The Shapiro Conservation Easement

In December of 2007 Ira B. Shapiro and Jacqueline Dedell granted a conservation easement on 64.164 acres on Warren Hill Road, adjacent to Route #45. The property was originally part of a larger parcel formerly owned by Ex-Governor Abraham Rubicoff. The land lies partly in Warren and partly in Cornwall.

The property contains 1700 feet of brook that flows from the Perkins Swamp and an important Palustrine or marsh habitat.

There are approximately 23 acres of open grassland fields in three compartments populated by warm-season grasses such as bluestem, Timothy and Kentucky bluegrass, which provide habitat for a plethora of snow buntings, nuthatches, cedar waxwings, robins and northern Cardinals, while turkey vultures hover overhead.

Hedgerows outline the fields, which are mowed to maintain the integrity of the grasses. The fields are surrounded by white ash, black oak, black cherry, northern red oak, sugar maple and eastern white pines along with groupings of eastern red cedar.

Squirrels and other small mammals serve as targets for birds of prey, as do small snakes and rodents which support the American Kestrel, a declining species of falcon.