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Opakum Land Trust seeks signatures as town holds 109-acre conservation restriction
Summary
Opakum Land Trust told the conservation commission the final paperwork for a 109‑acre Forest Legacy conservation restriction on Chapin Road is nearly complete and that the town’s signatures are needed before federal grant funding ends in July.
Lee Wilder, executive director of Opakum Land Trust, told the Town of Hampden Conservation Commission that a Forest Legacy conservation restriction covering about 109 acres off Chapin Road is nearly ready for signatures and that the project must finish before grant funding expires in July. "We were awarded [the grant] in 2021," Wilder said, and the grant, which flows from federal to state to the town, requires the town to sign a simple state contract so funds can be paid to the landowners.
Wilder asked the commission to sign three items once the survey and final acreage are verified: the conservation restriction itself, a monitoring‑commitment form the commission would use to steward the property, and a landowner commitment form. He said the commission chair must sign the documents and that the town clerk can notarize signatures at a meeting if needed. "We're in the home stretch and working to get this over the finish line," Wilder said, noting the grant’s funding window ends July 31 and that the group is seeking a possible extension but is not confident it will be approved.
Wilder described the property as roughly 109 acres, abutting an existing conservation restriction held by Minnechaug Land Trust, and said the plan includes public access and trails once the land is transferred to the trust. He offered the trust’s monitoring resources and said Opakum can assist the town with annual monitoring and with resolving violations found during inspections.
Commissioners asked when Wilder expected to return with finalized documents; he said he hoped the forms and survey would be ready by the commission’s third‑Wednesday meeting in June (June 17) but that, at the latest, they would be ready by July. Staff advised Wilder to submit the materials as a single package — survey, map showing the well and septic, and the draft documents — so the commission could place the item on the next meeting agenda and have the notice run in the paper.
Next steps: Wilder will provide the final survey and forms on conservation commission letterhead, and the commission will review and, if appropriate, arrange for the chair to sign so the town can execute the state contract and allow grant funds to flow.
