Bernie Cooper Riverside Park Dedicated in Norwood

Ribbon-cutting ceremony for Bernie Cooper Riverside Park in Norwood.

By Thomas Patti, Communications Coordinator

No one knows a town better than its residents who dedicate their lives to public service. That’s why Wildlands Trust begins every conservation project by listening to local leaders and helping them achieve their community’s unique open space goals. 

In Norwood, a fledgling 6.8-acre park proves what’s possible when passionate townspeople take initiative over the future of their natural spaces, and conservation professionals provide the expertise needed to turn residents' vision into a reality. 

On May 9, a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrated the dedication of Bernie Cooper Riverside Park. Nestled between Balch Elementary School and the Neponset River in the environmental justice neighborhood of South Norwood, Bernie Cooper Riverside Park will pack outsized social and environmental impact into its modest acreage. With wheelchair-accessible trails, an outdoor classroom, river overlooks, and green stormwater infrastructure, the park will give all Norwood residents a chance to connect with nature. 

After the ceremony, project partners explored the park, despite torrential rain.

In 2018, the parcel was set to be converted to a parking area for a car dealership’s overflow inventory. With a shared vision for the land and its local people and wildlife, the community came together to chart a better way forward. Two years later, the Town of Norwood acquired the property using Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds. In accordance with CPA requirements, the Town granted a Conservation Restriction (CR) on the property to Wildlands Trust, permanently protecting it from development. The CR marks Wildlands’ first acquisition in Norwood. 

A community design process ensued, led by the Town of Norwood, the Horsley Witten Group, Offshoots, Inc., and the Neponset River Watershed Association. Construction began in 2024. Awards from two state programs, the MassTrails Grant Program and the Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant Program, helped fund the design and construction. 

The ribbon-cutting ceremony also honored the legacy of Bernie Cooper, who served the Town of Norwood for 49 years as assistant town manager and civil defense director. Cooper died in 2021. 

“This park, like Bernie, represents growth, community, and the enduring power of nature,” said Patty Bailey, chair of the South Norwood Committee. "It's a living tribute to someone who dedicated their life to making our community a better place.” 

“[My dad’s] tireless energy, the love for his town, and the deep sense of responsibility is reflected in the park,” added Amelia Noel, Cooper’s youngest daughter. “This space isn’t just a collection of trails and trees; it’s designed for everybody. ... It’s a place where neighbors will gather, where families will play, and where people will build the kind of community he believed so deeply in.” 

Wildlands Trust is proud to play a small role in forever rooting Cooper’s legacy to the natural landscape of Norwood. We are grateful for the dedicated public servants in every town we serve, who make our work possible. 

Land Protection Update: Duxbury, Scituate, Cohasset

Bates Lane Conservation Area in Scituate.

By Scott MacFaden, Director of Land Protection 

Editor’s Note: This land protection update first appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of Wildlands News, our biannual print newsletter for Wildlands Trust members. Be the first to hear about Wildlands projects and events by becoming a member today at wildlandstrust.org/membership. 

Another Duxbury CPA CR in Hand 

In November 2024, we completed the DeLorenzo Community Preservation Act (CPA) Conservation Restriction (CR) in Duxbury.   

The 27-acre DeLorenzo property was a priority for preservation primarily because of its direct proximity to the northern portion of the Historic O’Neil Farm, potential to support agricultural activities, wildlife habitat value in the form of two potential vernal pools, and location within a Zone II Wellhead Protection Area.

Duxbury residents approved the purchase of the property at the Annual Town Meeting in March 2018, and the Town closed on the land in October 2018. The Town used CPA funds to acquire the Property. The Town is granting the CR to Wildlands to comply with the CPA’s requirement that every CPA-funded open space acquisition be protected with a CR running to a qualified third-party entity.   

The DeLorenzo property in Duxbury, along its boundary with the O’Neil Farm.

The DeLorenzo parcel is irregularly shaped and includes two non-contiguous areas of road frontage on Route 53. Apart from a cleared area in its center and a rectangular strip of open field running parallel to its southern boundary line with the O’Neil Farm, the property is primarily wooded. It includes two distinct areas of mixed deciduous/coniferous wooded wetland, with the largest such area extending southwesterly into the O’Neil Farm. Topography is mostly level.    

A local farmer licenses a portion of the DeLorenzo property from the Town to raise sheep, goats, and chickens, and maintain beehives. The farmer’s future plans include constructing hoop houses to grow produce and establishing a seasonal farmstand.   

