

Views from Mount Grace

Mount Grace Staff

Leigh Youngblood, Executive Director

David Graham Wolf, Conservation Director

Paul Daniello, Conservation Project Manager

Tom Wansleben, Stewardship Biologist

Jennifer Smith, Land Conservation Associate

Jay Rasku, North Quabbin Regional Landscape

Partnership Coordinator

Pam Kimball, Development Director

Nathan Rudolph, Director of Donor Relations

David Kotker, Membership Coordinator

Sean Pollock, Director of Finance and Operations

Lisa Cormier, Office Manager

Mount Grace Board of Directors Mary Williamson, President WarwickHoward Mathison, Vice President WarwickAllen Tupper Brown, Treasurer Gill Celt Grant, Clerk RoyalstonBill Ames NorthfieldKristine Delfausse WarwickWarren Facey LeydenLen Glick New SalemPeter Haley Templeton Bonnie House Phillipston Wendy Lavallee Northfield/Boston Mike Roche Orange Colleen Sculley Gill Jon Waidlich Montague

www.mountgrace.org

Mount Grace Land Conservation Trustprotects significant natural, agricultural and scenic areas and encourages land stewardship in North Central and Western Massachusetts for the benefit of the environment, the economy and future generations.

We welcome your articles, photographs, comments and suggestions. For information about becoming a member or to request a change of address, please contact our office at:

Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust1461 Old Keene RoadAthol, MA 01331(978) 248-2043 (tel)(978) 248-2053 (fax)landtrust@mountgrace.org

Visit our web site at www.mountgrace.org

Protecting Davenport

Conserving the land will protect the northern shoreline

and northernmost 5 acres of Davenport Pond, augmenting

the efforts of the Town of Petersham, which protected the

eastern shore last year as part of the Quabbin Corridor

Connection Forest Legacy project.

Davenport Pond is an important roosting site for migrating

waterfowl. Mount Grace Stewardship Biologist Tom

Wansleben counted eight heron nests in a rookery on the

island in the pond, as well as one on a snag in the water,

during his baseline study for the Town of Petersham’s 80-

acre CR last year. Rono reports seeing fishers, coyotes, bears,

and a moose around the property.

from forester Michael Mauri. The couple plans to donate

a conservation restriction (CR) on 66 acres of their land to

Mount Grace before December 31, 2009 in order to take

advantage of a federal tax incentive which will expire at the

end of the year.

The land includes a vegetable garden and an orchard with

Granny Smith, MacIntosh, Macoun, and Golden Delicious

apples, as well as pears, plums and cherries. The couple also

raises chicken and goats. The Massachusetts Department of

Agriculture classifies the soil on the property as being of either

prime or local importance for forestry and agriculture.

WINTER 2009-2010 • VIEWS FROM MOUNT GRACE • PAGE 3

Views from Mount Grace

Mount Grace Staff

Leigh Youngblood, Executive Director

David Graham Wolf, Conservation Director

Paul Daniello, Conservation Project Manager

Tom Wansleben, Stewardship Biologist

Jennifer Smith, Land Conservation Associate

Jay Rasku, North Quabbin Regional Landscape

Partnership Coordinator

Pam Kimball, Development Director

Nathan Rudolph, Director of Donor Relations

David Kotker, Membership Coordinator

Sean Pollock, Director of Finance and Operations

Lisa Cormier, Office Manager

Mount Grace Board of Directors Mary Williamson, President WarwickHoward Mathison, Vice President WarwickAllen Tupper Brown, Treasurer Gill Celt Grant, Clerk RoyalstonBill Ames NorthfieldKristine Delfausse WarwickWarren Facey LeydenLen Glick New SalemPeter Haley Templeton Bonnie House Phillipston Wendy Lavallee Northfield/Boston Mike Roche Orange Colleen Sculley Gill Jon Waidlich Montague

www.mountgrace.org

(continued from page 1)

C O M M O N G R O U N D B E G I N S I T S S E C O N D Y E A R

Mount Grace’s Common Ground Initiative, which began in

2008, supports local land conservation in both the short and

long term by offering stewardship and project assistance to

towns and smaller land trusts, and by reaching out to the

community – in particular to young people – by providing

opportunities to volunteer on the land.

Common Ground is funded in part by a $57,000 grant from

the Massachusetts Service Alliance (MSA) as part of the state’s

Commonwealth Corps, a program similar to AmeriCorps,

which engages volunteers of all ages and backgrounds in

direct service to their communities and provides opportunities

for members to build skills and leadership abilities. Corps

members volunteer for one year and receive health insurance

and a stipend from MSA.

