HOLDEN — Holden has added some to the conservation restriction covering 14.7 acres in Worcester.
The 15.5 acre Cooks Brook Headwaters Conservation Restriction hinged on the Jan. 8 vote by selectmen that applies to just under an acre in Holden, Greater Worcester Land Trust Executive Director Colin Novick said.
“It’s an important parcel of land which has been designated a critical area since 1987,” Novick said.
It is part of land in a Worcester development that abuts extensive conservation land.
Worcester had already approved the conservation restriction on its portion of 14.7 acres, Novick said. The property is off Salisbury Street, part of the former Higgins Estate.
It adds to conservation protection affecting hundreds of acres from Worcester to Paxton.
The land abuts White Oak Land Conservation Society’s Holbrook Forest and Cooks Woods.
Part of the former Higgins estate’s 115 acres, the parcel is connected to the Four-Town Greenway and 1,200 acres from Winter Hill in Holden to Route 56 in Paxton, Novick said in describing the extensive areas being protected.
“It’s one big contiguous network of open space and trails,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure it connects to Holden and that folks from all four communities are able to navigate on hiking trails in these areas.”
He said it also connects to a project under way in Holden: Spring Hill Farm, with 113 acres at the end of Chaffin Road.
“This is all part of the same project,” Novick said before the Holden selectmen approved the restriction at their meeting.
