Growth and Preserving Some land for Nature

[Mamu]

I live in a small town in Massachusetts. Like so many of the towns in this area we have grown, and grown.

Our population is topping off at 30,000 that a lot of people for a small town that up until some 20 years ago still had a lot of dirt roads.

I have said before that I border wet lands. The land has been donated to the town with a stipulation to keep it in it's natural state. It will become a wildlife sanctuary.

I am very pleased with this decision. The wild life will remain. Even the elusive Fisher Cat has been spotted in my back yard.

 

[oldkicker]

My SIL works for the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust and they've been acquiring land to preserve the open areas in and around Dartmouth, Mass.

Each Thanskgiving we take a walk on some of the lands that they've saved. Last year we walked through Destruction Brook Woods. We also participate in the 5K walk.

My SIL and my DW have talked often about how much development has taken place where they live. It's really very comforting to know that there will be some areas left aside from development. Especially when the demands put on the land by developers is so high. It's also good to know that these efforts are being done by locals. People who care about the land and the community!

 

[Tulirose]

That's wonderful Mamu.

Here on Long Island, the County has been trying to purchase parts of our Pine Barren areas out in Suffolk County. There are so many strip malls and housing developments all over the Island and the Pine Barrens is important to keep to maintain our water supply.

I'm sure the County will do the right thing in maintaining this acquired property in its natural state. However, there are times where politics and money (and greed) causes things to go the other way.

When we bought our first house back in 1982 it was about seven years old and the original owners told us that when they had the house built, the area behind them was all wooded and they were told that it was a town-owned bird sanctuary and would never be developed. They then told us that money must have changed hands under some table, however, because a few years after they moved in, they came home one day to bulldozers knocking down all the trees and there is now a big housing development there.

Now in this area there is not that much open space anymore but the developers still manage to find areas to build homes. You wouldn't believe some of the places they spot build houses. What gets me even more, is that people BUY these homes built on these properties squeezed in between main roads and weird places.

I am curious as to who donated the land in your area. I guess it was privately owned prior to this. Not that I want to know who, as in a name, owned this land but just whether it was privately owned by a person or an organization. Just curious.

Wetlands are fragile. They did the right thing and I'm certain your town will honor the stipulation.

 

[Mamu]

Yes Tuli it was privately owned. I'm not sure how many acres. The people who owned it were very wealthy, made their money in worms. A good laugh but it true.

There are 4 man-made reservoirs and a large stream that takes up about 1/3 of the land. They opened a bait shop on the land over 60 years ago, the only one in the county at the time. People would come from all over Mass to purchase their bait.

The owner passed away 2 years ago and his only child a daughter inherited the land. It was her fathers wish that the land would never be built on. The land has some kind of legal binding that it stays in it's natural state. It can only be used as a preserve for wild life.