Six Land Conservation Projects Complete Thanks to Catalyst Fund

It’s been a busy few months for Mass Audubon’s Land Protection team as well as the teams of partners around the state. Check out a few recent conservation success stories.

Rare Species Habitat Conserved in Mendon  

On June 27, our partners at Metacomet Land Trust and the Town of Mendon closed on their co-held conservation restriction on 190 acres in Mendon, MA.  

The property benefits from topographic diversity of glacial moraines creating upland and wetland micro-climates known to enhance the climate resilience of a place and the species that rely on it. It is also a critical area for the long-term conservation of rare and vulnerable species, protects the land over an aquifer (Mendon’s main source of drinking water), stores and sequesters carbon, and has numerous freshwater resources such as the Mill River and many unnamed streams, wetlands, and vernal pools.

This project was one of the first to receive a commitment from Mass Audubon’s 30x30 Catalyst Fund due to its incredible ecological value. Mass Audubon contributed grant-writing, map creation, and other technical expertise, as well as $200,000, leveraging funding from the state’s LAND Grant, Mass Wildlife’s Enhanced Offsite Mitigation Fund grant, and Community Preservation Act (CPA) dollars from the Town of Mendon.  

Metacomet Land Trust will soon add trails for the public to enjoy, so stay tuned!

Growing Green in Easthampton

In July 2025, Mass Audubon partnered with Kestrel Land Trust to conserve 42 acres of forest and farmland bordering the Manhan River in Easthampton that could have become a strip mall. Mass Audubon contributed to the purchase of the parcel through our 30x30 Catalyst Fund and will also co-hold a conservation restriction over the property with the City of Easthampton.   

This land includes riparian forest, steep slopes, and rare species habitats. It also will serve as the backdrop to an innovative approach to affordable housing called Growing Green–Meadowbrook, led by Kestrel Land Trust and The Community Builders.  

The Community Builders will purchase an adjoining 10-acre parcel to construct affordable housing that will provide residents and the public access to the conserved habitat via trails, community gardens, and connections to established bike paths in Easthampton, Southampton, Northampton, Amherst, and Belchertown.

The community-based approach, and thoughtfulness of the project, is being touted as a national model where conservation and housing can coexist, rather than compete for land and financial resources. 

Partnering to Preserve 100 Acres for Grassland Bird Habitat in New Braintree & Barre

Mass Audubon is proud to support the work of the East Quabbin Land Trust and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game in preserving over 100 acres in New Braintree and Barre.

Thanks to Mass Audubon’s 30x30 Catalyst Fund, we helped our partners overcome a gap in acquisition funding to purchase the Tanner-Hiller Airport, which could have been purchased for development. 

Since 2013, conservationists have identified the airport land as a high conservation priority in Central Massachusetts due to its tremendous ecological value-habitat for endangered grassland birds, numerous species of State concern, a rare sandplain barren natural community, and extensive floodplain shrub forests. 

Protecting this land has additional benefits as well. It will enable the Wheelwright Pond Dam removal project to proceed, as access is only possible through the airport property. Dam removal will allow the Ware River to run free through Hardwick and New Braintree. Doing so would also enhance numerous rare mussel populations that occur where the tributary meets the Ware River. 

The airport property also includes a 2-mile railbed that is crucial to completing the Mass Central Rail Trail.

Saving Critical Bat Habitat in Rowe

In July 2025, Mass Audubon tapped its 30x30 Catalyst Fund to assist Franklin Land Trust to conserve approximately 80 acres of intact forest in Rowe that is priority swarming and staging habitat for federally and state-listed bat species. 

The property is located along the upper Deerfield River in an area of diverse and unique bedrock that supports rare and unusual plants. Adjacent is Franklin Land Trust’s 94-acre Nan Williams Conservation Area, where bats shelter over the winter. Both properties will be managed as “Forever Wild,” meaning nature will take its course without human intervention.

Conserving 300 acres along Vermont Border

In August 2025, Mass Audubon, working in partnership with Franklin Land Trust, Kestrel Land Trust, and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, conserved nearly 300 acres of ecologically valuable forested habitat in Colrain, along the border with Vermont.

The property contains two high elevation peaks, steep slopes, and numerous wetlands that support populations of rare plants. It is bounded by coldwater fisheries tributaries, like Spur Brook, which feeds the North River, leading to the Deerfield. It is also a key habitat node for wildlife movements from Vermont’s Green Mountains to the Hudson Highlands of New York, as recognized by the Berkshire Wildlife Linkage.

Mass Audubon’s 30x30 Catalyst Fund was a key component of this success story, allowing Mass Audubon to be both agile and quick when confronted by the possibility the land might be timbered or developed. 

Critical Brook Habitat Conserved

In July 2025, Mass Audubon used its 30x30 Catalyst Fund to step in and pre-acquire 50 acres along Hinsdale Brook, a tributary to the Green River in the Connecticut River Valley. The newly protected parcel includes over 2,000 feet of the brook’s course, along with steep slopes leading up from the water’s edge.

The brook is a cold-water fishery, identified by the MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife as important habitat for species that thrive where water temperatures are consistently low, such as trout. The stream corridor on the property also includes priority habitat for rare species indicating a rich, sensitive habitat which would have been threatened by any future development.

With the property now permanently conserved, Mass Audubon and the Department of Fish and Game are working together to transfer the property to the Department as its final steward.

Support the 30x30 Catalyst Fund

The 30x30 Catalyst Fund enables Mass Audubon to move quickly and to permanently protect the most biodiverse and carbon-rich land in the state. It will also help us provide critical support, both technical and financial, to our conservation partners.

While we can achieve much with our expertise and capacity, we will need the conservation community to come together to fully meet the 30x30 goals. 

Learn more about the fund and how you can get involved