Mattapoisett River Valley celebrates public drinking water protection: What land was sold

With the acquisition of the Mahoney and Sons' farm, a major milestone in the protection of the Mattapoisett River Valley’s public drinking water supply is completed.

The just under $6 million undertaking acquired and protected 240 acres of land in Mattapoisett, Acushnet and Rochester. The project is designed to protect the underlying groundwater aquifer that supplies the drinking water for Acushnet, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Marion and Rochester.

Buzzards Bay Coalition Vice President of Watershed Protection Brendan Annett said the success of this project is critical to the residents of five towns.

“It supports multiple towns critically, and it’s important to public health to have clean drinking water for the sustainability of our community,” he said.

He said it also benefits the towns in other ways including protecting fish and wildlife habitats and protecting land for outdoor recreation including public access to the trails and hunting, with permanent conservation restrictions.

Instead of developing the land, the private landowner, Mahoney and Sons, agreed to sell the farm and forest land while maintaining a portion of the property as a vegetable farm.

“The property cannot be changed to development, but it allows the existing farm to continue,” Annett said.

Where did it all begin?

With protection of the drinking water supply from the underlying groundwater aquifer a top priority, Annett said the towns have a vested interest in protecting the area around the drinking water supply wells so it’s all part of a larger regional effort to protect hundreds of acres of contiguous open space.

He said it has been two years since the beginning of active work on this project, but the group of towns and conservation partners have been working together in the Mattapoisett River Valley for close to 20 years.

“Over that time, more than 2,000 acres of land have been protected in that area,” Annett said.

He said the partners have been working to identify where the most important pieces of land for conservation are in order to benefit the public drinking water supply resources and the other conservation values.

“The partnership has been working together for a long time and has completed a number of other projects together and keeps an eye on parcels that are threatened by development that would be important for conservation,” he said.

What the Mattapoisett River communities and Buzzards Bay Coalition do together

The Mattapoisett River Drinking Water District and the Mattapoisett River Valley Water Protection Advisory Committee are two organizations the towns created that continue to meet every month. The Buzzards Bay Coalition, having developed a supporting role, provides staff support and aids in efforts to help protect the land and overall water quality.

Annett said their approach to protecting land is to give landowners an alternative to pursuing residential development or solar projects on their land when the benefits of preserving the natural resource values are really high.

He said the changing climate makes it even more complicated to manage water resources, and this project is an important step in helping the towns adapt to the expected impacts of climate change.

“Protecting the drinking water resource becomes more challenging and even more important in the context of changing climate,” he said.

The project is made possible with funding from a Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Action Grant, town funding sources and private funding through the Buzzards Bay Coalition.

Who will own the land and Red Brick Farm?

The Mattapoisett Water Department will acquire the 103 acres of the project area north of Wolf Island Road, with a permanent conservation restriction held by other towns and the Coalition.

The Coalition will own 137 acres of the project area to the west and south of Long Plain Road, and each of the towns will hold a permanent conservation restriction over that parcel.

Trails will be expanded from the existing trail system within the Coalition’s Mattapoisett River Reserve to connect with this new area.

The farm buildings at Red Brick Farm will be owned by the Coalition and used for its programs and community uses.

Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Red Brick Farm bought for conservation and to protect drinking water