Fund Drive to Link the Mill River to Broad Brook

Please help the City of Northampton acquire this critical link!

Dear Mill River Lovers,

Steve McDonough on behalf of the Leeds Civic Association, Friends of Northampton Trails, and Yours Truly urge you to contribute to this great project. Here’s how Steve describes it:

Northampton seeks to purchase 44.7 acres of land in Leeds located north of Beaver Brook between Haydenville Road and the Leeds bike path.  The acquisition would expand the current Beaver Brook conservation area while helping to connect the Mill River Greenway to the Beaver Brook/Broad Brook Greenway and Broad Brook/Fitzgerald Lake Greenway.

As we send this message out to you MRGI folk on January 13, we already have more than $2000 donated of the $15000 goal. You can donate directly to the City of Northampton via the Office of Planning and Sustainability, 210 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060 or simply click on this site: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/team/beaver-brook-land-purchase

Due to the property’s connection with the other conservation areas, it is also important as a wildlife corridor.  Deer, bear, deer, fox, porcupines and turkeys have all been sited on a frequent basis.  And just in the past few months, river otters have been spotted in Beaver Brook on at least two occasions, likely using it as a migration route to and from the Mill River!

The area has become a popular recreation area as it connects with the trails along the Mill River Greenway and the Beaver Brook Conservation area with the main access off the bike path near the Beaver Brook bridge.  There are about 2 miles of well-maintained trails on the property and also some ‘bread crumb’ trails that lead out to Route 9 and the new wildlife blind.

The acquisition would also add a major land parcel in support of Northampton’s Multi-Use Trail Plan to develop a Northampton trail that encircles the city building on existing trail networks where possible.

Thanks from all of us at MRGI, LCA, FNT, and the City of Northampton!