Partners Preserve Over 400 Acres

Collaboration protects drinking water, wildlife habitat

MIDDLEBOROUGH, MA — October 5, 2007 — Nearly 450 acres of woodlands, wetlands and open hayfields fronting Black Brook have been preserved, The Nature Conservancy announced today.

Edward Parks, the longtime landowner of Black Brook Ranch in Middleborough, has sold 230 acres to the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to create a new wildlife management area. Parks also sold permanent conservation restrictions on 160 acres of forest and hayfields which are part of his working ranch to a partnership of The Nature Conservancy, the Town of Middleborough and the City of New Bedford.

Newly protected land along Black Brook in Middleborough © Robb Johnson/TNC

At the same time, neighboring landowners Robert and Rollande Cardin of Middleborough also sold to the partnership a conservation restriction on nearly 50 acres of abutting forestland with considerable frontage on Black Brook.

Parks sold his property interests at considerably less than full market value. The conservation restriction allows his family to maintain their working forests and hayfields while protecting a large portion of this important area from further development.

"We're especially grateful to Mr. Parks and Mr. and Mrs. Cardin, who demonstrate the very central role that individuals can play in sustaining our environment," said Wayne Klockner, The Nature Conservancy's Massachusetts State Director.

The partners were motivated to conserve the land because of its proximity to Black Brook, the primary source of fresh water for the eastern half of the Assawompset Ponds Complex. The ponds host the largest river herring run in New England, contain habitat for freshwater mussel species, nesting bald eagles, and provide clean drinking water for nearly 200,000 people.

Development of these farmlands and forests would have negatively impacted water quality in Black Brook by decreasing groundwater recharge, increasing run-off pollution, and destroying and fragmenting wildlife habitat. These effects would, in turn, weaken the overall health of the watershed.

New Bedford and Middleborough’s purchases were partially funded by Drinking Water Protection Grants from the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Energy and Environment and Department of Environmental Protection.

“This initiative helps safeguard our community water supply," said New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang. "The importance of protecting our most vital natural resource cannot be understated. Our watershed must be protected for this and future generations."

The conservation restrictions on the combined 210 acres were purchased for a total of $1.6 million. $800,000 was funded by state Water Supply Protection grants, an amount that was matched by The Nature Conservancy, Middleborough and New Bedford. The Nature Conservancy’s contribution was supported by the Sheehan Family Foundation and the Island Foundation. The Department of Fish and Game’s purchased its 230 acres for $410,000.

"Middleborough has been working to protect the land around the Assawompset Ponds for the last 25 years," stated Middleborough Town Planner Ruth Geoffroy. "Open space and natural resource protection requires a long term commitment which our Town has made. We look forward to working with state agencies, conservation groups like The Nature Conservancy, our neighboring towns, and the cities of New Bedford and Taunton to protect additional critical properties in the watershed of the Ponds."

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.