Camp Wing Conservation Area (Duxbury)

A view of the marsh at Camp Wing.

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I continued my exploration of Duxbury’s open space parcels this month with a trip to Camp Wing Conservation Area on Franklin Street. Initially I was really excited about exploring this large (353-acre) parcel, until I glanced at the map and saw that most of it is wetland. It turns out that only about a fifth of it contains walking trails.

This isn’t such a bad thing. Conservation land that’s not accessible to humans is ideal habitat for wildlife, as it gives it room to roam, so to speak, without the threat of human impact. In the Camp Wing Conservation Area, a two-mile stretch of the South River, along with a variety of marsh and swamp lands, provides a sanctuary for all sorts of birds and critters.

The Town of Duxbury has put maps of its conservation lands online, along with general information about what one can expect to find there. Even after writing this nature column for eighteen-plus years, I feel like I’m just getting started with my knowledge of ecology. So just glancing at the Camp Wing map, I learned a few things.

The Camp Wing Conservation Area features four different types of wetland. One is what’s known as stream-side marsh – the grassy sort of wetland favored by migratory birds. The marsh borders both the South River and its tributary, Phillips Brook. There is also a fair amount of red maple swamp, filled with – you guessed it – red maple trees. And there is also some shrub swamp – where plant species such as blueberry, alder and sweet pepperbush dominate. And finally, there is some fen – a wetland that’s more mossy than the others. (In this case, it’s a former cranberry bog).

Camp Wing itself has been around for generations. It first opened in 1937 as a summer camp for 55 children from the Roxbury and Charlestown Boys’ Clubs. It was named in honor of Daniel Wing, a longtime member of the Board of Overseers of the Boys’ Clubs of Boston. Now known as Crossroads for Kids, the establishment continues to offer programs for at-risk children from all over Massachusetts. In 1998 the camp sold most of its undeveloped land to the Town of Duxbury.

Before that, the properties that make up the camp and the conservation area were owned by the Keene Family. And before that, dating back to the arrival of European settlers in the 1600s, Camp Wing was part of Duxbury’s Common Lands -- to the community for woodcutting, hunting and fishing.

At one point in time, there was a mill in the northern corner of the property. The dam is still there – visible from River Street. The uplands were very likely used as farmland – many of the stone walls have survived. In the last century, there were also cranberry bogs on site, operated by the Consolidated Cape Cod Cranberry Company. These were shut down when Route 3 was constructed in the 1960s. The land was also logged through the end of the 20^th century.

While visible from various vantage points in Marshfield and Humarock, the South River is largely hidden in the town of Duxbury. Yet the river is sourced there, and several miles of its 12-mile course run through the western part of town.

In the Camp Wing Conservation Area, you might catch a glimpse of the river, especially from the observation deck that looks out over the former cranberry bog. You can access it from the East Loop trail. There’s quite a bit to see there – marsh and swamp, rails and bitterns . . . and also Route 3.

The trails are accessible from Franklin Street, where there is a small parking area adjacent to the road. There are two loop trails (West and East), connected by an additional trail. These are all in the wooded upland portion of the property. All of the trails are marked.

by Kezia Bacon, Correspondent

May 2013

Kezia Bacon's articles appear courtesy of the North and South Rivers Watershed Association, a local non-profit organization devoted to the preservation, restoration, maintenance and conservation of the North and South Rivers and their watershed. For membership information and a copy of their latest newsletter, contact NSRWA at (781) 659-8168 or visit www.nsrwa.org. To browse 15 years of Nature (Human and Otherwise) columns, visit http://keziabaconbernstein.blogspot.com

Duxbury’s Lansing Bennett Forest

The Lansing Bennett Forest is one of many local conservation areas with significant tree damage.  But don't let it stop you from visiting!

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February’s blizzard, and the several springtime windstorms that followed it, wreaked havoc on our local woodlands, as well as our own yards. Even now, months after Nemo, private tree companies are still very busy cleaning up the mess. But due to their significant acreage, our open space areas may face the biggest challenge. Over the past few months, I have received messages from most of our local conservation groups, explaining that the clean-up process in our forests and fields will take time, and urging walkers and hikers to use care.

You’ve probably seen what it takes to remove a single fallen tree from the average yard. Imagine dealing with close to a hundred trees . . . in a remote area with little or no truck access.

This challenge was abundantly evident when I walked last month in the Lansing Bennett Forest in Duxbury. It was my first visit to this 344-acre parcel, a peaceful woodland intersected by Phillips Brook, a tributary to the South River.

The property, originally dubbed Trout Farm, was set aside as conservation land in 1970, when the Town of Duxbury purchased it from the Lot Phillips Company, a Hanover-based outfit that manufactured wooden boxes. The 1.8-mile brook is home to two varieties of trout: brown, and wild brook. It is also the historic location of Howland’s Mill -- founded in 1830 – which was a grist-, and then a sawmill. In later years, there was a trout farm on site.

More recently the name of the property was changed, to honor Dr. Lansing Bennett, who served as chair of the Duxbury Conservation Commission from 1967 to 1979. Dr. Bennett was a tireless advocate for open space, and during his tenure, the Duxbury acquired over 1200 acres.

Access to the Lansing Bennett Forest is on Union Bridge Road, where there is a small parking area parallel to the street. Cross, Summer and Franklin Streets mark the property’s other boundaries. The parcel is also home to a section of the Bay Circuit Trail, 200 miles of walking paths that stretch in a wide semi-circle from Plum Island in Newburyport to Bay Farm on the Duxbury-Kingston line.

While there is a map posted on site, I strongly recommend downloading and printing the area’s property guide, which is available on the Town of Duxbury’s website. The walking paths within the Lansing Bennett Forest follow a loose circle, but there are also many spur trails that provide foot access to and from the perimeter. Bringing a map makes for a much less confusing trip.

The property is mostly upland, a forest comprised primarily of pine and oak.  The trails trace the hills and valleys of kettle holes, a common landscape feature created long ago by receding glaciers. Down by Phillips Brook, you’ll find a maple swamp, with boardwalks traversing the wetter areas. The section of trail that runs directly along the brook is quite lovely.

Being a pine and oak forest, in the section of Duxbury hit hardest by the Blizzard of 2013, the Lansing Bennett Forest has seen better days. Trees are down everywhere. My visit involved scrambling over – and climbing under – numerous fallen trunks and branches. It was actually pretty fun, but if I hadn’t been in the mood for such a rugged experience, I would have had to turn back fairly soon into my walk.

I wasn’t able to connect with Duxbury Conservation to confirm this, but it is very likely that they will attend to the fallen trees soon enough. In the meantime, if you don’t mind a little “adventure,” the Lansing Bennett Forest is definitely worth a visit.

by Kezia Bacon, Correspondent
April 2013 

Kezia Bacon's articles appear courtesy of the North and South Rivers Watershed Association, a local non-profit organization devoted to the preservation, restoration, maintenance and conservation of the North and South Rivers and their watershed. For membership information and a copy of their latest newsletter, contact NSRWA at (781) 659-8168 or visit www.nsrwa.org. To browse 15 years of Nature (Human and Otherwise) columns, visit http://keziabaconbernstein.blogspot.com