Land trust puts 682 acres in ‘forever-wild’ status

SALISBURY — The Salisbury Association Land Trust has safeguarded as “forever-wild” 682 acres through the Northeast Wilderness Trust’s Wildlands Partnership program.

The Salisbury easement properties are noted as Pope Preserve, Belter Lime Rock and Shostak, Dark Hollow and Railroad Ramble, and the Yoakum Preserve.

The properties include diverse forest in both high and low terrain that supports habitat, refuge, and safe passage for myriad species including black bear, moose, beaver, mink, otter, fisher, porcupine, deer, red fox, coyote, timber rattlesnake, and other important wildlife species.

Three of the preserves are adjacent to the Appalachian Trail Corridor (Pope, Belter Lime Rock, and Shostak); Belter Lime Rock and Shostak are also part of a protected block along the Housatonic River.

These landscapes also provide safe places and multiple options for migrating wildlife and plants. The forest itself functions as a carbon sink, sequestering and storing carbon, helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Diane Fitzmyer Murphy, who co-chairs the Land Trust with John Landon, said in a phone interview Feb. 19 that the partnership with the Vermont-based Northeast Wilderness Trust adds an extra layer of protection.

Murphy said the properties will be managed in the most natural way possible.

“If a tree falls, unless it’s across a path, it will stay there.”

The land trust will continue to try and eradicate invasive plant species.

There is a financial benefit to joining up with the NWT. Once the arrangement is in place, the NWT will assess the properties as a whole, which will subsequently allow the Land Trust to enter the carbon credit market.

And as part of the larger effort, the land trust will be in a position to apply for grant money.

“Every time we get land in conservation, it costs a lot of money,” Murphy said.