Parsons Brook Pine Barrens Baseline-Mgmt Plan.pdf
BASELINE DOCUMENTATION REPORT and
LAND MANAGEMENT PLAN
Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Local Acquisitions for Natural Diversity (LAND) Grant Program
Property name: Parsons Brook Pine Barrens
Municipality: Northampton
Date acquired: May 16, 2019 Registry: Hampshire
Book/page: Book 13261, page 274
LAND #: 23
Date of report: May 22, 2019
Property location: Burts Pit Road and Westhampton Roads
Size: 87.89 acres
Interest held by city/town: Fee
Other interest holders: CR to be held by the Kestrel Land Trust
Table of Contents
1. Property description
Section I: Property Information
2. LAND grant program regulations 3. Legal protection
4. Contact information
5. Land Use and Management Plan (if fee owned by town) and/or
Copy of Conservation Restriction (if CR) or
1. Resource map Section II: Maps
2. Monitoring map
1. General information Section III: Site Visit Report
2. Current property conditions
3. Boundary conditions
1. Photo location map Section IV: Photographs
2. List of photographs
3. Photographs
Section V: Amendments
Section VI: Signatures
Section I:
Property Information
I.1. The Parsons Brook Pine Barrens property, located at Burts Pit Road and Westhampton Road,
Assessors’ map/lot 36-335, is owned by / subject to a Conservation Restriction held
by the City of Northampton, under care and control of the Conservation Commission, for the
purposes of conservation and passive recreation, in perpetuity. It was recorded on May 16, 2019, in book 13261 page 274 in the Hampshire Registry of Deeds.
Property description
I.2.
This property is permanently protected open space, for conservation and passive recreation
only. It is subject to the standards and guidelines in 301 CMR 5.00: Self-Help and Urban Self-Help Programs, of the Division of Conservation Services, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA). Excerpted here are some of the major points:
Local Acquisitions for Natural Diversity (LAND) grant program regulations
- 5.06(4): Under the care and control of the City of Northampton Conservation Commis-
sion - 5.09(1): The property must be used at all times for open space conservation and passive
recreation purposes only, in accordance with MGL Ch. 132A, Sec. 11
- 5.09(1): The property is permanently protected under Article 97 of the Massachusetts
Constitution, and may not be converted to other uses. Municipalities must pursue all fea-
sible alternatives to conversion of grant-funded land. If conversion is finally determined to be the only possible choice, all of the following must occur: municipal approval of the
conversion; a two-thirds majority vote of both houses of the state legislature; replacement
of the land with new conservation land that is of equal or greater fair market value at the
time of conversion, and of equal or greater acreage, ecological value, and usefulness, to
be approved or disapproved by the Secretary of EEA. - 5.09(2): If this property ceases to be used in whole or in part for conservation and/or pas-
sive recreation purposes, all interest in the property shall revert to the Commonwealth,
unless the Secretary demands specific performance of the grant contract. The City of
Northampton Conservation Commission must notify the Secretary of EEA of a change or
potential change to an inconsistent use, or, the Secretary of EEA may notify the Conser-vation Commission that an inconsistent change in use has occurred. The Conservation
Commission has 90 days to rectify the use to the satisfaction of the Secretary, or it will
revert to the Commonwealth.
- 5.08 (2) and (3): Open to use by all members of the public without discrimination
- 5.08(1): In accordance with the LAND program regulations, the City of Northampton Conservation Commission may impose reasonable limits on the type and extent of use of
this area and facilities acquired, as necessary for maintenance or preservation.
- 5.06(1): Off-street parking may be required
- No private enterprise may occur on properties for which the fee simple or encumbered
fee is owned by the municipality, except that which contributes to and does not conflict with appropriate public use and benefit.
- Structures are prohibited on properties for which the fee interest is owned by the munici-
pality, except those that further conservation or public passive recreational use of the
property.
I.3. Through receipt of funding through the LAND grant program, this property is permanent-
ly protected under Article 97 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Legal protection
- Ch. 132A, §11 – Act establishing the Self-Help (now LAND) grant program
- Ch. 40, §8c – Authority of conservation commissions to hold land for conservation pur-poses - Article 97 – Prohibits conversion of the property from conservation and recreational use
- LAND Project Agreement – Prohibits conversion of the property from conservation and
recreational uses. Requires mitigation in the event of conversion. Requires appropriate public access. Recorded with deed. - Additional legal protections – Conservation Restriction to be held by the Kestrel Land
Trust
I.4.
Contact Information
Provide contact information for property monitor or manager, landowner (if CR), and any other
people or organizations involved in the property.
Name (organization) Title (eg. property monitor) Mailing address Phone
City of Northampton, Office of Planning and Sustainability, Conservation Commission Property Owner City Hall, 210 Main Street Northampton MA 01060 413-587-1265
The Kestrel Land Trust Conservation Restriction Holder PO Box 1016 Amherst MA, 01004 413-549-1097
I.5. Land Management Plan
If the municipality acquired a Conservation Restriction (CR) with the LAND grant, use the CR
to help you fill out the Management Plan section below. Purpose: To assure that the Premises will be maintained in perpetuity for conservation purposes, in a natu-
ral, scenic and undeveloped condition, to prevent any use or change that would materially impair
or interfere with its conservation and preservation values, and to permit limited uses including passive outdoor recreation and education, forestry management, and trails
All LAND-funded properties must provide access to the general public for passive recreational
activities. The specific subset of permissible passive activities varies from project to project and
is described here. Permitted public activities: Note: These should be posted at the property entrance(s).
walking, hiking camping Nordic skiing, snowshoeing hunting
horseback riding fishing
bicycle riding on designated trails gardening/agriculture
picknicking swimming
non-motorized watercraft All passive recreational and conservation purposes
Prohibited public activities:
Note: These should be posted at the property entrance(s).
motorized vehicles
fires swimming
horseback riding gardening/agriculture
bicycle riding alcoholic beverages
hunting entry after dark fishing collection of plants/animals/soil/rocks
Additional comments on use of this property:
Structures: Structures that do not contribute to the conservation values of the premises:
The Premises includes equipment leftover from a legacy of being associated with a gravel extrac-
tion operation, including a large sorter. These will remain in place.
