North Common Meadow
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North Common Meadow
North Common Meadow is a open space preserve in the town of Petersham, Massachusetts. The property, part of a larger, contiguous area of protected open space including Harvard Forest and The Trustees of Reservations' Brooks Woodland Preserve, is maintained as grassland in keeping with the town's rural character. The preserve, acquired in 1975 by the land conservation non-profit organization The Trustees of Reservations, is suitable for hiking, horseback riding, picnicking, and cross country skiing; it is also maintained as habitat for ground nesting birds such as the bobolink, red-winged blackbird, and eastern meadowlark. Access to North Common Meadow is located off Massachusetts Route 32 and East Street in Petersham center. History The property was formerly pasture land; later, it was part of the golf course of the Nichewaug Inn. It was given to the Trustees of Reservations by an anonymous donor. North Common Meadow is part of the Petersham Common Historic District, placed on ...
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The Trustees Of Reservations
The Trustees of Reservations is a non-profit land conservation and historic preservation organization dedicated to preserving natural and historical places in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is the oldest land conservation nonprofit organization of its kind in the world and has 140,000 dues-paying members . In addition to land stewardship, the organization is also active in conservation partnerships, community supported agriculture (CSA), environmental and conservation education, community preservation and development, and green building. The Trustees of Reservations own title to 120 properties on in Massachusetts, all of which are open to the public; it maintains conservation restrictions on over 200 additional properties. Properties include historic mansions, estates, and gardens; woodland preserves; waterfalls; mountain peaks; wetlands and riverways; coastal bluffs, beaches, and barrier islands; farmland and CSA projects; and archaeological sites. Main offices of the ...
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Petersham, Massachusetts
Petersham is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,194 at the 2020 census. Petersham is home to a considerable amount of conservation land, including the Quabbin Reservation, Harvard Forest, the Swift River Reservation, and Federated Women's Club State Forest. History Petersham was first settled by Europeans in 1733 and was officially incorporated on April 20, 1754. On February 4, 1787, it was the site of the second battle of Shays' Rebellion. The town is noted for its common, part of the Petersham Common Historic District. About 45 buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Country Store, an 1842 Greek Revival structure that has housed a general store on its main floor since its opening, sits just to the East of the common. The town's lands were expanded greatly by the building of the Quabbin Reservoir in 1938. When the towns of the Swift River Valley were disincorporated, Petersham and neighboring New ...
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Harvard Forest
Harvard Forest is an ecological research area of owned and managed by Harvard University and located in Petersham, Massachusetts. The property, in operation since 1907, includes one of North America's oldest managed forests, educational and research facilities, a museum, and recreation trails. Harvard Forest is open to the public. Research and education Harvard University conducts forest biology and conservation research on the property, including two major programs: the Long Term Ecological Research LTER program, funded by the National Science Foundation and established in 1988 to investigate New England's natural ecosystem; and the National Institute of Global Environmental Change program established and funded by the United States Department of Energy and emphasizing the study of physical and biological processes in relation to climate change. Harvard Forest is also slated to be the northeastern core site of the National Ecological Observatory Network. A number of smaller res ...
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Brooks Woodland Preserve
The Brooks Woodland Preserve is a open space preserve located in Petersham, Massachusetts. The property, named after industrialist and diplomat James Wilson Brooks, is managed by the land conservation non-profit organization The Trustees of Reservations and offers of trails and primitive woods roads available for hiking, horseback riding, and cross country skiing. Second growth forest, overgrown farm fields, granite ledges, historic stone walls, creeks, and rolling hills characterize the preserve. The property is divided into three contiguous parcels, the ''Roaring Brook Tract'', ''Swift River Tract'', and ''Connor's Pond Tract.'' Trailheads are located off Massachusetts Route 32, East Street, Oliver Street and Quaker Drive in Petersham. A network of trails runs between the tracts and abutting conservation land. Moccasin Brook and the East Branch of the Swift River pass through the center of the preserve. History and conservation The Preserve is named for Aaron Brooks, Jr's son, ...
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Bobolink
The bobolink (''Dolichonyx oryzivorus'') is a small New World blackbird and the only member of the genus ''Dolichonyx''. An old name for this species is the "rice bird", from its tendency to feed on cultivated grains during winter and migration. The bobolink breeds in the summer in United States and Canada, with most of the summer range in the northern U.S. Bobolinks winter in southern South America, primarily Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia. Bobolink populations are rapidly declining due to numerous factors, such as agricultural intensification and habitat loss; they are considered threatened in Canada, and are at risk throughout their range. Etymology The genus name ''Dolichonyx'' is from Ancient Greek , "long", and , "claw". The specific ''oryzivorus'' is from Latin , "rice", and , "to devour"; an old name for this species is "Rice Bird". The English "Bobolink" is from Bob o' Lincoln, describing the call. Description Measurements: * Length: * Weight: * Wingspan: Adults ...