Last year, Commonwealth Corps members at Mount Grace

and the North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership

started twenty-two new conservation projects, conducted

baseline studies or monitoring visits on protected land in

Ashburnham, Gardner, Gill, Hubbardston, Templeton, and

Westminster, brought school groups out to certify vernal

pools, started new community gardens in Greenfield and

Orange, as well as a pollinator garden at Skyfields, and

established Agricultural Commissions in Ashburnham and

Shutesbury. Corps members also recruited 320 additional

volunteers for service projects focused on the region’s rich

assortment of conserved lands.

This year, Norm Eggert, a member of the Phillipston

Conservation Commission, will take on the role of NQRLP

Regional Conservationist, providing service assistance

to towns and local trusts on land protection projects.

Community Outreach Coordinator, Michel Merle, who

serves on the Barre Planning Board, will focus developing

relationships with civic groups and bringing more people

out on to protected land. Kate Marquis, who has worked

for the Forest Service and on outdoor education programs

at Tully Lake, will coordinate the service learning program.

Alex Krofta will serve as a part-time Regional Land Steward,

assisting local land trusts and conservation commissions with

baseline and monitoring reports.

“Common Ground adds an important dimension to the work

of Mount Grace. Community members can become involved

in conservation and stewardship in ways that are important

to them. Common Ground makes it possible for Mount

Grace to hear what local community groups are interested

in and to connect them with the places or resources they

need to reach their dreams,” remarked Leigh Youngblood,

executive director of Mount Grace. This year’s members

began in November, hoping to meet, or even exceed, the

great results achieved last year.

B Y D A V I D K O T K E R

seeing my second home protected from rapid, unorganized development of productive farm and forestland. That is why I choose to support Mount Grace.”

Nina, an American Express employee, supports Mount Grace through her employer’s workplace giving program, allowing her to give gifts directly from her paycheck. American Express then matches Nina’s gift, making her generosity go twice as far.

Check with your human resources office to see if your employer offers workplace giving or a matching gift

program, two easy ways to support Mount Grace.

Nina Barszcz is a Jersey girl – born and raised. Exit 145 – the most densely populated part of the most densely populated state of the nation.

The summer after graduating from college Nina moved to Royalston to live at Butterworth Farm. Here she enjoyed a closeness of community and a connection with nature she had not experienced in the New Jersey suburbs: “People had a much closer relationship to the natural landscape-- knowledge and experience of the lakes, rivers, hills and forests shaping their sense of place.”

Nina returned to New Jersey for work reasons, but she and her husband Frank recently bought a home in Orange, and are passionate about conserving the surrounding landscape: “Having spent most of my life in New Jersey, I have seen many family farms give way to suburban development, and favorite by-ways that were destinations for drives in the country are now merely access roads for crops of large, new homes. Although northern Massachusetts has a long way to go to become as developed as New Jersey, I feel strongly about

PAGE 4 • VIEWS FROM MOUNT GRACE • WINTER 2009-2010

S O U T H E R N M O N A D N O C K P L A T E A U U P D A T E

M a r g a r e t P o w e r - B i g g s S o c i e t y

Working closely with Nashua River Watershed Association, Ashburnham Conservation Trust, and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership (NQRLP) received a 2009 U.S. Forest Service award of $2.2 million. The grant will help conserve 1,574 acres as part of the Southern Monadnock Plateau Phase II Forest Legacy project.

The land will be protected through conservation restrictions, which keep the land in private hands. Landowners continue to own the land, harvest timber, and otherwise enjoy their now protected property.

Besides protecting natural resources, the project will also help ensure clean drinking water supplies for more than 34,000 residents of Ashburnham, Gardner, Fitchburg, and Winchendon, who depend on the surface water supplies protected by the forests in the project.

The conservation restrictions will allow public access for hunting, fishing, hiking and nature study on most of the lands. The project also preserves the dramatic views along the Midstate Trail as it winds through Westminster and Ashburnham to the top of Mount Watatic.

B Y N A T H A N R U D O L P H

B Y J A Y R A S K U

Member Profile: Nina Barszcz

Forest Legacy provides funds for up to 75% of the cost of the projects. Four landowners are donating all or part of the value of their conservation restrictions in order to meet the Forest Legacy grant’s matching requirements.

This award follows the NQRLP’s 2008 Southern Monadnock Plateau Phase I Forest Legacy grant, led by the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which began the protection of 975 acres in the same region.

This fall, we submitted a new forest legacy grant with our partners, to conserve an additional 1,986 acres in the same focus area. We’ll find out next summer how this grant – the Southern Monadnock Plateau Phase III project – ranks nationally. Hopefully, when all three phases are completed, over 4,500 acres of working woodlands will be conserved.

