Mountains

Mount Holyoke Range, Mount Toby, Brushy Mountain, Mount Warner and the Pelham Hills. These are the most visible natural monuments in the Connecticut River Valley. The Mount Holyoke Range was named a "Last Chance Landscape" by Scenic America in 2000, but only about half of the Range is protected. The rest of it, which is in private hands, is increasingly threatened with development creeping up the hillsides to take advantage of but also become the view. Mount Toby, located in Sunderland, marks the northern most border of Kestrel’s Valley. Much of this land is protected as a state park by the Massachusetts Departments of Conservation and Recreation and the Department of Fish and Game. Again, only half of it is permanetly protected.

The Kestrel Trust is committed to working with the associated Town Conservation Commissions and state agencies to arrange for the acquisition of key parcels within and near these public lands to increase public ownership of our cherished mountains. We also work with landowners who wish to retain private ownership of their land while protecting it. Landowners can donate or sell a conservation restriction on their private property to ensure that it remains a protected in perpetuity, either as a working woodland or as a wild forest.

In 2008, Kestrel has begun negotiations with two landowners who want to protect their land adjacent to the Mt. Holyoke Range State Park, and one in the Pelham Hills. We are also supporting efforts to protect important parcels on Mt. Toby in conjunction with local and state agencies.