Town of Northfield OPEN SPACE AND RECREATION PLAN 2013 Prepared by the Northfield Open Space Committee Michael Barry Joanne McGee Susan Ross Kate Rossiter Jennifer Tufts Jerrold Wagener Reviewed by Franklin Regional Council of Governments Planning Department Table of Contents Section 1 – Plan Summary .................................................................................. 1-1 Section 2 – Introduction ...................................................................................... 2-1 A. Statement of Purpose ................................................................................................. 2-1 B. Planning Process and Public Participation ................................................................. 2-1 Section 3 – Community Setting ........................................................................... 3-1 A. Regional Context ....................................................................................................... 3-1 A.1 Natural Resources Context ........................................................................................... 3-2 A.2 Socio-Economic Context .............................................................................................. 3-3 B. History of the Community .......................................................................................... 3-4 C. Population Characteristics .......................................................................................... 3-6 C.1 Demographic Information ............................................................................................ 3-6 C.2 Employment Statistics .................................................................................................. 3-9 D. Growth and Development ........................................................................................ 3-11 D.1 Patterns and Trends .................................................................................................... 3-11 D.2 Infrastructure .............................................................................................................. 3-12 D.3 Long-term Development Patterns .............................................................................. 3-15 Regional Context Map ............................................................ 3-19 Northfield Zoning Map ........................................................... 3-21 Soils and Slopes Map ............................................................. 3-23 Section 4 – Environmental Inventory and Analysis .......................................... 4-1 A. Topography, Geology, and Soils ............................................................................... 4-2 A.1 Topography .................................................................................................................. 4-2 A.2 Geology ........................................................................................................................ 4-2 A.3 Soils .............................................................................................................................. 4-4 B. Landscape Character ................................................................................................... 4-6 C. Water Resources ......................................................................................................... 4-6 C.1 Watersheds ................................................................................................................... 4-6 C.2 Class A Waters ........................................................................................................... 4-12 C.3 Flood Hazard Areas .................................................................................................... 4-13 C.4 Wetlands ..................................................................................................................... 4-13 C.5 Potential Acquifers and Recharge Areas .................................................................... 4-15 C.6 Surface Water Reservoirs ........................................................................................... 4-16 C.7 Potential Sources of Drinking Water Supply Contamination ..................................... 4-17 D. Vegetation ................................................................................................................ 4-17 D.1 Forests ........................................................................................................................ 4-18 D.2 Unusual Natural Communities ................................................................................... 4-18 D.3 Main Street Trees ....................................................................................................... 4-21 D.4 Agricultural Land ....................................................................................................... 4-22 D.5 Rare, Threatened and Endangered Plant Species ....................................................... 4-22 E. Fisheries and Wildlife ............................................................................................... 4-23 E.1 General Description and Inventory of Wildlife and Wildlife Habitats ....................... 4-25 E.2 Rare, Threatened and Endangered Wildlife Species .................................................. 4-27 E.3 Conserving Northfield’s Biodiversity ......................................................................... 4-28 F. Scenic Resources and Unique Environments ............................................................ 4-30 G. Environmental Problems .......................................................................................... 4-36 G.1 Need for Reinforcement of Existing Regulations Through Education ...................... 4-36 G.2 Negative Impacts of Development in the Town and Region ..................................... 4-37 G.3 Protection of Drinking Water Supplies Against Contamination ................................ 4-38 G.4 Environmental Challenges ......................................................................................... 4-39 Water Resources Map ............................................................. 4-45 Core Habitat Map ................................................................... 4-47 Critical Natural Landscapes Map ........................................... 4-49 CAPS_IEI Map ....................................................................... 4-51 Scenic Resources and Unique Environments Map ................. 4-53 Conservation Priorities Map ................................................... 4-55 Section 5 - Inventory of Lands of Conservation and Recreation Interest ...... 5-1 A. Privately Owned Protected and Chapter 61 Land ...................................................... 5-4 A.1 Privately Owned Agricultural Land ............................................................................. 5-5 A.2 Privately Owned Forested Land ................................................................................. 5-11 B. Publicly Owned Protected Land ............................................................................... 5-15 B.1 Publicly Owned Open Space ...................................................................................... 5-15 B.2 Town Owned Land with Limited protection .............................................................. 5-18 C. Unprotected Lands of Conservation and Recreation Interest ................................... 5-19 C.1 GDF Suez/First Light Power ...................................................................................... 5-19 C.2 Northfield Mount Hermon .......................................................................................... 5-20 C.3 Greater Northfield Watershed Association ................................................................ 5-20 Protected Land and Chapter 61 Map ...................................... 5-21 Section 6 – Community Goals ............................................................................. 6-1 A. Description of Process ............................................................................................... 6-1 B. Statement of Open Space and Recreational Goals ..................................................... 6-1 Section 7- Analysis of Needs ................................................................................ 7-1 A. Summary of Natural Resource Protection Needs ...................................................... 7-1 A.1 Protection of Groundwater ........................................................................................... 7-1 A.2 Protection of Forests and Rare Wildlife ....................................................................... 7-2 A.3 Working Farm and Forest Land ................................................................................... 7-2 A.4 Balancing Development and Conservation .................................................................. 7-3 B. Summary of Community Needs ................................................................................. 7-4 B.1 Northfield Community Park ......................................................................................... 7-4 B.2 Access to Recreational Trails ....................................................................................... 7-5 B.3 Groups with Special Needs .......................................................................................... 7-5 C. Management Needs ....................................................................................................