The town of Scarborough and the Scarborough Land Trust have permanently conserved nearly 40 acres of the Willey Recreation Area on Tenney Lane.
The area includes ball fields, footpaths, woods and meadows, as well as substantial wetlands and a habitat restoration project for the endangered New England cottontail rabbit, according to a news release from Kathy Mills, executive director of the trust.
The property is next to Benjamin Farm, a 135-acre stretch of fields, woods and wetlands on Pleasant Hill Road that the trust bought for $2.5 million on Dec. 12 using $2 million from the town’s Land Bond Fund.
The land trust closed on the Willey project late last month. The town gave the trust more than 26 acres and a conservation easement to protect an additional 13 acres.
The Willey project helped the town save money, according to Mills. Construction of the new Wentworth Intermediate School impacted wetlands, so by permanently protecting most of the Willey property, the town avoided about $200,000 in wetland mitigation costs.
Founded in 1977, the trust has conserved more than 1,300 acres and created trail networks on four properties that are open to the public year-round: Libby River Farm, Fuller Farm, Sewell Woods and Broadturn Farm, which is home to one of the largest organic farms in the region.
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