By George BarnesTELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

PETERSHAM — Looking off the fire tower onProspect Hill, Leigh Youngblood had a clear vision ofwhy she and others are involved in land conservation innorthern Worcester County.

From the tower in any direction as far as the eye cansee are forests, hills, valleys, lakes and rivers paintedthis fall in stunning oranges, yellows and reds. Homescan be seen from the tower, but not too many. There arefactories and highways, but they are overwhelmed bythe open space the Mount Grace Land ConservationTrust has worked the past 20 years to preserve.

“We’ve helped preserve 20,000 acres in 20 years,” Ms.Youngblood said.

Mount Grace Land Trust was founded in 1986 in War-wick by Keith Ross, a forester who ran the organizationby himself for several years until he hired Ms. Young-blood part time in 1994. Six months later he steppeddown and Ms. Youngblood was named director.

The creation of the trust grew out of concerns by War-wick residents and residents in other Franklin Countycommunities over a development boom in the 1980s. Inthe early years, the challenge was finding enough re-sources to complete a few projects each year.

“Keith was very innovative,” she said — an under-statement, considering the land trust had $12 in its bankaccount when Athol agreed to sign over its right of firstrefusal to buy the Lawton Tree Farm if the family decid-ed to sell. It was the first time in the state a town agreedto pass its right of first refusal for land under conserva-tion restrictions to a land trust. The agreement allowedthe land trust to protect the property from developmentuntil the state agreed to create Lawton State Forest.

In 2001, 15 years after Lawton State Forest was created,Mount Grace moved its headquarters to Skyfields, a1700s farmhouse and 40 acres adjacent to the state forest.The property was donated to the land trust in 1999 in thewill of the late Margaret Power-Biggs.

From its simple beginning with one staff member anda few of Mr. Ross’ friends as directors, Mount Grace hasgrown into the largest land trust in northern Massachu-setts. It owns 1,500 acres and has been an important fac-tor in preserving 20,000 acres in the North Quabbin Re-gion.

Although the trust now has 10 staff members and is alarge landowner, its mission has not changed since the1980s when Mr. Ross worked alone to protect the regionfrom haphazard development.

“Our mission has always been to protect land and en-courage stewardship of the land,” Ms. Youngblood said.

A component of what the trust does is to hold pro-grams on properties it owns to demonstrate proper landstewardship. The trust also works with landowners topreserve land in a variety of ways — for example, fromplacing land under conservation restrictions as a way ofallowing families to avoid selling land for development,but allowing them a break on their property taxes. It al-so acts as a go-between for the state to preserve land. Insome cases it is gifted land, or it buys land itself forpreservation.

Ms. Youngblood said a major factor in the trust’sgrowth in the past 20 years was the Tully Initiative, aproject undertaken by former state Secretary of Envi-ronmental Affairs Robert A. Durand. The project result-ed in the preservation of 10,000 acres in Athol, Orange,Royalston and Warwick.

Ms. Youngblood said when she sat down with Mr. Du-rand in 2000 to discuss the two-year Tully Initiative, sheand Alain V. Peteroy were the only staff members atMount Grace.

It was sudden growth shock for the land trust. The or-ganization went from doing six to 10 projects per year todoing 45 projects per year two years in a row and spend-ing $9 million to accomplish the goals set by Mr. Durand.It resulted in the trust doubling its staff to a still modestfour employees.

“The Tully Initiative was wonderful because it also re-flected the local land ethic,” Ms. Youngblood said.

The land protected through the initiative was pre-served in a way that allowed people to continue to huntand fish, recreation that is popular among many peoplein the region, and in some cases to continue to harvesttimber on the property.

The Tully Initiative also resulted in the trust beingasked to participate in other projects, including an effort

to create a wildlife corridor from the Quabbin Reser-voir to Mount Cardigan in New Hampshire.

The trust is also a major player in the Quabbin Corri-dor Forest Legacy project. It is an effort to protect 2,000acres in Athol, Barre, Petersham and Phillipston.

Working with the trust on the project are Harvard For-est, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the state Execu-tive Office of Environmental Affairs, the state Divisionof Fisheries & Wildlife and the state Department of Con-servation and Recreation. The first property protectedthrough the project was a 75-acre parcel in Petershamowned by the Buell family. Ms. Youngblood was at thefire tower in Harvard Forest last week to look at another100 acres adjacent to Prospect Hill that will be preservedand placed in the care of Harvard Forest.

To work on those projects, the Mount Grace staff hasgrown to 10 people. Although there is grant funding forthe staff for five years, Ms. Youngblood said the moneywas given with the idea that the trust would develop itsown resources to keep the staff beyond the life of thegrant. It is conducting a financial appeal, hoping to raiseenough money from members and prospective membersto cover the costs of continuing the many projects thetrust is involved in.

The land trust is also part of Wildlands and Wood-lands, a project proposed by David Foster, director ofHarvard Forest, to add 1.5 million acres to the state’s ex-isting protected land base, bringing the total to 2.5 mil-lion acres. Within those 2.5 million acres, 250,000 acres ofwild land reserves would be created. The rest of stateland would be managed for timber and other resourcesin a sustainable way that would support biodiversity.

© Copyright 2006 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp., 20 Franklin St., Worcester, MA 01615. Reprinted with permission. For reprint information call 508.793.9262.

OCTOBER 15, 2006WORCESTER, MASS. LOCAL

T&G Staff Photo/RICK CINCLAIR

Leigh Youngblood, executive director of the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, stands on the Prospect Hill fire tower, overlooking some of theland the trust has helped protect.

Far as eyes can seeMount Grace Land Trust grows

‘We’ve helped preserve 20,000 acres in 20 years.’LEIGH YOUNGBLOOD

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MOUNT GRACE LAND CONSERVATION TRUST