These conservation efforts around Ashburnham are significant to a much wider region. The Quabbin to Cardigan forests, which include the plateau, encompass two million acres of relatively intact woodlands that span 100 miles from the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts north to Mount Cardigan in New Hampshire.

Nina and Frank on Tully Mountain.

WINTER 2009-2010 • VIEWS FROM MOUNT GRACE • PAGE 5

The text below is excerpted from former Mount Grace President Dan Leahy’s speech at the twenty-third annual meeting, held

at New Salem Preserves and Orchards. For a full text of the speech, look on the Mount Grace website at www.mountgrace.

org/leahy.html.

When Leigh asked me to speak, she immediately needed a title for my talk. So I gave her one:

Utopia by Design: Celebrating the Uniqueness of this Place - People, Land and Wildlife.

This idea grew out of an article in the New York Times about the

1960’s rock band, The Fugs. In the article a band member said

he had learned to avoid what he called the “big utopias,” in other

words, The Dogmatic.

Instead he was committed “to pursue the small utopias:” Nature,

Music, Friendship, Intimate Love.

This idea embodies the work of Mount Grace. It’s Mount Grace’s

crucial role in what it means to live here, in this deep rich

tapestry of people and places.

These little utopias are where:

The dawn chorus sings in June

The scarlet tanager and oven bird call

The trout lilies and lady slippers bloom

The bears and bobcats live their lives

It is the farms and forest and people Allen Young writes about in Make Hay While the Sun Shines.

It’s the Montague Plains. It’s Mount Watatic.

It’s the Full Moon Coffee House. It’s Charles Neville.

It’s Charlotte Ryan, John Bitzer, Peggy Biggs, Eleanor Whitmore, John Woolsey, and John O’Keefe. It’s Maggie

Rouleau.

It’s an endless group of Mount Grace supporters.

It’s Barbara Corey’s garden. It’s Bruce Spencer’s woodlot.

It’s Chase Hill Farm. It’s Tully Meadow Farm. It’s Butterworth Farm. It’s Captain’s Farm. It’s Seeds of Solidarity

Farm. It’s the Blake Farm. It’s Carter & Stevens Farm. It’s Red Fire Farm. It’s this farm. It’s all the farms we have

yet to protect.

It’s the wild and the cultivated. It is the place we call Home.

It’s all the public land: the idea and belief that no matter what your station in life, you have access to the grace and

beauty of these places. But this is a place of fragile beauty, and I cannot gloss over what we are facing . . .

Small Utopias

PAGE 6 • VIEWS FROM MOUNT GRACE • WINTER 2009-2010

Special Thanks fromMount Grace to:

M O U N T G R A C E U P D A T E S

David Brown, Bill Copeland, Allen Ross, and Ted Watt for leading outdoor events

Anne Cervantes for volunteer help in the office

Outgoing Board Members Jassy Bratko, Mary Eliot Jackson, and Kasey Rolih

New Board Members Kristine Delfausse, Warren Facey, and Peter Haley

Derek Estler, Don Flye, Norm Flye, Ray Purington, Parul Sharma, and Sanjeev Sharma for their help at the volunteer workday at Skyfields

Extra Special Thanks to all who helped with the Annual Meeting:

Carol Hillman, Bob Colnes, and New Salem Preserves and Orchards for hosting the 23rd annual meeting

Lincoln Fish, John O’Keefe, and Bruce Spencer for leading walks on West Hill and around New Salem Orchards

Lou Cormier for helping with set up and clean up

Danae Dinicola and Mick Huppert for pitching in to help serve the food

Diemand Farms for catering

Allen Young for providing flowers

Chase Hill Farm, Green River Ambrosia, The People’s Pint, Pierce Brothers Coffee Roasters, Smith’s Country Cheese, and Uptown Liquors for food and drink

The Town of Orange for lending their PA system

Gifts were Received in Memory of Dave Engman, Alana Morlock and Linda Scotland

Gifts were Received in Honor of Allen Young

Unrestricted Foundation Gifts:$35,000 was received from an Anonymous Foundation$20,000 was received from the Tortuga Foundation

Alana Morlock, of Winchendon, passed away on

October 21st at the age of 57. She was a secretary

of the Winchendon Planning and Development

Office, the Zoning Board, and the Agricultural

Commission. She was a niece of the three Girouard

brothers, who own and operate Murdock Farm,

and she played an important role in helping

protect the farm. Alana is shown here at an August

2008 hike from Captain’s Farm to Murdock Farm

in Winchendon.

