The Acton Water District (AWD) capped off the successful acquisition of the 549 Main Street property at a well-attended gathering to officially welcome the public to use the trail system on the property. This event, held on September 28, represents the culmination of a multi-year effort to take ownership of a parcel that is vital to the protection of several high-production drinking water sources in Central Acton. These resources include the existing Conant 1 and Conant 2 wells that have a combined output capacity of 650,000 gallons per day, plus two new bedrock wells with a combined approved output capacity of up to 265,000 gallons per day. For comparison, the total volume pumped by the AWD averages 1,400,000 gallons per day. Approval to activate the new bedrock wells was received from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection on October 24.
This property is unusual in that in addition to its primary purpose of water protection, it will be open to the public for passive recreation. The hiking trails located on this parcel have been named “The Trails at Brewster’s Meadow” to honor the prior owner Brewster Conant Sr., who maintained the included meadow for many years prior to his passing in 2018. The below-market-value sale was made possible through the generosity of his children, Brewster Conant Jr., Phoebe Conant, and Faith Conant.
The weather on the afternoon of the event proved to be ideal for both the scheduled presentations by the representatives for the groups involved in the land acquisition, and the guided property tour that followed. The chair of the Water District Commissioners, Steve Stuntz, initiated the event with a few opening remarks and introduced District Manager Matthew Mostoller. Mostoller then provided a general overview of the land acquisition process, which was initiated in 2018. He noted that the primary goal of the decision to move forward with this action was the long-term protection of drinking water resources and the perpetual preservation of the undeveloped property. The completion of this task involved the development of solutions to the financial problem of purchasing the property without placing undue burden on the District’s customers, and the legal impediments to the establishment of permanent usage restrictions.
Dean Charter spoke next as chair of the Select Board and a member of the Community Preservation Committee to provide an overview of the Town’s involvement, and highlighted the large number of executive sessions that were required to finalize the details of the Town’s contribution to the land purchase. At the 2023 Annual Town Meeting, voters approved the Select Board’s request to acquire a Conservation Restriction (CR) from the Acton Water District on the 549 Main Street property. As compensation for this use restriction, the District was awarded $1.0M from the Community Preservation Act Open Space Set Aside Fund.
Brewster Conant Jr. and his sister Phoebe Conant spoke next about their father’s desire to ensure that land owned by the Conant family for generations would be preserved and maintained in its natural state. They noted that the property had been ranked first on the list of parcels that the Open Space Committee recommended for public acquisition.
Following these comments, two representatives from State Senator Jamie Eldridge’s office, Bianca Coghi-DeSousa and Meghan Cerino, presented Brewster and Phoebe with a citation from the Massachusetts Senate recognizing the Conant family for their stewardship of a property that is essential for the continued protection of the water resources near Acton Center. The significance of this tract is clearly illustrated in the figure below, which shows the fraction of the Zone 1 water protection regions near the intersection of Main St. and Great Rd. that are now safeguarded by publicly-owned land.
The event’s next speaker was the president of the Acton Conservation Trust (ACT) Susan Mitchell-Hardt, who summarized the actions taken by the trustees of ACT in support of the land acquisition. To further leverage the grant from the Community Preservation Act, ACT gifted the Town a sum of $10,000. She emphasized that the Trust’s efforts to secure the conservation restrictions on 549 Main Street were completed with the strong support of the Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT).
These remarks were followed by statements from the Senior Land Protection Specialist of the SVT, Meredith Houghton, who explained that the mission of the SVT is the protection of natural areas around the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord rivers. This organization played a key role in the Water District’s efforts to secure two sizable grants from Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the property purchase and the acquisition of the associated Conservation Restriction (CR), and is a co-holder of the CR along with Acton’s Conservation Commission.
The final speaker of the afternoon was Katherine Antos, Undersecretary of the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA). She began her remarks by noting that the Water District’s successful effort to secure the 549 Main St. property with the goal of protecting and diversifying Acton’s water supply, contributing to open space preservation, and expanding the Town’s access to land designated for passive recreation, including a significant portion of the Isaac Davis Trail, is an excellent way to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday. She congratulated the District for its success in winning two grants from the Commonwealth, one in the amount of $1.5M from the EEA Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program, and a second for $0.5M from the Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant Program. She emphasized that the benefits derived from the improved access to clean and safe water, the reduced likelihood of local flood damage, and the prevention of future economic disruptions far outweigh the investment made by the Commonwealth to provide these grants.
In total, the Acton Water District will receive approximately $3M in grants from the Town of Acton and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the purchase of the 549 Main Street property, which reduces the effective cost to the District’s customers to less than $2M for the 57-acre parcel. District Manager Matthew Mostoller served as the main architect of this multi-year effort, which required a carefully-coordinated collaboration of representatives from multiple local and state organizations.
After the formalities concluded, Brewster Conant, Jr., and AWD Environmental Analyst Shawn Case led a guided walk around the newly opened trail system. The group traversed the part of the historic Isaac Davis Trail, where the Acton Minute Men marched to North Bridge in Concord to engage the British regulars on April 19, 1775, in the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The tour then crossed the newly christened “Brewster’s Meadow,” observing the contrast between the 2nd growth forest that has grown up on the rest of the property and the carefully maintained meadow habitat. Meadows are a valuable habitat type in Massachusetts, supporting many native plants and animals, but they get quickly overgrown if not maintained. Along the walk, the group had several chances to look at historic photographs, such as the one below, showing the landscape as it was when many generations of Davis and Conant families were using the property for farming, grazing of livestock, and wood lots.
Dr. Parenti is a member of the Town of Acton Water Resource Committee and the Acton Water District Finance Committee. Acton Exchange associate editor Kim Kastens contributed additional reporting about the guided walk.