Wildlands Accepts Assignment of Two CRs in Scituate and Cohasset 

On May 1, in the latest of a series of partnerships with local land trusts in our service area, we accepted an assignment of two CRs comprising 98.4 acres, mostly in Scituate and partially in Cohasset, from the Maxwell Conservation Trust. Formed in 1997, the Scituate-based all-volunteer land trust is legally dissolving and identified Wildlands as a qualified entity to accept the CR assignments. 

Over the past two decades, we have collaborated with several all-volunteer land trusts that determined their most prudent option was to transfer their assets and then dissolve, including the Swansea Land Trust, the Milton Land Conservation Trust, and the Brockton Audubon Society.   

Bates Lane Conservation Area in Scituate.

Both CRs protect land owned by the Town of Scituate and located within a 330-acre expanse of Town conservation land known as the Bates Lane Conservation Area.   

Completed in 2007, the Moncy CR protects 45.3 acres along the north side of Bates Lane and two smaller contiguous parcels situated approximately 1,000 feet to the north. All three parcels are primarily wooded upland but include pockets of wetlands. The Moncy CR is situated within areas the Commonwealth’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP) identifies as significant wildlife habitats.   

Completed in 2011, the Wheelwright-Bjorklund CR protects 53 total acres—51.1 acres in Scituate and 2 acres just over the municipal boundary in Cohasset. The land protected by this CR is primarily wooded and mostly upland, with variable topography. The Wheelwright-Bjorklund CR is also situated within multiple areas NHESP identifies as significant wildlife habitats.   

The CRs represent our first acquisitions of any kind in Scituate and Cohasset.   

We thank the Maxwell Conservation Trust for its years of dedication to preserving land, and for entrusting these CRs to our stewardship.   

Human History of Wildlands: Halfway Pond Conservation Area

By Skip Stuck, Key Volunteer

We have all played with jigsaw puzzles at one time or another. We select one based on a picture on the box that displays what the puzzle should look like when complete. Opening the box, we see pieces of color that bear no resemblance to the finished product. The work is in their reassembly. In many ways, land preservation is like a jigsaw puzzle—identifying and assembling small, seemingly unrelated pieces until they reveal a larger, cohesive picture. This is especially true in areas as long occupied as Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

Until about 12,000 years ago, this land was covered by a glacier, up to a mile thick. Over the next 2,000 years, the climate warmed and ice retreated, creating a land surface composed of rocks, gravel, and sand that had been carried in the glacier. This "outwash" plain created the topography we see throughout Southeast Massachusetts, Cape Cod, and the Islands, featuring rocky hills and kettle ponds formed by huge pieces of melting ice. One of these kettle ponds, Halfway Pond, lies amid a concentration of such ponds in Plymouth, known collectively as the Six Ponds. The others include Bloody Pond, Little Long Pond, Long Pond, Gallows Pond, and Round Pond.

Early human history 

Native peoples soon followed the retreating ice and utilized these new forests, ponds, and rivers to supply their food and shelter needs. For thousands of years, they and their cultures flourished. Especially important were the spring runs of blueback herring and alewives from the Agawam River, which outflows from Halfway Pond, and the Manomet (or Monument) River, which flowed from Herring Pond. These people, forebears of the Wampanoag Tribe who occupied the area at the time of European settlement (and still today; see Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe), have been identified in historical documents by many names: the Patuxet, Comassakumkanit, Manomet and Pondville Indians. In fact, Halfway Pond got its name because it was halfway between the Dutch and Indian trading posts at Aptuxet (now Bourne, MA) to the south and the original Plymouth English settlement to the north. A trail known as the Indian Path or the Herring Way was a well-used route from Herring Pond to Halfway Pond. 

While the geography suited the Indigenous people’s lifestyle of hunting, gathering, fishing, and subsistence farming, the English were slow to move out of the original colony at Plymouth Harbor. The earliest mentioned settlement at Halfway Pond is that of Nicholas Snow, who in 1637 was appointed to repair and manage a fish weir on the Agawam. Others followed, but not immediately in great numbers. 

