Hoping to protect 90 acres of woodlands and streams on Parsonage Hill in Haverhill, a land trust needs to raise $218,213 by June 30.
With the total cost at $690,000, Essex County Greenbelt has already received $217,600 in state money and $254,187 from former Haverhill mayoral candidate Maureen Corbett, who passed away in 2017.
As WHAV reported, state officials awarded Haverhill the conservation grant last December. The money is part of $13 million from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for park improvements and open space purchases across Massachusetts.
Greenbelt Vice President of Conservation Operations Christopher B. LaPointe told WHAV his organization is partnering with the city. “Greenbelt will own and manage the land, and Haverhill will forever hold a conservation restriction that is an additional layer of legal protection.”
The two parcels on Parsonage Hill hold a network of trails connecting to McPherson Woodlot, land Greenbelt already stewards. According to Greenbelt’s website, the first of the parcels has “beautiful mature hardwood trees, an understory of native viburnums, ferns, and wildflowers, Camp Brook [and] a tributary to the Merrimack River.”
The second “is host to an active beaver family, creating superb wildlife habitat for migrating and resident birds, among other wildlife, in addition to woodland, intermittent streams and wetlands.”
Parsonage Hill’s ecosystem boosts the region’s climate resiliency, according to Greenbelt. Its woods and wetlands reduce flooding from heavy rainfall and store water in case of drought. Forests also lower the temperature of the air.
LaPointe said the land is currently owned by the estate of Martin A. Chooljian and the Martin Almas Chooljian Revocable Trust.