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Red-winged Blackbird
The red-winged blackbird (''Agelaius phoeniceus'') is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North America and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala, with isolated populations in western El Salvador, northwestern Honduras, and northwestern Costa Rica. It may winter as far north as Pennsylvania and British Columbia, but northern populations are generally migratory, moving south to Mexico and the southern United States. Claims have been made that it is the most abundant living land bird in North America, as bird-counting censuses of wintering red-winged blackbirds sometimes show that loose flocks can number in excess of a million birds per flock and the full number of breeding pairs across North and Central America may exceed 250 million in peak years. It also ranks among the best-studied wild bird species in the world. The red-winged blackbird is sexually dimorphic; the male i ...
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Eastern Meadowlark
The eastern meadowlark (''Sturnella magna'') is a medium-sized blackbird (family: Icteridae), very similar in appearance to sister species western meadowlark. It occurs from eastern North America to northern South America, where it is also most widespread in the east. The Chihuahuan meadowlark was formerly considered to be conspecific with the eastern meadowlark. Taxonomy The eastern meadowlark was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the larks and pipits in the genus '' Alauda'' and adopted the binomial name ''Alauda magna''. Linnaeus based his description on the "large lark" that had been described and illustrated in 1729–1732 by the English naturalist Mark Catesby. Catesby also used the Latin ''Alauda magna'' but as his book predates the introduction of the binomial system, he is not acknowledged as the authority. Catesby reported that "they inhabit Carolina, Virginia and most o ...
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Massachusetts Route 32
Massachusetts Route 32 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The highway runs from the Connecticut state line in Monson, where the highway continues as Connecticut Route 32, north to the New Hampshire state line in Royalston, where the highway continues as New Hampshire Route 32 (NH 32). Route 32 connects several towns on the eastern edge of Western Massachusetts. The highway serves Palmer in eastern Hampden County, Ware in eastern Hampshire County, and Barre and Athol in northwestern Worcester County. Route 32 intersects major east–west routes including U.S. Route 20 (US 20) and the Massachusetts Turnpike in Palmer (at I-90's exit 63, formerly exit 8), Route 9 in Ware, and US 202 and Route 2 in Athol. The highway has an alternate route, Route 32A, through Hardwick and Petersham. Route description Route 32 begins at the Connecticut state line in the town of Monson in southeastern Hampden County, from which the highway continues south as Connecticu ...
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Nichewaug Inn
The Petersham Common Historic District encompasses the historic town center of Petersham, Massachusetts. Laid out in 1733 and centered on the town common bounded by Main and Common Streets, it retains most of its 19th-century character, with only a few turn-of-the-20th-century civic buildings adding later character. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Buildings within the district include the Petersham Memorial Library and the Nichewaug Inn. Description and history Land in what is now Petersham was first granted to colonists in 1733, and the town was incorporated in 1754. Its town common was laid out in 1733, along with a series of house lots extending to the north and south, along what is now Main Street (Massachusetts Route 32). It is where the town's first colonial meeting house, meeting house was built, and it is where all of its town halls have been located. Since 1878, the common has been cared for by a village improvement soci ...
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Petersham Common Historic District
The Petersham Common Historic District encompasses the historic town center of Petersham, Massachusetts. Laid out in 1733 and centered on the town common bounded by Main and Common Streets, it retains most of its 19th-century character, with only a few turn-of-the-20th-century civic buildings adding later character. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Buildings within the district include the Petersham Memorial Library and the Nichewaug Inn. Description and history Land in what is now Petersham was first granted to colonists in 1733, and the town was incorporated in 1754. Its town common was laid out in 1733, along with a series of house lots extending to the north and south, along what is now Main Street (Massachusetts Route 32). It is where the town's first colonial meeting house, meeting house was built, and it is where all of its town halls have been located. Since 1878, the common has been cared for by a village improvement soci ...
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National Register Of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic value". A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred in preserving the property. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 1966 established the National Register and the process for adding properties to it. Of the more than one and a half million properties on the National Register, 95,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts. For most of its history, the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service (NPS), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior. Its goals are to help property owners and inte ...
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Protected Areas Of Worcester County, Massachusetts
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as bark on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like scales and hair offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such as spines or camouflage servi ...
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