In 2017 the Guilford Conservation Commission began working with naturalist Patti Smith of the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center to develop a Natural Resources Inventory (NRI), one of our chief Actions assigned in Guilford’s 2015 Town Plan. Our goal was to locate and describe areas of importance for maintaining the natural heritage of Guilford.
Patti began her work in 2018 by studying existing state maps of Guilford’s geology, physical features, land cover, forest patterns, and surface waters. She then identified parcels in Guilford that would be likely to support these features. The Conservation Commission contacted landowners, and where permission was given, Patti visited these parcels over several years to look for and record important habitat features. She focused on locating smaller-scale significant and rare natural communities that are easy to miss just looking at maps. She also identified habitat features that are critical to wildlife such as remote oak and beech stands, vernal pools, undeveloped stream corridors, and grass and shrubland habitats.
Patti’s Natural Resources Inventory includes maps of Guilford’s forest blocks, wildlife crossings, wetlands, and natural communities and detailed descriptions of significant natural features in 10 areas of Guilford. The inventory, completed in 2023, is a snapshot of Guilford today, a baseline for measuring changes that may occur over the coming years as we face the challenges of development and climate change. It is a tool for identifying areas to consider as highest priorities for conservation. It is also where residents can learn more about their own land and neighborhoods. We hope it will serve citizens and town planners in deciding how to make best use of our most valued asset—the land we live on, so it will be here to benefit future generations.
Printed copies of the Natural Resources Inventory are available for loan at the Guilford Free Library and at the library cart at the town office. NEW: printed copies are available to purchase for $20 at various locations in Guilford, including the Town Office.
The Natural Resources section of the Guilford Town Plan is another source of information about Guilford’s forests and wildlife and its agricultural, water, air and mineral resources. It includes the visions, goals, policies and actions we have agreed upon as a town to conserve and protect them for future generations.