Above: The Old Douglas Homestead. In Plymouth’s Ninth Great Lot and the Six Ponds, 1710-1967, A Chronicle. “John Douglas was born in Middleboro in 1752 and married Lydia Southworth. He became a schoolteacher in 1786 and moved to Plymouth and settled in the neighborhood known as Halfway Pond. He bought the sawmill from Belcher Manter, Morton and Jonathan Wing for $750. … He built a house on the Agawam which became ‘the old homestead’ to many generations of the Douglas family until it was destroyed by the hurricane of 1938” (10). For much of the 20th century, descendants of the Douglas family lived and worked on Davis-Douglas Farm, which they sold to Wildlands Trust for our headquarters in 2012.

Cutting the puzzle pieces

When the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, the lands of the new colony were controlled by a group of English investors known as the Adventurers, who funded the initial colony. When their contract ran out, a new patent was granted to Governor William Bradford in 1629, giving the colony freedom to divide and sell their lands. By 1710, about 30,000 acres of land claimed by the colony was still undivided. These lands were cut up into the 10 "Great Lots." Halfway Pond and the five other aforementioned ponds lay at the center of the Ninth Great Lot. In 1713, a meeting was held that created 18 divisions of the Ninth Lot. Those granted land abutting Halfway Pond included John Harlow, Jonathan Snow, John Churchill, Nathaniel Thomas, Jabez Shurtleff, and Deacon Thomas Clark. There is no record—and it is highly doubtful—that any members of the Wampanoag Tribe were consulted in this matter. 

At this point, English settlement of the area accelerated. The Halfway herring run provided an increasingly important resource for food, fertilizer, and trade. Sawmills and stave mills appeared on the Agawam River, including one built in 1781 owned by Belcher Manter and another built in 1847 owned by Thomas Pierce. In 1786, as the settlement known as Halfway Village on the pond's southwest side grew, John Douglas established a grammar school, at one time serving as many as 50 students.  

By the mid-19th century, general family farming in the area began to shift toward cranberry growing. The ample water, flat lands around Halfway Pond, and availability of sand were quite agreeable to this new agricultural pursuit. As often happens, the success of the small farmers attracted investors. By the 1890s, LeBaron Russell Briggs and his brother-in-law, George Gardner Barker, had purchased most of the land surrounding Halfway Pond. George Barker soon built the family homestead, Wyanoke, on the pond. His son LeBaron Barker was a very successful grower, reputed to be the largest independent cranberry grower in America by the turn of the century. He built his mansion on a hill adjacent to the pond. For the next 80 years, all of the lands surrounding Halfway Pond remained in private hands, as cranberry bogs or increasingly as forested land. 

Assembling the puzzle 

Red pines on Gramp’s Loop in Halfway Pond Conservation Area. Red pine stands were planted extensively across New England between 1930 and 1960 as a timber alternative to white pines, which are susceptible to insect and fungal pests. Now, many red pines are dying due to red pine scale and pine bark beetles.

With the protection of the adjacent Myles Standish State Forest in 1916 (with improvements by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s), a vision emerged of what Halfway Pond could become if the separate holdings could be protected and united. It would take time and strategic collaborations, but the fledgling Plymouth County Wildlands Trust and its board believed it could be accomplished. In 1982, the family of LeBaron Briggs donated, with assistance from the Nature Conservancy, 242 acres called the West Shore. On the pond's east side, the Briggs family also gifted 56 acres at Gallows Pond in 1982. In 1986, Irene and Saul Taylor gifted an additional 61 acres abutting the West Shore. In 1987, the Conant family gifted 27 acres to string together more of the eastern shore. In 1998, the Nature Conservancy donated land on the east side of Halfway Pond that today encompasses the Big Point section of the property. From 1999 to 2022, a series of land purchases bolstered the protection of Halfway Pond’s western shore, including the former estate of LeBaron Barker, now the site of the Stewardship Training Center.  

Wildlands could not have done it alone. MassWildlife proved to be an important partner, purchasing and protecting much of the eastern and southern shoreline. In addition to the Nature Conservancy's support in the acquisition of the West Shore property, it also owns and protects Halfway Island, home of rare old-growth forest. Finally, the AD Makepeace Company, the area's largest cranberry grower, agreed to take three of its bogs adjacent to Halfway Pond out of production, ending the danger of fertilizers and pesticides entering the pond. 

All of the puzzle pieces fit into place, and the result has been the protection of 85 percent of Halfway Pond's shoreline, including over 500 acres of adjacent buffer land that now make up Halfway Pond Conservation Area. The Conservation Area, together with Myles Standish State Forest and additional protected lands, now represents the largest contiguous open space assemblage in Eastern Massachusetts. The project took over 40 years. But important things take time. 

