ATHOL — Susie and Ben Feldman love their land.
They own roughly 350 acres around their home at 586 Briggs Road and the picturesque property is suitable for outdoor activities such as horseback riding, hiking and snowshoeing. To protect what is so dear to them, the Feldmans partnered with the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust to conserve 297 acres of the land, securing an easement in late June.
“I very strongly believe that you don’t teach about things by putting fences around them. You protect them by sharing them. You don’t protect them by preventing access,” said Susie Feldman, who grew up on the property, as she sat next to her husband on their back deck, about 100 feet from the Petersham town line.
The easement coincides with the trust’s 30th birthday and the Feldmans have agreed to open to the public their newly protected farm and forest property Saturday for a celebration commemorating three decades of land conservation.
“Because of the tremendous support of landowners, Mount Grace members and volunteers, community leaders, and local officials, Mount Grace has conserved over 31,000 acres of land, ever since a group of concerned citizens formed our organization 30 years ago,” said Sarah Wells, land conservation director . “We encourage all our members, partners and friends to come celebrate all that we’ve done together.”
The celebration is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. At 10 a.m., people are invited to explore the Feldman property with one of four guided tours — a walk showcasing forestry on the land, a farm and cultural history tour, a nature hike, or a scavenger hunt. At 11 a.m., the party moves under tents for a silent auction, lunch by Wendell’s Diemand Farm, and stories of the land featuring Double Edge Theatre’s Carlos Uriona. From 1 to 4 p.m., the festivities continue with local beer and with music from The Green Sisters, a folk-bluegrass quartet from Hubbardston, and Trailer Park from Northampton.
Coffee will be provided by Dean’s Beans. Afternoon activities will also feature lawn games, face-painting, and additional hikes and walks around the Feldman property, which spans land in Athol, Petersham and Phillipston.
Tickets are $30, and proceeds support efforts to conserve land in the region. Anyone interested in attending is encouraged to purchase tickets before Saturday or RSVP to reserve a seat. Tickets can be purchased online at mountgrace.org or by calling Jay Rasku at 978-248-2055, Ext. 17.
Leigh Youngblood, the trust’s executive director, said the easement on the Feldmans’ property exemplifies the work the trust has been doing through its Quabbin Heritage Landscape Project, which has received a $1,260,000 grant from the state’s Landscape Partnership Program.
“The Feldmans are very active land stewards,” Youngblood said. “Susie is an equestrian and makes trails accessible to the public. We just think that’s really great — that it’s not just for the Feldmans, it’s for everybody.”
The Landscape Partnership Program provides matching grants, and Youngblood said this requires a lot of local fundraising. She also said at least 1,800 acres (as part of five projects) were conserved in June through Quabbin Heritage, which focuses on protecting scenic and working landscapes in Athol, Petersham, Phillipston, and Barre.
The Feldmans said they are looking forward to Saturday’s celebration because they enjoy sharing their land. Susie Feldman, whose father bought the house in 1947, said she has fond memories of “listening to the frogs singing love songs” and of riding around on imaginary horses with her brother.
“I grew up here,” she said, adding that she has always felt a sense of neighborliness. “If somebody walks across the yard, you say hello to them, you say, ‘Come in. Have a cup of coffee.’”
Ben Feldman said he also wanted to conserve the land for practical reasons. He said he has known people who inadvertently created family hardship by leaving chunks of land to children, who either split it or fight over it.
“We’ve done a lot of work here,” he said.
Susie Feldman walks the trails as if she is in a well-lit basement. Countless acorns fall off trees and hit the earth. She said deer often eat the acorns. Each stone, fallen tree and gnome (she estimates to have 30 to 40) seems to carry a story, from the castle she and her brother tried to build before abandoning the project to the tours she gives to Harvard University students. Harvard maintains a 3,000-acre ecological research area in Petersham.
Orange fungus is visible on a tree, and Susie Feldman said some people harvest mushrooms on her land. The Feldmans also have two horses, two donkeys and a dozen chickens, and their son, Joshua, lives next door and maintains the land and its trails.
The Feldmans have carefully marked trails throughout the property so people unfamiliar with the terrain won’t get lost.
“I could walk these trails every day and it would be different each time,” Susie Feldman said under the tranquil, sun-filtering protection of tree branches and leaves.
The woods also hold a tri-town marker, where Athol, Petersham and Phillipston connect. Markings on it appear to date back as far as 1844.