It’s for the birds… and the kids and the snowmobilers and the wildlife and …

When Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” he meant baseball’s 1973 National League pennant race. But the same could be said for conservation projects involving town land. 

            In 2008, Canterbury residents rallied to support buying a 49- acre piece of scenic recreation land close to the town center.  But members of the Conservation Commission were well aware that buying the land did not mean the field, forest and meadow there were yet fully protected.  This spring, members and the community celebrated the final step in the protection process -- the donation of a conservation easement on the land to the Forest Society.

            “We’re taking the final step of donating an easement to the Forest Society so that we can be sure the property will always be conserved. Without the easement, there would always be the possibility that the property could be sold and developed in the future,” said Kelly Short, Canterbury Conservation Commission chair.

 

           Canterbury has been working for many years to permanently conserve land in the Kimball Pond area close to the town’s center. This latest project brings the total acres conserved there to 90. The Forest Society already held two easements on parcels around Kimball Pond, and the additional 49 acres were folded into one of them.

            The recently protected parcel, along Kimball Pond Road, has been named the Robert S. Fife Conservation Area in honor of Bob Fife, longtime member and former chair of the Conservation Commission. “Bob was involved in the first conservation work around Kimball Pond and has been a strong advocate for conserving this latest parcel for decades,” Short said.

            The land provides a scenic gateway into the town. On its northern side, a snowmobile trail also offers a walking or skiing route.

            “We manage the property primarily for wildlife, water quality and to preserve the great view,” Short said.

           

Close to the town’s elementary school, the land’s diverse mix of habitats made it ideal for an educational bluebird project that started several years ago. Canterbury resident Molly Sperduto, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, involved schoolchildren to build and put up nesting boxes, some on school property and some in the newly conserved field.

Sperduto has been monitoring the boxes for the past five years and has noted both bluebirds and tree swallows putting them to use.

            “Habitat for eastern bluebirds has declined over the years as old fields have turned back to forest. We wanted to increase nesting opportunities for bluebirds and other species while exposing children to a new experience, to get them outside observing wildlife and learning about habitats,” Sperduto said.

            One more thing the kids of Canterbury may appreciate in the future is the foresight of those who not only supported and worked for the purchase of town land but also took the steps to finish the work and permanently conserve that land.