Learn More 

Please visit Wildlands Trust’s online property description of Halfway Pond Conservation Area at wildlandstrust.org/halfway-pond-conservation-area—or better yet, visit its many trails yourself. 

In addition, see the following resources that were used to prepare this history. 

• Plymouth's Ninth Great Lot and the Six Ponds, 1710 -1967, A Chronicle by Ruth Gardner Steinway. 

• The Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe website: herringpondtribe.org 

• The North and South Rivers Watershed Association website: nsrwa.org 

I also wish to thank Scott MacFaden, Wildlands’ Director of Land Protection, and Thomas Patti, Wildlands’ Communications Coordinator, for their assistance and feedback. 

If you or someone you know has information about Halfway Pond’s history, we would love to hear from you! Share your insight (and/or photos!) with Communications Coordinator Thomas Patti at tpatti@wildlandstrust.org.

Land Protection Course Prepares Next Generation of Conservation Doers

Zoë Smiarowski (far left) and her team went on a field trip to the Chiltonville village of Plymouth during the land protection course’s retreat weekend at the Stewardship Training Center.

By Zoë Smiarowski, Stewardship Programs Manager 

In the winter of 2022, while dreaming up ways that Wildlands Trust’s new Stewardship Training Center (STC) could support Massachusetts’ conservation community, the STC Advisory Committee agreed on the incredible need to develop our next generation of land protection professionals—the ones who strategize, communicate, and execute opportunities to save natural and agricultural lands from development. One committee member, Dr. Paul Catanzaro, had taught land protection classes at UMass Amherst, but there was motivation from these discussions to create a course for both students and professionals.  

“One of the greatest gaps our STC advisors identified was the very limited opportunities for people to learn the practical nuts and bolts of land conservation transactions,” said Wildlands President Karen Grey. “How could we feed the pipeline of land protection professionals without more training and education opportunities?” 

With this seed of an idea planted, conservation community partners came together to help it grow. Sponsored by UMass Extension, the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition, and Mass Audubon, with support from the Trustees of Reservations, MA DCR’s Working Forest Initiative, and Wildlands Trust, “Land Protection Tools & Techniques” was a 10-session course co-taught by Christa Collins (formerly of Sudbury Valley Trustees) and Olivia Lukacic (of the Trustees of Reservations) over the fall of 2024. Admitted through a competitive application process, the 22 course participants included municipal employees, land trust stewardship professionals, environmental science college students, and more. Lessons addressed core land protection skills, including Landowner Outreach & Relationships, Project Selection, Partnerships, Transactions, Due Diligence, and Finance.  

Field trip during the land protection course’s retreat weekend, attended by Wildlands Land Protection Assistant Tess Goldmann (second from right) and Director of Land Protection Scott MacFaden (far right).

At the end of the semester, the class convened at the STC for a weekend-long retreat. Students networked with each other and practicum leaders, including Rob Warren, formerly of the Trustees of Reservations, and our very own Karen Grey. To gain hands-on experience after weeks of virtual training, students went on field trips across Plymouth to meet landowners with whom Wildlands has worked on land protection projects. This was an incredible opportunity to learn by doing, which is how many in the land protection field have launched and advanced their careers.  

As a student in the course, I relished the opportunity to learn how land gets protected in Massachusetts. As Wildlands’ Stewardship Programs Manager, I am fortunate to care for the diversity of conservation land in the Trust's portfolio. Entering my second year with Wildlands, I developed a curiosity about the many intricate steps it takes for valuable and vulnerable land to enter our stewardship. I was particularly interested in the people-centered aspect of land protection, as it mirrors my current job of connecting volunteers and professionals with land stewardship knowledge and skills. As I advance through my career, I am always looking for new ways to challenge myself and diversify my contributions to conservation goals, and this course was a great opportunity to do just that. 

Indeed, one of the most valuable things I learned in the class was the importance of people to the land protection process. Understanding landowners’ unique connections to place and building soft communication skills are critical parts of the equation. Even though we had spent weeks hearing and reading about foundational land protection knowledge, being “thrown out” into the world to meet face-to-face with landowners was an immense learning experience. 

Field trip during the land protection course’s retreat weekend.

