WENDELL — The Mount Grace Land Trust has received a six-figure grant to purchase and protect 80 acres of “forever wild” land as part of the 11,000-acre Bullard Ridge Reserve.
The nonprofit has secured $133,500 from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ Land Acquisition for Forest Reserves Grant Program, which recently awarded a total of $951,000 in grants to permanently protect 430 acres across the state to be managed as forest reserves.
David Small, Mount Grace’s conservation director, said the $133,500 will cover half the cost of preserving a two-parcel, 128-acre plot of land.
“Then we have to raise the rest of the money through other sources, which we are doing,” he explained.
The first parcel is owned by Lyme Timber Co., a private timberland investment management company focusing on forest-related investments in the United States and Canada, and spans 48 acres. Small also said that Mark Stetz and Kathleen Quinlan, the neighbors to that parcel, are interested in selling 80 acres of their property.
Reached via email, Stetz declined to discuss the sale until it is finalized.
“What Wendell offers us is a large amount of interior forest,” Small said. “It’s wild country.”
He said harvesting and trails are prohibited on the land, but hiking, fishing and hunting are permitted.
The already-protected 11,000-acre Bullard Ridge Reserve includes the Wendell State Forest, the Orange State Forest, the Whetstone Wood Wildlife Sanctuary and the Warwick State Forest.
The state grant program, a result of the Forests as Climate Solutions initiative, supports designating 10% of Massachusetts forests as reserves, where trees can grow, age and regenerate naturally, with little to no active management. According to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, these forests will create habitat for wildlife, capture and store carbon dioxide to mitigate climate change, help keep local communities cooler during extreme heat and slow stormwater runoff to reduce flooding, among other benefits.
“As we confront the climate crisis, protecting and preserving our forests is one of the most effective tools we have to reduce carbon in our atmosphere and build resilience for the future,” state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, said in a statement. “These grant awards represent a meaningful investment in the long-term health of our forests, protecting critical landscapes in western and north central Massachusetts so they can continue to store carbon, support biodiversity and mature into resilient older forest habitats.
“By conserving places like the Bullard Ridge Reserve in Wendell and the forests surrounding the Quabbin Reservoir, the commonwealth is strengthening watershed protection, expanding access to passive recreation and safeguarding some of our most intact forest ecosystems,” she added. “I am grateful to the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for their leadership in advancing these efforts and supporting communities in preserving these vital natural resources.”
