One our very first collaborations with the State and a developer. It is owned by the town of Ashburnham under the care and custody of the Conservation Commission and is subject to a Conservation Restriction held by the State. This 14 acre parcel provides a critical link across Route 119 in north Ashburnham. This acreage was offered to the town by a local contractor as “excess” acreage after the building of a few homes on Old Pierce Rd. and Route 119. The bulk of the acreage of this lot lies on the edge of the wetland near and on the opposite side of the road from the Mt. Watatic parking lot. A wedge of roughly 5 acres lies on the north side of the road and juts in to a 50 acre lot of land that is “Owner Unknown”. It would have provided frontage access to that 50 acre lot, making it vulnerable to development if it had been purchased or transferred to either the town or a developer. In fact at one point there was some interest by the town to sell if for development until we informed them about the details of its legal status, justifying our fears of what could have happened had we not intervened. The area, now referred to as the Watatic State Reservation, became a target for protection decades ago, it was our desire to continue to protect as much land around Mt. Watatic as possible and this lot of land was key.