The Re-wilding of Beaver Brook

For thousands of years, the western Massachusetts site just outside the town of Northampton was part of the vast forest that covered almost all of the region. In colonial times, it was – like almost all of that primeval forest – cut bare to permit farming and supply lumber for buildings and roads. In the 1930s it became a dairy. And, in 1960, 240 of its acres gave way to the Beaver Brook Golf Course and an adjacent second-growth woodland.

Hilltown Land Trust's perview

In 2025, the owner of the struggling public course sought a buyer. An expression of interest came from an unexpected source: the Hilltown Land Trust (HLT); a 37-year-old organization serving 13 towns in a mostly rural part of the state, and which has conserved and provides stewardship of more than 5,000 acres of land in those towns. HLT, in turn, reached out to The Trustees of Reservations; a century-plus-old organization that stewards 120 places of ecological, scenic, and historic importance in Massachusetts. The Trustees’ portfolio comprises 52,000 acres, representing 120 places of ecological, scenic, and historic importance.

A price was agreed upon and, last July, the Beaver Brook Golf Course hosted its last players.

Once a fairway, 
now foot-tall grass

Since that time, the site has largely been allowed to lay fallow. The fairways and greens now host foot-tall grass; the sand traps have begun to fill in. But, at the same time, the site has been meticulously documented and inventoried. There are decades-old fresh-water mussels in Beaver Brook. There are rare butterflies and turtles whose habitats will need to be protected. There is already marsh grass growing in low areas that were once mowed and drained. What was once a marsh will be allowed to return to its natural state.

This one-time water hazard
may or may not remain

And, along with a catalog of specimen trees (including a dawn redwood), there is a laundry list of invasives. The inventory of unwanted species ranges from wild rose to Japanese knotweed. Teams of volunteers and, in the case of the knotweed, specialists, are already fanning out to cull interlopers.

Our guide, Julie,
knows the property well

The reservation is not yet open to the public. I had the opportunity yesterday to see it as a work in progress; to take a walk with a guide, Julie – part of The Trustees’ conservation staff and who was stunningly knowledgeable about the property. She enumerated what has been done to date and the longer list of what needs to be done to make the site sustainable. Eventually, it will open as a Trustees site, with several miles of hiking trails.

Double-click to see image

More than just land conservation, though, Beaver Brook serves another purpose: carbon sequestration. This was driven home in a talk given after the walk by Jonathan Thompson, whose day job is Director of the Harvard Forest; Harvard University's 4,000-acre laboratory and classroom located in Petersham, northeast of the Quabbin Reservoir. Thompson notes more than half of Massachusetts is forested – roughly three million acres. But much of that forest abuts roadways and developments. The ecosystem of the ‘edge’ of a forest is quite different from that of a ‘deep’ forest; especially when it comes to soaking up carbon. Beaver Brook is surrounded by yet more forest. Properly managed, it will be part of a carbon sink – what The Trustees terms ‘climate hope’.

Other Trustees and HLT
properties in the region

Beaver Brook could have had a very different future. Another golf course in nearby Amherst was acquired and became a tree-less solar farm. In more populous areas, the site would be ripe for re-development as housing.  This golf course has a more ecologically beneficial long-term future: wildlife habitat, home for endangered species, a place where folks can hike and, if all goes well, where beavers will return to gnaw on helpless trees.

At present, there are no beavers at Beaver Brook. Beavers have no interest in fields of grass, no matter how attractive they may be to humans. They need something to (literally) sink their teeth into. There are beavers downstream. As trees are planted along the brook, there is an expectation they will return… and that they will gnaw down the very trees The Trustees and HLT are going to plant.

The Docents Are Coming!

 

There's nothing like a deadline to make you focus on the job at hand.

Spring did not cooperate this
year. Everything is behind.

This has been a busy spring with much travel. It has also been a spring featuring lots of rotten weather – and especially cold. But on June 18 – less than two weeks from today - docents from Arnold Arboretum are coming to get a look at a genuine 'Homegrown National Park', and my garden has to be ready.

The offer to host the group was made last summer when Chris McArdle – herself one of those docents and the subject of my essay on Witch Hazel back in March – came to my home to see what a native plant garden could look like if it was fed a diet of steroids.  She went away sufficiently impressed to mention it to her peers. Chris asked if she could bring them to the garden for an outing and I was flattered enough to say, ‘Sure!’ and to agree to a mid-June date.

And, it isn’t that the garden shouldn’t be ready for inspection by outsiders. It’s just that the combination of cold weather that lingered into May and the aforementioned travel conspired to keep me out of the garden for its annual spring maintenance. As recently as last Saturday, the high for the day was 46 degrees and the ‘real-feel’ temperature was 38.  Oh, and the rain was falling sideways because of the 30 mph winds.

Tuesday was one of the handful of 'perfect' days for outside gardening work. I focused on two 'big' projects: the Pennsylvania flagstone patio that has mostly moss between stones to help keep rainfall on the property; and the 

'inner walk' through the rear garden. The patio needs to be cleared of excess moss and uninvited plants every other year. The inner path attracts ‘opportunistic’ ferns and other 'cute' plants that want to inhibit travel. It also allows me to see what shrubs and perennials are growing into one another - and take appropriate action. The photos at right show 'before' and 'after'. Tuesday was a long but productive day: work started at 10 a.m. and wrapped up at 5:30. 

I finished the back of the garden today.  And, I hope it is docent ready. This is a shade garden with all the good and bad things it connotes. The sunniest part is planted in high-bush blueberries, Aronia, and an Amelanchier (shadbush).  Those parts were easy: stop tree “A” from growing into the light needed for shrub “B”.  Loppers and Felcos made the work go quickly.

Not at all easy was the rear garden’s ‘outer walk’.  It was lightly used last year and so got no maintenance. As the "before and after" photo above indicates, the neglect showed.

The portion of the rear garden behind the house (and so, shading the garden) is anchored by three Viburnum - two of them 'Winterthur' and the other 'Wavecrest'; and a remarkable Chamaceyparis called 'Snow' because its new growth comes out white and gradually acquires green pigment (see photo and inset at right). The four shrubs were originally planned to be kept at a height not to exceed five feet so there would be an unobstructed view from the screened porch of the entire garden. The first time 'Winterthur' bloomed, it was so startling - entirely blanketed in white flowers - the decision was made to allow it to grow. It seemed to have stopped at ten feet and the two 'Winterthurs' have grown together to form a single massive clump.

The inner path, restored

I did the work on one, long morning (under 85 degree temps but thankfully low humidity). I completed the outer path, which winds between the Viburnums and blueberries, and shows off the native plantings - Zizia aurea (golden Alexander), wood asters, Ageratina altissima (White Snakeroot), Aruncus dioicus (Goats beard) - that merge into the woodlands. The path then winds up to the patio (also shown a few days ago) and then to the Podophyllum peltatum (Mayapple) path to the front garden.

This weekend, I start work on the main body of the front garden. I suspect much of that project will be done at sunrise and sunset.

I hope the docents appreciate my work.