Support Smith: A Land Conservation Legacy

A New Resource for the Community

SVT and the Town of Harvard are teaming up to purchase the 60-acre Smith Property, an exceptionally beautiful and ecologically diverse landscape on the Harvard-Littleton town line.  With its vernal pools and rocky caverns, this forested property is home to rare species and an abundance of wildlife, including bears, foxes, turtles, and salamanders.  With your support, we will create hiking trails and open the property for public enjoyment.

Why protect this land?

• The property lies at the headwaters of three major river basins: the Nashua River Watershed; the Sudbury, Assabet, Concord River Watershed (SuAsCo); and the Stony Brook Watershed. Water is filtered through this land and provides clean water to the rivers. The SuAsCo and the Stony Brook flow into the Merrimack River Watershed, which is now listed as one of the most imperiled in the nation due to development pressures. 
• The Property is designated as Core Habitat and Critical Natural Landscape by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It provides vital habitat for Species of Conservation Concern and it is an area that will remain resilient in the face of climate change. In an area in which natural lands are fragmented by development, wildlife need corridors connecting larger blocks of conservation land to keep their populations healthy and diverse. The Smith Property provides such a corridor to allow wildlife to move safely through the landscape, and allow plants and animals to adapt and relocate as the climate changes.
• It is part of a new initiative, the High Ridge Initiative, through which SVT, and its local partners are seeking to protect nearly 1900 acres of land along a ridge that runs from along the Harvard, Boxborough, and Littleton lines. This area emerged as having some of the highest ecological value in the region.

Please help us raise the funds needed to make this project a success. SVT must raise $185,000 for this project by December 2018. We have secured the majority from foundation grants, but we need an additional $35,000  from private donors--individuals like you who understand the importance of conservation and wildlife protection.

You can help us protect this land and create a lasting community resource for generations to come. 

Checks payable to SVT welcome at:

Sudbury Valley Trustees

18 Wolbach Road

Sudbury, MA 01776