SVT protected 101 acres of Sawink Farm Reservation in 1992 and protected the 88-acre drumlin of Cedar Hill in 1993.
The two properties sit within the Crane Swamp Conservation Area, which spans more than 2,225 acres of open space that straddle the borders of Northborough, Westborough, Southborough, and Marlborough. The centerpiece is a 400-acre red maple swamp, but other natural features include wooded drumlins, open fields, wet meadows, ponds, pine plantations, and oak-pine forests, as well as tributaries to the Sudbury and Assabet Rivers.
This mosaic of habitats provides for a rich array of plants and animals, including state-listed species, interior-sensitive forest birds, and species that need to range some distance throughout the year for survival.
- Trails here connect properties owned by several state agencies.
- Wildlife species known to inhabit the area include bobcat, coyote, red fox, snowshoe hare, white-tailed deer, barred owl, ruffed grouse, American woodcock, spotted turtles, and monarch butterflies.
- At Cedar Hill, SVT is restoring an early successional shrub habitat that is beneficial to birds such as indigo bunting, eastern towhee, and blue-winged warbler. Some insects and butterflies benefit as well.
- Four small hills in the area are drumlins, or elongated hills created by glacial drift. Lands of this type were commonly used for grazing and for planting fruit trees because the soil is too stony and poorly drained for good crop production.
- The flatter, more wide-open areas of this property were once probably used as crop or hay fields.
