Nearly 500 acres of private land at the entrance to the popular Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area in Wallingford have been conserved in perpetuity as public land, according to the Trust for Public Land, which secured funding for the acquisition.
The property is home to the popular Ice Beds Trail network and features views of Otter Creek, the Taconic Range and the Green Mountains.
The area is known as a biodiversity hotspot, according to the Trust for Public Land, as it provides habitat for state and federally endangered bats, peregrine falcons and the state-threatened plant short-styled snakeroot. It’s also home to a large wetland complex that provides flood resilience to communities downstream.
Connected blocks of forest this big are a rarity in Vermont and elsewhere, and scientists say they are critical for protecting biodiversity as the climate changes.
In 2023, Vermont committed to conserving 30% of the state’s land by 2030 and 50% of the state’s land by 2050.
The parcel sits adjacent to the state-owned Otter Creek Wildlife Management Area and federally managed Green Mountain National Forest, and it expands a swath of more than 270,000 acres of conserved forestland.
The newly conserved land will provide a bridge for wildlife and plants between the Otter Creek wetland and the top of the Green Mountain spine.
Prior to the transaction, the parcel was owned by a local family who managed the popular community hiking trails there for more than 90 years.
The family asked not to be identified but said in a statement, “These woods are our friends and we look forward to a continued relationship with them under the careful stewardship of the Green Mountain National Forest.”
The effort was funded in part by the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program created by Congress in the 1960s that invests earnings from offshore oil and gas leases to acquire new federal land. It’s one of the largest sources of funding nationwide for conservation projects.
