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Important Wildlife Habitat Protected In Sharon

View of the newly protected Arguimbau Farm in Sharon.

A 28-acre scenic, historic, and ecologically significant property near Mass Audubon's Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary in Sharon is now permanently protected, thanks to the generosity of landowners Daniel and Margaret (Peg) Arguimbau. This land, known as the Arguimbau Farm, has been farmed by the Arguimbau family since the early 1930s. A conservation ethic runs deep in the family with Dan and his uncle, Lawrence Arguimbau, granting Sharon's first conservation restriction in 1971 on an 8-acre portion of the farm. Combining the family's conservation gifts, the farm now exceeds 35 protected acres.

"Next to my family, this land has been the great love of my life and it was an easy choice to preserve," said Dan Arguimbau. "It was also an easy choice to work with Mass Audubon because I have seen the great conservation ethic and strength of the organization through the actions of former Moose Hill sanctuary directors David Clapp and Al Bussewitz, as well as present director Christine Turnbull."

Dan and Peg advance their preservation ethic as active and forward-thinking conservationists in their local community who recognize the critical role land conservation plays in shaping our lives—from promoting local agriculture, to preserving beautiful scenic vistas, to staving-off climate change. The Arguimbaus have protected their land by donating a Conservation Restriction (CR) to Mass Audubon—which means that Mass Audubon will protect the land in perpetuity. CRs are legally binding agreements designed to permanently protect certain conservation values of a property while at the same time keeping the land in private ownership available for the landowner to use and transfer consistent with the terms of the CR.

Protection of the Arguimbau Farm also contains resources of historical significance. The newly protected land includes the Deborah Sampson Gannett homestead and farm built in 1813 on the Town of Sharon's list of historical homes, known as the home of the female soldier of the Revolutionary War and official heroine of the State of Massachusetts.

"Permanently protecting the Arguimbau land achieves one of our conservation goals to protect wildlife corridors surrounding Mass Audubon's Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary and preserves the environmental quality of the Massapoag Brook ecosystem," said Bob Ford, land protection specialist at Mass Audubon, who worked with the Arguimbaus to protect their land. "We are extremely grateful to the Arguimbau family for their generosity and for choosing to conserve the land they love." Mass Audubon has helped permanently protect nearly 5,000 acres of privately owned land through Conservation Restrictions and is considered a national leader in CR stewardship.

The protected Arguimbau land extends an adjacent mosaic of protected town-owned land and contains upland woods, wetlands and extensive rolling fields of productive agricultural soils. Preservation of this land will contribute to the protection of Massapoag Brook, a tributary of the Neponset River, and further helps protect the immediately adjacent Natural Heritage Priority Habitat area for rare species. The premises also include portions of a town-wide hiking trail corridor, known as the Massapoag Trail.

The Arguimbaus' gift of a CR on their land enables Mass Audubon to continue assisting the Town with protecting additional adjacent areas of critical habitat. "We look forward to working with other private landowners and the Town to help protect additional acreage of woodlands, and other important wildlife habitat surrounding this beautiful area," said Bob Wilber, director of land protection for Mass Audubon.