Metacomet Land Trust is working with the Town of Upton and the Sudbury Valley Trustees to ensure 107 acres of forest owned by the town is protected from development forever!
The Project
- Forest Heights is a 107-acre parcel off North Street obtained by the town through a tax taking in 2019.
- The Upton Select Board has agreed to sell a Conservation Restriction (CR) on the property to Metacomet and the Sudbury Valley Trustees for $600,000.
- The parcel with remain town-owned under the custody of the Upton Conservation Commission.
- The CR will ensure that the land is left as a forest and remains accessible to the public in perpetuity.
- The project is expected to be completed in late 2025 or early 2026.
- Click here for poster.
Funding
- Metacomet and SVT will pay the town of Upton $600,000 for the CR
- MLT will incur about $40,000 in due diligence expenses, including a land survey.
- Funding will be provided by a $220,000 Forest Reserve Grant from the Commonwealth, a $200,000 contribution from the Sudbury Valley Trustees, and Metacomet. Massachusetts Audubon is also providing support.
- Metacomet’s contribution to the project is $220,000 and the trust has already raised more than $170,000 towards this goal.
- Private donations from community members and organizations are needed to bridge the funding gap and complete this important conservation project. A generous member has offered to match donations up to $5,000 for this project.
Resource and Recreational Values
- Forest Heights is contiguous with more than 450 acres of protected conservation land, stretching from Pell Farm on Soap Hill Road in Grafton north to Metacomet’s Rugelleski Woods Preserve near the Massachusetts Turnpike. Its protection will be the capstone on a 30+ year effort to protect the upper Warren Book watershed.
- 107 acres of mostly forested habitat that has not been logged in many years (the property will be managed for development of old growth characteristics and climate friendly carbon storage)
- core BioMap3 habitat
- local BioMap3 wetland, vernal pool, rare species, and aquatic buffer habitat
- high Index of Ecological Integrity as mapped by UMASS Amherst
- within Miscoe Warren and Whitehall Watersheds ACEC
- headwater streams which flow into both Warren Brook and Miscoe Brook (both cold-water streams)
- unique wetland with black spruce and tamarack
- highly productive certified vernal pool with several other vernal pools nearby
- probable location of a historic mica quarry
- diverse topography and geology with highest or nearly highest elevation in Upton
- potential for trails connecting to Upton’s Whitney Conservation Area and Metacomet’s Bonner Natural Area and east across North St. to Upton State Forest.
- location for a public parking area off North Street
- interior stone walls
- More maps!
Your tax-deductible donation goes 100% toward this land acquisition. Please Donate today!
Please click here to visit MLT’s donations page and donate to the Forest Heights project!
Donations may also be mailed to:
Forest Heights Project
Metacomet Land Trust
PO Box 231
Franklin, MA 02038
Questions? Please contact
Mike Penko, Metacomet Land Trust Board of Directors via email: mike.penko@metacometlandtrust.org
Tony Scibelli, Land Protection Specialist, Sudbury Valley Trustees via email: ascibelli@svtweb.org
