Recent Success Stories
Hoyt Farm/Silver Brook Farm
In June 2025, Greenbelt successfully acquired Hoyt Farm in Merrimac, one of the largest remaining unprotected farms in the Merrimack Valley. Spanning more than 120 acres of working agricultural land and forest, the property will be renamed Silver Brook Farm, honoring its original colonial name and the stream that runs through it.
DeNormandie Woods/Long Hill
Greenbelt successfully purchased 330 acres in Gloucester and Manchester at the end of 2024. This acquisition safeguards vital natural habitats, a well-established trail network, and essential watershed lands, ensuring they will remain preserved and protected from development — now and for generations to come.
Viburnum Woods
In 2024, Greenbelt and the City of Haverhill partnered to permanently protect 111 acres of forest, trails, and stream habitat on the northern slope of Parsonage Hill. This important conservation effort linked a previously landlocked Greenbelt parcel to a new access point, creating public entry to Viburnum Woods — named for the native mapleleaf viburnums that flourish in its understory.
Evergreen Farm
Greenbelt conserved 32 acres of wildlife habitat, farmland, and forested uplands at Evergreen Farm in West Newbury in 2024. Once a beloved Christmas tree farm, the property was preserved to maintain its legacy as agricultural land while protecting crucial habitat for the critically endangered Blanding’s Turtle.
Mount Hunger – Lyasis Pond
In 2024, Greenbelt acquired 90 acres in Essex and Gloucester from the Pennoyer family, protecting vital wildlife habitat, a tributary to the Great Marsh, and public access to a popular trail network. The acquisition also expanded protected forestland, safeguarding Gloucester’s drinking water and connecting 600-plus acres of conserved land.
Sawmill Brook
Greenbelt, in partnership with the Town of West Newbury, conserved 32 acres adjacent to the Mill Pond Conservation Area in 2023. This land acquisition enhances the trail network connecting Mill Pond and Pipestave Hill, protects the water quality of Mill Pond, and safeguards vital wildlife habitat, wetlands, and scenic upland forests — all critical for climate change resilience.