We’ve Made It!
Our four-year fundraising campaign to conserve Hogback Mountain reached its goal in early 2010, and on March 31, 2010 the 591-acre property—officially designated the Hogback Mountain Conservation Area—was deeded to the town of Marlboro, Vermont. A permanent conservation easement protecting the property is held by the Vermont Land Trust and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board.
HMCA continues to develop and expand the broad range of initiatives it began during the fundraising phase.
The Trails Committee has been active clearing and blazing trails and making and installing trail signs and informational trailhead kiosks. We are working closely with the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation to link our Conservation Area trails with the trail system in the adjacent Molly Stark State Park.
The Public Information/Membership Committee continues to update Conservation Area trail maps and the HMCA web site, and to publish an electronic newsletter. Trail maps are posted at the Conservation Area’s trailhead kiosks.
The Education/Science Committee is moving forward with a Natural Resource Inventory of the Conservation Area which will help identify natural communities, animal corridors, and sensitive ecosystems and guide future trail development. It will continue to organize the series of popular outdoor naturalist programs that began two years ago, including animal tracking, birding, vernal pools, and medicinal plant workshops. HMCA will continue to cosponsor events such as programs on bats, wolves, raptors, and snakes with the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum located at Hogback. Developing educational programs to enrich young people’s understanding and appreciation of nature has been an exciting outgrowth of HMCA’s conservation effort. For the past two years the Marlboro Elementary School has held a Hogback “Field Day” at the end of the school year, with volunteers from HMCA and the community helping teachers organize events that use the Conservation Area as an outdoor classroom. We hope to be able to expand this collaboration through formal integration of Hogback activities into the school’s curriculum.
An overriding goal for HMCA will be support for the Hogback Preservation Commission (HPC) which was appointed by the Marlboro Select Board to develop and oversee a Management Plan that articulates policies for the use of the Conservation Area in conformity with the requirements of the conservation easement. HMCA’s primary responsibility is the day-to-day management of the Conservation Area within the management framework established by the Hogback Preservation Commission.
We wish to express our heartfelt thanks for the generosity of more than 300 individual donors, the Vermont Land Trust, our fundraising and technical support partner from the beginning, area legislators, citizens of the town of Marlboro, Vermont, and numerous state agencies and public and private foundations (click Contributing Organizations on the menu for a complete list). Your commitment has made it possible for this magnificent property to continue to function as both a wildlife corridor and an undisturbed upland forest preserve to protect and nurture the rich variety of natural resources that exist there, and as an important area resource for low-impact recreation.
All those who would like to join in any of the activities at the Conservation Area, or simply to be an HMCA member to show that you care about Hogback, are invited to contact us at hogback1@sover.net. We will be happy to add your email address to our mailing list and to send you our electronic newsletter, “News and Events at Hogback Mountain,” published every few months.