New Wareham Land Trust property is home to unique habitats but in need of work
A frozen pond at the Follo-Beecher Woodland. Source: Matt Potvin
A stream in the new property.
The property is filled with trees.
A Red Backed Salamander.
A Two Lined Salamander.
The property has a coating of snow.
A frozen pond at the Follo-Beecher Woodland. Source: Matt Potvin
A stream in the new property.
The property is filled with trees.
A Red Backed Salamander.
A Two Lined Salamander.
The property has a coating of snow.
The Wareham Land Trust recently acquired a new property that is home to several unique habitats but is in need of cleaning up before it can be used.
The Follo-Beecher Woodlands is located in northwest Wareham off Beaver Path near Gault Road. The three-acre property’s purchase creates a 12-acre conservation corridor in the area.
Various wildlife such as deer, foxes and a plethora of turkeys call the $22,000 project home and it is mostly wetlands, “big beautiful trees” according to Zollo and several small bodies of water, including a possible vernal pool and Patterson Brook.
The brook feeds into the Weweantic River and could be a spawning ground for brook trout.
Zollo said the state has more testing to do before officially declaring the brook a spawning ground but because cold water comes out of the ground and into the brook, “everything points to it being a spawning ground.”
Plans for the property include carving out trails that don’t interfere with the wetlands and working with the local chapter of Trout Unlimited, a non-profit that works to protect fisheries across the country on how to better protect the brook.
“What I envision being different about this property is [Trout Unlimited] doing some of the science on the river, figuring out the spawning area and helping us educate the public about it,” she said.
But before any work can be done, the property needs to be cleaned up. Zollo said years of neglect have caused a large buildup of trash and invasive plants.
“We want to take care of it and bring it back to the state it deserves to be in,” she said.
The land trust will be hosting several work days in the future for volunteers to help with the property cleanup.
Once cleaned up, land trust stewardship coordinator Matt Potvin wants to teach people how to identify vernal pools, small temporary bodies of water that act as breeding grounds for amphibians.
“It’s a unique property for its size because it has a lot of important features that we want to try and protect,” Potvin said.
The land purchase is the first of the year and is the land trust’s first step toward reaching its goal of conserving 25 acres in 2026.
