Retired Siena College ecology professor Doug Fraser changed his mind about willing his 130 Chesterfield acres to Hilltown Land Trust. Now, he wants to donate the land to HLT within his lifetime.
Neighbors and friends already enjoy the miles of trails, interpretive signage, and varied habitats that make this place so special. It’s Doug’s dream for the land to educate and inspire future generations of environmental stewards through visits from local colleges and public access.
One group of 28 students from Elms College in Chicopee recently visited Doug’s woods to collect data on red-backed salamanders, a species he’s studied and published work on for years. He reflected, “I always feel it’s important to get kids engaged in doing something rather than me just lecturing to them. What came out of that day astonished me, because I realized some of the students had never been in the woods before.”
College students aren’t the only young people visiting the trails, which are also a popular spot for local seniors to walk with their grandchildren. Special touches, like a seat for wood fairies in the crook of a tree, are designed to capture young imaginations and build an early sense of connection with the forest.
A red-backed salamander was hiding under one of the wood planks, or cover boards, that Doug uses to study the species.
Educational signs dot the trails, connecting visitors with the forest’s real magic: its ecological richness. Doug has spotted bobcat, bear, coyote, and fox activity, but he’s attuned to life underground as well. His continued study of red-backed salamanders will help science and the public understand the impacts of changes like beech leaf disease and invasive jumping worms, both of which affect the soil-based food web that salamanders and other forest life depend on.
Hilltown Land Trust hopes to close on the project by 2026, and to open access to the public soon after. The new timeline means that Doug’s wealth of stewardship knowledge will serve as a resource both before and after the project closes. “I’d like to know that it’s in good hands and that everything went through smoothly,” Doug said of his decision.
The HLT staff explored Doug’s trails with him this past August.
Doug hopes to see the land continue to support education, and for it to keep regenerating after experiencing the impacts of more recent logging plus clear-cutting for sheep farming over a century ago.
“This land was completely cut over, totally exploited” he said. “I feel good about giving it to the land trust, so the exploitation can end. The ecosystem is putting itself back together again.”
