SHUTESBURY — A 9-acre parcel near the Bright Water Bog Nature Retreat on Wendell Road could be secured by Kestrel Land Trust as a way to expand the town’s Lake Wyola Conservation Area.
Bridget Likely, a conservation manager for Kestrel Land Trust, told the Conservation Commission at a recent meeting that the land trust, as part of its ongoing efforts to expand the Bright Water Bog and acquire a 196-acre parcel that already has a conservation restriction, is considering pre-acquiring the 9-acre site before selling it to the town.
The land is appraised at $82,000, and the town would likely be asked to buy it using money from the Community Preservation Act, a request that could come at Annual Town Meeting next spring.
Beth Willson, chair of the Conservation Commission, offered praise for the idea of expanding both the town’s holdings near Lake Wyola and the Bright Water Bog. Willson said she would be speaking to both the Selectboard and Town Administrator Hayley Bolton to advance this possibility.
Likely explained that the 196-acre site is seen as the next step to add on to the Bright Water Bog, which was created in 2005 through a conservation restriction, held by the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Kestrel Land Trust worked with property owner Julian Janowitz, who brought art and nature together on the 147 acres surrounding Ames Pond, and then passed ownership of the land and its trails and sculptures to Kestrel in his will in 2021.
“Because most of the land is protected, it’s been taking a while for us to come up with a plan,” Likely said, explaining that Kestrel Land Trust has wanted to bring the two properties under one management plan, but has found it difficult to find funding.
The hope is to close on the deals for the 9-acre and 196-acre sites by the end of 2025, or in early 2026.
As Kestrel Land Trust’s seventh and largest nature retreat, Bright Water Bog is centered in the West Quabbin region and is east of Brushy Mountain, where the land trust helped conserve 3,486 acres of working forest with W.D. Cowls in 2012.
Bright Water Bog has a small gravel parking lot, for about eight vehicles, and has become a popular destination as the land trust has expanded the boardwalks and trail system.
Eventually, the Bright Water Bog may connect to the Dudleyville Forest, 200 acres of white pine and mixed hardwoods on Montague Road, that the land trust acquired in 2024 from the Brown family. But Likely said that, for now, the connection would mostly be preserving a wildlife corridor.