The agreement creates the new Sarah Cowls Forest in Pelham and the Hop Brook Forest in Belchertown.
More than 2,000 acres of forest recently conserved in western Massachusetts will protect public access to sections of the Robert Frost Trail and New England Scenic Trail and establish two new public forests for hiking.
The conservation groups the Kestrel Land Trust and The Trustees recently announced they have permanently protected the land in the Massachusetts towns of Pelham and Belchertown. The land contains two of the largest contiguous forested tracts in the Pioneer Valley.
Officials with the Kestrel Land Trust said the land agreement will ensure that the natural forest is conserved for the benefit of wildlife and water quality, with guaranteed public access to sections of the Robert Frost Trail in Pelham and New England Scenic Trail in Belchertown.
An additional 150 acres that include Poverty Mountain in Shutesbury are in the process of being donated to The Trustees and Kestrel. The 1,094-acre contiguous forest in Pelham and Shutesbury, jointly stewarded and protected by Kestrel and The Trustees, will be named Sarah Cowls Forest at Pelham Hills.
In Belchertown, the 1,050-acre conserved forest will be named the Hop Brook Forest and adds to the over 800 acres that Kestrel previously conserved with the town of Belchertown.
Over the next year, Kestrel and The Trustees will work with the towns of Belchertown, Pelham, and Amherst to integrate the newly conserved lands and trails with other town conservation areas into a wholly protected landscape. This will include improved trailheads at Amethyst Brook Conservation Area in Amherst and Holland Glen Conservation Area in Belchertown.
This announcement follows news earlier in the year of conservation of another property of more than 2,000 acres in a dozen towns were acquired from WD Cowls by Lyme Quabbin LLC, which will also be permanently protected over the next year by Kestrel and The Trustees. Altogether these acquisitions, when completed, total over 5,260 acres.