In an effort to add to the tools available for stewardship

and outreach work around the region, Mount Grace

is asking supporters to consider donating any of the

following items:

• Heavy duty 6-1/2” circular saw

• Ratchet and socket set in metric and english

• Sawhorses (2)

• Metal tool cabinet

• Heavy duty cordless drill with battery and charger

• 14” hatchet

• 23.5” Fiskars splitting axe

• Gas/bar oil container for chainsaw

• Small flat screen television (19” to 26” diagonal)

We would appreciate donations of items in good

condition, and of course, donations to Mount Grace are

tax deductible.

Wish List

Long Pond Loop HikeTully Lake Reservation, RoyalstonSaturday, January 9th9:30am to 4pm

The winter hike on Tully Trail is a

perennial favorite. Meet at the Tully

Lake Campground parking area on

Doane Hill Road at 9:30 to walk the

7.5 mile Tully Long Pond trail. The

moderately strenuous hike will be

led by AMC hike leaders Don Flye

and Dan Bolton and will be geared

towards snowshoers, cross country

skiers, and hikers, depending on snow

coverage. Please bring a lunch or

trail snacks and weather-appropriate

clothing.

Winter Tracking WorkshopSkyfields Arboretum, Athol1461 Old Keene Rd.Saturday, February 6th9am to Noon

Learn to spot and interpret the signs

of local wildlife in a morning walk

through the trails and woods around

Skyfields led by veteran tracker and

naturalist Paul Wanta. Last year’s

attendees saw signs of rabbits, deer,

moose, wild turkeys, fisher, and many

other inhabitants of our local woods

and wetlands. This year’s workshop

will be limited to 25 participants, with

precedence given to Mount Grace

members based on order of pre-

registration.

Maple Sugaring TourJohnson Farm, Orange210 Wheeler AvenueSaturday, March 27th9:30am to 11:30am

Steve and DeeDee Johnson protected

their family farm in 2002 as part of the

historic Tully Initiative. Follow Steve

Johnson on a walk through the maple

sugaring process, from forest, to sugar

house, to syrup. Join Mount Grace

staff for an optional pre-tour pancake

breakfast at the restaurant beginning

at 8:30. Breakfast will be separate

checks. Seating is only guaranteed for

the first 25 people who RSVP.

WINTER 2009-2010 • VIEWS FROM MOUNT GRACE • PAGE 7

For tickets, directions, or more information, email kotker@mountgrace.org or call (978) 248-2043 x19

Upcoming Winter 2009-2010 Events

S t e w a r d s h i p

Coarse woody material (CWM), which includes snags

and downed logs, is critical to a healthy forest. A large

volume of CWM is a defining characteristic of older forests,

known as late successional forests, which once dominated

Massachusetts. Since most of our wildlife and plant species

evolved in late successional forests and depend in many ways

on CWM, good forestry practice includes providing snags

and downed logs.

When it comes to dead wood for wildlife habitat, bigger is

always better. Larger snags provide nesting opportunities

for animals like pileated woodpeckers and barred owls, and

large downed logs have a lower surface to volume ratio,

which results in slower decay and longer persistence on the

landscape. This persistence provides a continuum of changing

habitats for a wide variety of species – from denning black

bears to burrowing invertebrates. So, what can you do as a

landowner to maintain or enhance CWM on your property?

First off, find out how much dead wood is on your land. Ask

your forester to inventory the CWM on your property, or you

the landowner can get a rough idea by walking a few acres

and measuring every snag and downed log you come across.

Recommended stocking levels per acre are 1-4 snags greater

than 18 inches around and 1-4 downed logs greater than

12 inches in diameter and greater than 6 feet long. If these

levels are not met, take an active approach. To create a snag,

girdle a tree, or to create downed logs, just fell the tree and

leave it on the forest floor.

A rule of thumb to provide a continual supply of CWM is to

create snags and downed logs either during every timber

harvest or every 10-15 years. Creation of snags and nesting

logs makes for a great winter project that is one of the

easiest yet most important habitat management activities

a landowner can personally conduct. For further assistance

with creating CWM on your land please contact Tom

Wansleben, Stewardship Biologist, at 978-248-2043 x 12 or

email wansleben@mountgrace.org.

Life in Dead WoodB Y T O M W A N S L E B E N

Non-profit OrganizationU.S. PostagePAIDPermit No. 183Greenfield, MA

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Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this newsletter by passing it on to a friend or donating it to a school, library, business or other interested party.

Oli and Doris Paoletti, show a painting of Gale Farm to new owners Maureen Conte and Bob Busby at the August 28th open house. Doris, who grew up at the farm, painted the picture from memory twenty-five years after moving away. Almost one hundred friends and neighbors attended the event, which commemorated the anniversary of the nearby Tully Trail and the renaming of the farm as Tully Meadow Farm.