Success Stories

Thanks to the cooperation and help of the Hampden Township Planning Board, the Hampden County Registry of Deeds, the notary, the lawyer, and the landowner, a special 7-acre parcel of land has now been added to Laughing Brook Wildlife Sanctuary.

Mass Audubon has acquired two new properties on Cuttyhunk Island that total over 30 acres and encompass roughly 1.25 miles of coastline. This is the final stage of a multiyear endeavor to complete the acquisition of land left to Mass Audubon by bequest of our longtime conservation partner on the island, Muriel Ponzecchi.

Working in partnership with the City of Northampton, Mass Audubon added 5.72 acres of state-designated "Critical Natural Landscape and Core Habitat" to Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary. The land is strategically located along the eastern boundary of the Manhan Meadows and adds to the extensive wetland systems, grasslands, shrublands, and forest that make up the 730-acre sanctuary.

Nashawannock Brook

In late April 2020, Mass Audubon acquired a Conservation Restriction (CR) on a former golf course in Northampton. Purchased in February by the City of Northampton, the property adds 105 acres to the southwestern section of a large forested area known as the Rocky Hill Greenway.

In partnership with the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, Mass Audubon closed on 85 acres of land south of our Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary near Old Sudbury Road. The land was donated by the Carroll School, and it straddles the borders of Lincoln, Wayland, and Weston. 

Galloway Brook

A generous donation from the Trifilo family has added nine acres and frontage on the Galloway Brook to Cook's Canyon Wildlife Sanctuary. This acquisition preserves an ecologically significant natural area, and assists wildlife movement by expanding the connectivity of the sanctuary—a key response to climate change.

Mass Audubon has received a generous donation of a 50-acre property on the former Grass Hill Road in Whately, near Graves Farm Wildlife Sanctuary. These acres add significantly to the connection between protected lands in the area, thereby preserving the integrity of the natural landscape. 

In a secluded part of western Massachusetts, a hidden valley along a brook in Warwick was recently acquired by Mass Audubon. Adjacent to the Warwick State Forest, this 140-acre property has been on the wish-list since 2004.

On the southern side of Cold Spring Road in the Town of Sandisfield, there sits seven acres of ecologically rich land recently acquired by Mass Audubon from Donald and Mary Turek.

Occasionally Mass Audubon comes across a property that is an inholding—that is, a property not owned by Mass Audubon that is virtually "within" one of our wildlife sanctuaries. In this case, a staff person identified a seven-acre property with no road frontage between the Wachusett Regional High School and the Eagle Lake Wildlife Sanctuary in Holden, MA.

A 70-acre woodland parcel adjacent to "The Mount"—Edith Wharton's home and a National Historic Landmark—is now permanently protected thanks to a Conservation Restriction generously donated to Mass Audubon by the property's owner, David Carver.

Land donors Gladys & Scott Olson

Scott and Gladys Olson generously donated their 4.9-acre property in Princeton, MA, so it could become part of Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary. While modest in size, the parcel represents a significant addition to the 1,100-acre sanctuary.

Mass Audubon and the City of Northampton worked in partnership to add one and a half acres to the conserved land known as the Rocky Hill Greenway and approximately four acres to Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary. The Greenway is an active wildlife corridor that has been the focus of protection efforts by the conservation partners for much of the last decade.

Great news—Mass Audubon just completed the purchase of 110 acres at Great Neck in Wareham with more than a mile of salt water frontage on Buzzard's Bay! A decade earlier, we worked with several partners to purchase a Conservation Restriction (CR) covering 95 acres of this property. But the CR left 15 acres of the land totally unprotected.

When no family members expressed interest in keeping a 5-acre property, Karen Faler approached Mass Audubon about donating it. The land has never been developed and directly abuts our Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary. Of course, we accepted her offer with enthusiasm!

Mass Audubon received a 2.5-acre property located on Cuttyhunk Island in late June 2019. But if you're not familiar with Cuttyhunk, you are in good company. The island is a little-known gem of coastal Massachusetts. Specifically, it's the last—and smallest—of the Elizabeth Island chain just northwest of Martha's Vineyard.

In early 2018, the Dorrance family presented Mass Audubon with an opportunity to acquire 25 acres of land they owned abutting Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary. This addition would expand the popular urban sanctuary’s footprint by more than 50%—a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. 

Moose © USFWS

Whetstone Wood Wildlife Sanctuary—located in Wendell, Orange, and New Salem—is Mass Audubon's largest wildlife sanctuary at almost 2,500 acres. And another 118 acres have been added, land that's home to high quality forest and vernal pools.

Stone wall on the Poitras property

A new Conservation Restriction (CR) was acquired in a joint effort between the New England Forestry Foundation, Mass Audubon, and the Poitras Family. This 60-acre property joins Mass Audubon's long-term effort to knit together a large natural landscape for the benefit of Holliston and neighboring communities.

View from the School Lot in Lenox

When Mass Audubon acquired land adjacent to Lenox's Kennedy Park in 1993, the ultimate aim was to swap it for a parcel just south of Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary along the western side of West Mountain Road. This exchange as originally envisioned did not take place—but after 26 years, a slightly modified version has.

Brewster's Woods

Generosity that inspires all who hear of it has created a new wildlife sanctuary in Concord, MA. Nancy Beeuwkes has donated an astonishing 143 acres of land along the Concord River to Mass Audubon—to be preserved forever.

Cold Brook Wildlife Sanctuary

The Fischer family has generously donated their 3-acre property in Sandisfield, along the western side of Cold Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, to Mass Audubon. The donated land is located on the easterly side of Beech Plain Road and fills a gap in the protection of the wildlife sanctuary.

A Conservation Restriction (CR) adjacent to Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary was expanded to permanently protect an additional five acres. The donation was made by the Hunnewell family and it preserves a section of Glen Street in Natick from further development.

Along Loring Hill Road, 23 acres of field and forest has been permanently protected with a Conservation Restriction (CR) donated to Mass Audubon by the Sinclair family. It is one of the last steps in a project envisioned by Fraser Sinclair in 2014.

The Hubbard family

Mass Audubon purchased 60 acres—the agricultural core of Hubbard's Farm—with the intention of restricting the use of the property to agriculture through use of the state’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) Program and then selling the property to a local farmer. Now that transfer has taken place.