Northampton Planning Director Wayne Feiden said automated cameras have photographer bears, bobcats and other large mammals in the Mineral Hills.
NORTHAMPTON – The city has added two more pieces to a jigsaw puzzle of conservation land that will be suitable for framing when completed.
The 30-acre parcel in the Mineral Hills and a 20-acre piece in the adjacent Saw Mill Hills bring Northampton two steps closer to the dream of an unbroken corridor of open space that will make both hikers and wildlife feel they are in the wilderness. Except for a crossing at Sylvester Road, the two conservation areas will eventually form one big stretch of rolling hills, bogs and forest that leads into an even bigger stretch of untamed land to the west.
“These two large areas are getting closer and closer to meeting each other,” said Northampton Planning Director Wayne M. Feiden.
The Mineral Hills sale closed on Tuesday for $200,000, with the state picking up two-thirds of the cost. It adds to the city’s already considerable holdings in the area, which borders the Westhampton town land. In addition, Westhampton and the Kestrel Trust are close to buying another 55 adjacent acres.
Feiden said an added benefit of the city’s new acquisition is that it allows Northampton to discontinue almost a half mile of Turkey Hill Road, which is currently a dirt and gravel path in that section. That means that private landowners can no longer pave that path as part of new development. In that case, the city would have had to assume responsibility for maintenance of the road.
Volunteers from Friends of Mineral Hills Conservation Area will begin constructing a boardwalk leading from a parking area on Sylvester Road on June 4 with the help of an $8,600 state grant. The boardwalk will connect that parking area with a system of trails in the Mineral Hills that is currently inaccessible from Sylvester Road.
The 20-acre parcel at the end of Gregory Land in the Saw Mill Hills was a land taking in lieu of unpaid taxes, Feiden said. It is across Ryan Road from the Robert K. Finn Ryan Road Elementary School and will give students there, along with the general public, access to the Saw Mill Hills, which extend from Spring Street to Sylvester Road.
Feiden said automated cameras have photographer bears, bobcat and other large mammals in the Mineral Hills. Naturalists have also discovered coyote dens there. Wildlife corridors are important, Feiden said, because they allow animals to travel long distances without the risks of encountering development. In all, the city has preserved some 600 acres in the two conservation areas, by Feiden’s estimate.