MassWoods

1960

The land was owned by a housing developer in the 1960’s. He went bankrupt and the land was purchased by a land speculator.

1990

Nancy Weiss, a retired breast cancer surgeon, was left an inheritance by her father in 1990. Later that year, she used the money to purchase the land for wildlife values.

1998

Nancy was interested in donating the land to The Nature Conservancy. They denied her gift because at the time, The Nature Conservancy was only interested in land inhabiting endangered species which this land had no record of.

2001

Nancy discussed selling the land to a children’s summer camp. The deal fell through in part because of the events of 9/11.

2003

The Nature Conservancy gets a new plan to manage land on the Westfield River watershed.

2004

Bill Toomey opened a new Nature Conservancy office in Westfield, Ma in 2004.

Nancy reconnected with The Nature Conservancy in 2004 with the help of a friend in Virginia that just so happened to work for the Nature Conservancy down there.

2005

The Nature Conservancy purchased the land from Nancy for $325,000 in which she donated back to the organization for future projects.

Seven years passed before this conservation deal came to fruition.