Road’s End Wildlife Sanctuary is located at the end of Corbett Road, a dirt road in the small Hampshire County town of Worthington, situated between Northampton and Pittsfield.
The Road's End property used to be used for farmland.It really is at the road’s end.
Road’s End Wildlife Sanctuary is located at the end of Corbett Road, a dirt road in the small Hampshire County town of Worthington, situated between Northampton and Pittsfield.
Once farmland that was heavily lumbered, the property is an example of land “coming back to the forest,” says Ronald E. Wolanin, central-west regional property director for Massachusetts Audubon, which owns and manages the land. “You can see how the farmland reverts back to forest.”
For example, pine trees are growing in what were once fields. And, cellar hole on the property is a “great vernal pool” for spotted salamanders and wood frogs, Wolanin notes.
Fields, forest and wetlands make up the landscape at Road’s End, where visitors also might see signs of black bear on American beech trees, ground scrapings of wild turkeys or deer and gnawing by beavers. “You never know what you might see for wildlife,” Wolanin said.
The various habitats attract woodland, edge and wetland birds, as well as the occasional raptor. Bird boxes in the fields make good nesting spots for tree swallows and blue birds.
“You feel like you’re more out in the middle of nowhere,” Wolanin said. “It’s quiet, no noise pollution.”
The sanctuary, located on 190 acres, features two loop trails through forested tracts. One, the half-mile Nancy Weiss Trail, is named for the person who donated the land about 15 years ago; the other is the quarter-mile Brookside Trail. Trails used to be longer, but beaver activity and a beaver pond where once there was probably a meadow necessitated shorter trails, according to Wolanin.
Picnicking is allowed: “Bring your lunch and picnic where you want,” Wolanin said. There are no picnic tables, however.