Greenbelt, Essex County’s Land Trust, has successfully completed a $5.1M community-based fundraising effort to acquire the iconic Sagamore Hill landscape in Hamilton and Essex for conservation. This week, two final donations, including a $75,000 grant from the Bafflin Foundation, brought the campaign to a successful conclusion. Inclusive of these gifts, Greenbelt has secured the needed $5.1M to purchase and protect 340 acres of meandering woodland trails, magnificent open meadows and a stunning hilltop that offers views all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.
In addition to the 340-acre core project area, Greenbelt has secured adjacent, donated conservation restrictions that will together create a 525-acre corridor of permanently protected land that helps to link interior forest areas of Willowdale State Forest and Bradley Palmer State Park, across Appleton Farms, and the Miles River to the Manchester-Essex Woods, Crane Beach, and the Great Marsh.
“A conservation effort of this magnitude is unprecedented in this highly developed and populous area of eastern Massachusetts, and its success is truly groundbreaking for Greenbelt, our conservation partners and the communities we serve,” said Greenbelt President Ed Becker.
Greenbelt and The Trust for Public Land initiated the effort to acquire Sagamore Hill for conservation last spring, and coordinated a community-based fundraising effort to raise the $5.1M purchase price. Residents in Hamilton and Essex responded enthusiastically, voting to authorize $1.75M and $50,000, respectively, in Community Preservation Act Funds to the project. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts recently lauded the effort, and invested grant awards of more than $1.3M. Over 500 individual donors have contributed an additional $2M.
In the weeks ahead, Greenbelt will conclude the complicated transactions that will eventually transfer title of the land to the regional land trust. In the interim, Greenbelt’s stewardship team is busy planning site improvements, such as parking and signage that will welcome visitors later this year.
Greenbelt has been very encouraged by the public’s enthusiasm for the project, which is the largest undertaking of its kind in Greenbelt’s 55-year history.
“Public support of the Sagamore Hill conservation effort has been extraordinary, and it has helped to ensure that current and future generations can enjoy this significant scenic, agricultural and recreational resource forever,” added Becker. “This landscape is a natural wonderland, close to home, where people of all ages can walk, ride, run, ski and snowshoe over miles of trails. We look forward to welcoming the public to its formal opening later this year,” he concluded.