Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust – Timeline

Hidden Valley Memorial Forest

December 1994

Mabel Cronquist contacts MGLCT through her Massachusetts realtor about the possibility of protecting 66 acres in Wendell, Massachusetts.

January 1995

The first Purchase and Sale Agreement on the Cronquist property is signed. The contract is contingent on the state purchasing the property from MGLCT. Correction of a title defect then delayed the project for over a year.

July 1996

State officials from Massachusetts Forests and Parks visit the property.

July 1996

Leigh Youngblood visits Mabel Cronquist to discuss a possible donation of the land to MGLCT. Before she has the opportunity to ask, Mrs. Cronquist offers to donate the land in memory of her late husband, botanist Arthur Cronquist.

October 1996

The Purchase and Sale Agreement is amended to eliminate the agreed sale price of $26,000. The deed to Mount Grace reads for $1.

1997

A forest management plan is created for Hidden Valley Memorial Forest. It focuses on timber management, wildlife habitat, and biodiversity.

October 1998

Mount Grace sells the timber from the first harvest at Hidden Valley Memorial Forest for $5,500.

Skyfields Arboretum

May 1998

Margaret Biggs contacts MGLCT about donating her Athol home along with 40 acres of fields and forest to the organization.

1998

Mrs. Biggs, interested in the idea of forest management, has a forest management plan created for her property. She intends to donate the money from the first timber sale to MGLCT.

January 1999

MGLCT accepts a donation of $11,000 from the Mrs. Biggs. The money came from the sale of timber on her Athol property.

March 1999

Mrs. Biggs passes away, leaving the property to MGLCT. The organization takes over stewardship activities on the property, including the creation of Skyfields Arboretum.

2001

MGLCT moves its offices to the house on the Biggs Property and begins planning the arboretum with Walter Cudnohufsky Associates, Inc.

Summer 2002

Skyfields Arboretum plan is complete and the property is open to the public.