Trail Opens at Peach Hill in Berlin
The Town of Berlin and SVT have opened a public hiking trail at the town’s Peach Hill Conservation Area on Lancaster Road. The new Mountain Laurel Trail runs through the Peach Hill land for about a mile before connecting with trails on the Town of Bolton’s Fyfeshire Conservation Area.
“Volunteers were key to our success,” said John Aney, Chair of the Berlin Conservation Commission. “They scouted out the best route, cleared the path, removed barbed wires, and posted trail markers.”
SVT assisted the town in protecting a large portion of the new conservation area. We temporarily acquired 30 acres of the land last fall until the town could obtain grant funding for the purchase. The town purchased those 30 acres from us earlier this year and combined them with an adjacent 50 acres it already owned to create the Peach Hill Conservation Area. SVT holds a conservation restriction on the 30 acres we helped to protect.
Peach Hill provides a link between other protected lands in Berlin and Bolton to create a contiguous wildlife corridor and forest block totaling more than 1,150 acres.
Dan Stimson, Assistant Director of Stewardship at SVT, commented, “We were excited to work with the Town of Berlin on this project, and about the connection it provides to Bolton’s Fyfeshire Conservation Area. Being able to create a link in such a large block of conserved lands means that area residents will have plenty of trails for exploration and that wildlife will have the necessary habitat for nesting and foraging.”