Land Trust Project
Once slated to become a housing subdivision, York Land Trust’s 151-acre Highland Farm Preserve now features old fields, vernal pools, a mix of different-aged forest, and abundant wildlife.
In 2010, conservationists used a timber harvest to create 18 acres of young forest. A brontosaurus (a tracked machine with a high-powered cutting head) browsed back smaller trees that were not part of the commercial logging job.
Workers built brush piles, planted native shrubs like dogwood and elderberry, and removed invasive plants. These habitat improvements help both rare and common wildlife including New England cottontail, American woodcock, ruffed grouse, wild turkey, songbirds, black racer (a nonvenomous snake), turtles, and pollinators.
Wildlife Moves Through Corridors
Winding through 10 acres of old fields is a stream drainage grown up with alder shrubs, a brushy, 40-foot-wide habitat corridor that links Highland Farm to shrub swamps along nearby York River. Rabbits and other animals use such cover to move from one area to another to find food or mates or to disperse from the place where they were born.
Conservationists plan to keep at least 15 to 20 connected acres of dense, regrowing young forest and shrubland on Highland Farm Preserve into the future.
How to Visit
A parking lot and information kiosk lie west of the cottontail management area. The preserve is open for quiet, low-impact day-use activities such as hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing. The New England Cottontail Trail circles the young forest area.
The Highland Farm property was purchased in 2009 as part of the Mount Agamenticus to the Sea Conservation Initiative. It is forever protected and open for public access thanks to the generosity of many individuals, foundations, partner organizations, and the voters of the Town of York.
