Brewster Trust To Fundraise For Ellis Property Acquisition

BREWSTER – The Brewster Conservation Trust hopes to secure the remaining funding needed for the acquisition of a two-acre parcel within the Herring River watershed.

The trust is looking to privately raise $25,000 needed to close on the Ellis parcel, located between the Long Pond Woodlands and the Sea Camps pond property. The acquisition would link just over 100 acres of protected conservation land between the three properties.

“If you look at that map, this parcel is sort of a missing key in the middle of a lot of land that the town of Brewster and the Brewster Conservation Trust own,” said Charlie Sumner, the trust’s president. “Over 30 years we’ve been acquiring land in this area, and the obvious reason is much of it is in the Herring River watershed.”

In May, voters at this year’s annual town meeting authorized spending $275,000 in support of purchasing the property. If and when the acquisition is completed, the town would own the property. The trust, meanwhile, would hold a conservation restriction on the parcel.

“The town will still own it and be responsible for the stewardship of it, but with the conservation restriction, it just outlines prohibited activities and allowable activities,” said Amy Henderson, the trust’s executive director. “We’re going to monitor the property to make sure it’s being held to the standards identified in the conservation restriction.”

In a press release, the trust said that with the purchase, the town “would expand hiking trails and enhance passive recreational enjoyment” on the property. It could also allow for “stormwater treatment enhancements on Besse Cartway,” according to the release.

Henderson said the trust will go about raising the $25,000 through private donations. That includes $1,000 that has already been received from the Brewster Ponds Coalition. She said while the town is looking to close on the property by June 30 of next year, the trust is hoping to wrap up its fundraising for the Ellis property by the end of 2026.

“Ideally we can raise it rather quickly, because we’re going to be launching a few other campaigns,” she said. “With this being a smaller amount, our goal really would be to get this done by the end of this year so we can focus on other things.”

“We have a very supportive community of interest in Brewster,” Sumner said. “We’ve had a lot of success.”

The Ellis property also partially sits in a Zone II watershed protection area, making its conservation a vital part in helping protect the town’s drinking water, Sumner noted.

“In the end, there could be a house out there, which would be unfortunate because it’s such an unbroken piece of woodlands.”