Bill Morrison Celebrated for Land Protection in Wolcott

The Northern Rivers Land Trust celebrated their newest Wolcott easement on Sunday, July 27, 2025, and the weather didn’t deter hardy Vermonters interested in land conservation. The skies opened as two dozen intrepid people attended a celebration of of Bill Morrison’s easement on his 286 acres on Pond Brook Lane near Wolcott Pond.

Clad in rain gear, boots, and toting umbrellas in the pouring rain, NRLT members, trustees, and interested public learned about Bill’s 20-year history on the land. They munched pastries, half on the porch and half on the lawn, overlooking the open fields leading to a beautiful, rain-swept pond.

NRLT Chair Jack Travelstead thanked Bill for his two years of participation in the easement process: assessing the property’s conservation values, which are extremely high, and developing the easement in perpetuity to protect his land from development. Protection of the Morrison property includes its forested land, one mile of Wolcott Pond Brook, extensive wetlands, and a well-managed internal road system for timber management. 

Bill’s stories of pond birdlife, moose feeding and swimming in the pond, and black bear with multiple cubs gave clues to the richness of the wildlife connectivity on the property—and his love for it.

Travelstead identified one of the common misconceptions about conserving a property when landowners ask, “Why would I want to conserve my property, because when I do, I can’t do anything with it. It’s now protected, I can’t touch it.”

“That is not at all the case,” he said, citing possibilities like the wood products available from the timber, the potential for sugar maples to provide a commercial business, and pastures that can be hayed.

“The one thing you can’t do is develop the property. So that Walmart that might end up down there, it’s not going to happen. The property is protected,” he said. 

Conditions of the easement are upheld in perpetuity, he said. “The land trust will continue to monitor the property on a yearly basis, so we’ll be knocking on the future owner’s door, saying we’re here to walk the property to make sure the neighbors have’t encroached or some illegal harvesting is taking place. That monitoring goes on forever.”

When asked whether types of logging is restricted, Travelstead said sustainable logging outlined in a forestry management plan is permitted. “If the state approves the plan, then NRLT approves the plan,” he said, noting that cutting cordwood for personal use can happen without a management plan.

Morrison identified another concern that he has fielded. He said people can be nervous that an easement might mean public access. He said he determines who has access because it’s still private property.”

Travelstead said NRLT is often looking at properties with 25 acres or more, but some smaller parcels may have special features like a bog or a fen that merit protection. He also said a smaller parcel’s connectivity to a larger protected property might mean that it is important to conserve.

Morrison remembered his early impression of the surrounding forest, which had been heavily logged professionally for the previous 20 to 30 years. He said the woods “looked to me like the forest primeval with the murmuring pines and the hemlocks. It looked like an ancient forest.”

When his forester Luke Hardt offered two options for a hike on the old farm roads, the hikers chose the northern path in an area that continues to be logged under the current 10-year management plan. Hard placed the Morrison property with its pristine water quality in the upper reaches of the Lamoille River watershed near other conserved properties. Numerous springs feed basin topography in the upland area, he said, including a number of springs apparent on Morrison land during the hike.

Hardt also provided an overview of the timber management plans for the property, particularly the ongoing plan to create an uneven-aged forest on this former agricultural land. Hikers witnessed a mix of forest types, heights, and diameters along an access road running parallel to the property’s major wetland, including a no-cut zone that protects the wetland.

Interested landowners should look for more upcoming celebrations as NRLT trustees complete several easements now underway in its service area. Contact Chair Jack Travelstead at 802-472-3332 for information about conservation easements or contact us here.