Known stewardship issues/potential problems: History of all terrain vehicle use
Encroachment from abutting residential properties
Soil piles from legacy mineral extraction use Stewardship responsibilities:
Plans for regular management:
Entity responsible for management: Northampton Conservation Commission Plans for managing known stewardship issues:
Increased signage of property, boundary marking, communication with abutters, refreshing of
corner pins and markers, removal of historic debris, ongoing trail maintenance, removal of inva-
sive species.
Plans for regular management:
Annual boundary walking and site inspection
Restoration of the pine barrens area, possibly though the use of controlled burns as part of a habi-
tat management plan
Invaisve species removal
Active forest or agricultural management plans:
Harvesting of sawtimber or other forest management should be conducted only in consultation
with a licensed forester and preparation of a Forest Management Plan for long-term objectives. All forestry must be conducted in accordance with the terms of the Conservation Restriction
Section II:
Maps
II.1. Resource map
II. Monitoring map Please refer to attachments
Section III:
Site Visit Report
III.1. General information
Date of inspection: February 4 and 5, 2019
Time spent on property: 7 hours People present:
Name: Affiliation:
Tom Annese City of Northampton Office of Planning & Sustaina-
bility
III.2. Current property conditions
Note: This section may summarize some provisions of the CR or Management Plan. The entire
CR document must be read in order to understand its terms. A. Conditions of the property relevant to the purpose of this project:
Project purpose Condition Photo
Passive Recreation - Maintenance of a Recrea-
tional Trail System
The property provides opportunity for hiking, and contains exist-ing trails and woods roads 1, 2, 47, 11,
13, 1421,
22, 23, 49
Protection of ground and
surface waters
Parsons Brook, a coldwater fishery, runs through the Premises.
The western portion of the property includes extensive wetlands.
123,
135, 90
Habitat Conservation The majority of the Premises acres is located within BioMap2 Core Habitat, and abuts existing protected open space. Parsons
Brook, wetlands and stream connections, cattail marsh and acidic ponds, and a sandy Pine Barrens are all present on the property.
16, 90,
93-96 123
B. Conditions of the property relevant to Permitted and Prohibited Uses:
Activity Condition Photo Permitted
Hiking The Premises already includes a trail and woods road network
1, 2, 47, 11, 13,
1421, 22, 23,
49
Prohibited
Boundary En-
croachments
There are encroachments present from abutting residential uses,
including dumping and clearing of vegetation that will need to be addressed
69-71,
107-114,
128, 131, 136,
138
ATV Use ATV use is evident in the central sandy portion of the Premises N/A
C. Additional remarks regarding the present condition of the property:
A past legacy of mineral extraction is evident in the central and eastern portion of the property through scarified areas that have reverted to Pine Barrens and associated earth piles, scattered
equipment, and man-made kettle ponds. The western portion of the property contains exten-
sive wetlands
III.3. Boundary Conditions
A. Do the boundaries on the ground clearly correlate to the legal description found in the CR
document or property deed (i.e. can you follow the boundary after reading the description)?
If not, how did you locate the property boundary?
yes
B. (If CR): Are portions of the property which are excluded from the Restriction marked or oth-
erwise evident on the ground?
Not applicable C. Describe the condition of the boundary markings at all other points (i.e. stone wall, flagged,
signed, unmarked):
The property is bounded on the east by existing protected open space under common owner-ship, and is not marked. Corner pins are generally present, and some rock walls exist.
D. Describe the use of abutting properties, focusing on uses close to the boundary line:
Abutting uses are primarily residential. There is a solar array to the west, and existing pro-
tected open space to the east. There is some encroachment present from residential proper-
ties.
E. Any other comments on boundaries?
Section IV:
Photographs
Please see attached IV.1. Photo location map
The photo location map shows the location from which documentary photographs were taken.
Include:
• Property boundary (and CR boundary if applicable).
• Photopoints (location from which photos were taken). Each point should be placed as accu-
rately as possible. Mark each point with:
An arrow showing the direction the photo was facing A label (A,B,C or 1,2,3 etc.) so that the description can be looked up in the list of photos
IV.2. List of documentary photographs
Photographer(s):
Please see Baseline Photograph attachment for details
IV.3. Documentary Photographs
Please see attachment
Section V:
Amendments
This property is permanently protected as open space for conservation and passive recrea-tional use only. It is difficult to anticipate all potential changes to the property that may occur, due to natural events, that may make it more or less appropriate for specific activi-
ties or uses. It is also difficult to know in the present the specific passive recreational uses
future visitors to the site may want. For these reasons, it may become necessary in the
future for portions of the Land Management Plan to be revised. Property acquired with LAND grant funding
V. 1. How to amend this document
may not
The following sections of this document may be revised:
be used for active recreation.
I.4. Contact information
I.5. Land Management Plan sections: Permitted uses/activities Prohibited uses/activities
Structures
Stewardship plans
Active management plans
Any changes to these sections must still adhere to the LAND grant program regulations,
Project Agreement, Article 97 requirements, and any other pertinent regulations. All
changes must adhere to the terms of the Conservation Restriction, if applicable.
Procedure for amending this document:
Majority vote of the Conservation Commission