Additionally, students had to complete a final project that addressed a personal learning goal in the land protection field. Wildlands’ Land Protection Assistant Tess Goldmann and I wanted experience in grant-writing, a crucial component of financing land protection projects. At the end of the retreat, students shared their projects with the class. I was highly impressed with my classmates’ work and left feeling grateful to have such a dedicated community of conservation-minded folks in my network. 

The Monday morning following the retreat, I was relaying my excitement to Wildlands board member and key volunteer Marilynn Atterbury about how incredible the class has been. My understanding and appreciation of land protection work has undergone a night-and-day transformation through this class. As my career progresses, I am grateful to have this foundational knowledge to advocate and help others understand the state’s abundance of land protection options. I have no doubt that this course will provide long-term support to the Massachusetts land conservation field. We are so fortunate to have incredible mentors, teachers, and students ready to take on any challenge to ensure a healthy, connected environment in their communities.  

Hartwell Family Preserve donated in Pembroke

Belle [Hartwell] Barnes with the new Hartwell Family Preserve sign at Davis-Douglas Farm in Plymouth.

In land conservation, context is key. Even a relatively small parcel can derive significant value from the people and places it connects through space and time. 

In Pembroke, an unassuming woodland looms much larger than its 7.9-acre frame when viewed within its geographic and historical context. Thanks to a generous family donation, this small yet meaningful property will carry an outsized impact on the local and regional landscape for generations to come. 

Last December, Belle and Michael Barnes donated the Hartwell Family Preserve to Wildlands Trust in honor of Belle’s mother, Thelma Hartwell. Thelma placed a Conservation Restriction (CR) on the land in 1980, when the state CR program was in its infancy. 

“Thelma was a conservationist ahead of her time,” said Wildlands Director of Land Protection Scott MacFaden. In addition to protecting her own land, Thelma served on the Pembroke Conservation Commission and wrote nature-based articles for local newspapers. 

Hear from Belle and Michael Barnes themselves about their decision to donate the family land: 

We are privileged to be able to donate the “Hartwell Family Preserve” in memory of Everett and Thelma “Teddy” Hartwell to Wildlands Trust. In 1953, Everett and Thelma Hartwell built their home at 347 Pleasant Street in East Pembroke, on a portion of property that had been in the Hartwell family since the early 1920s. They raised Everett’s sons Bob and Karl, and their children Belle and Wayne, to appreciate both the importance of stewardship of the land and the amazing habitat of flora and fauna it contained. Teddy was a die-hard conservationist with a passion for protecting our natural resources, especially wetland areas. Her career as an educator involved her teaching history, biology, and chemistry for many years. When her children were born, she housed a private kindergarten at the property and taught her students an appreciation of the nature around them. In later years, when she returned to working outside the home, she taught “Outdoor Education” for the Audubon Society in several area school systems. In the late ’70s, when she could no longer work outside the home, she wrote several articles for the Silver Lake News, focusing on subjects about protecting and enjoying our natural resources. She served on Pembroke’s Conservation Committee for several years. She helped to create two nature trails, one in Pembroke and one at Camp Wing in Duxbury. She was considered a visionary by some for putting the majority of the property’s acreage into a Conservation Restriction to forever protect this amazing ecosystem. For the above reasons, we chose to donate this land, and are thankful to Wildlands for carrying on our family’s legacy. 

– Belle [Hartwell] and Michael Barnes, April 2024 

In addition to this rich cultural legacy, the Hartwell Family Preserve holds significant ecological value: 

• Protects wildlife habitat of statewide importance: The property lies within multiple areas identified by the Commonwealth’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program as significant wildlife habitats, including: 

  •  BioMap Core Components 

    • Aquatic Core 

    • Rare Species Core

  • BioMap Critical Natural Landscape Components

    • Aquatic Core Buffer 

    • Landscape Blocks 

  • BioMap Elements

    • Core Habitat 

    • Critical Natural Landscape 

• Provides habitat and recreational connectivity: The property directly abuts a 268-acre expanse of open space owned by the Town of Pembroke. Said expanse formerly contained a reservoir used by cranberry growers, but the dam holding the reservoir breached in the early 1990s. The former reservoir area now contains a rich diversity of wetland types along the daylighted riparian corridor. 

Wildlands will manage the Hartwell Family Preserve as Forever Wild, giving local flora and fauna a permanent place to thrive in a rapidly changing world. 

We sincerely thank Belle, Michael, Thelma, and the rest of the Hartwell family for their commitment to preserving the natural beauty of our region.

To explore opportunities to conserve your land with Wildlands, click here.