Harwich Conservation Trust launches Six Ponds-Hawksnest Woods Project

Harwich Conservation Trust’s (HCT) Six Ponds-Hawksnest Woods Project received a big boost with a $50,000 grant from the Cape Cod Foundation’s Priscilla Alden Sears Memorial Fund.

The grant was awarded to HCT in support of a $450,000 fundraising effort to help HCT secure the purchase of a 2.3-acre woodland parcel on Round Cove Road in Harwich. The property, with 300 feet of road frontage, could serve as a future trailhead for convenient access to explore an extensive network of trails in Hawksnest State Park and the town’s Six Ponds District. Please consider a donation to preserve this land. 

The Six Ponds District is a large and ecologically-significant watershed area south of Rt. 6 that contributes ground water to a constellation of six kettle ponds as well as to town water supply wells serving thousands of households. The 2.3-acre parcel is also within the Pleasant Bay watershed.

The $400,000 fundraising campaign includes the price of the property and the cost of creating a new trailhead and parking gateway to an adjacent 400-acre conservation assemblage comprised of Hawksnest State Park as well as town conservation land and HCT protected lands.

At more than 200 acres, Hawksnest State Park makes up a significant portion of the Six Ponds District. Decades ago, the state had plans to create more than 160 campsites at Hawksnest, as well as two swimming beaches, parking lots and a recreation hall. The state’s campground plans never came to fruition, leaving the park in a more natural state, with scenic woodland trails and pristine ponds. HCT’s  2.3-acre fundraising campaign will make it possible to reach those trails through a future parking area and trailhead.

To allow Harwich Conservation Trust the time needed to raise funds for the project, the $330,000 parcel was recently acquired by an interim buyer, The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trust, Inc. (The Compact). In this buy-and-hold capacity, The Compact purchased the property from St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, located at the corner of Route 137 and Round Cove Road in Harwich. Harwich Conservation Trust has until December to raise the land preservation funds.

‘Blessed by this partnership’

Proceeds from the sale of the land are helping the church offset their recent purchase of a parsonage in Brewster to provide housing for their pastor and his family.

“We received several bids to purchase the land from builders,” said church member Jim Merriam. “However, the bid from the Harwich Conservation Trust aligned perfectly with our congregation’s values of land preservation and public access to open space. Thus, the Church Council’s unanimous vote was to sell for a conservation future and the congregation feels blessed by this partnership.”

Rev. Christephor Gilbert, Pastor of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church sees the partnership with HCT as a way to celebrate the relationship between religion and nature, a concept known as eco-theology.

“Here was evidence of an active-practical spirituality that affirmed the Christian call to love all our neighbors – including land, animal, water, sky – and not just a sales agreement,” he said. “This opportunity invites a deepened relationship to the Trust and the land, and I look forward to the fruits of this partnership.”

Cape Cod Foundation supports community

Established in 1989, the Cape Cod Foundation is dedicated to strengthening Cape Cod for current and future generations through thoughtful community leadership and strategic philanthropy.

By the end of 2025, the foundation had distributed more than $113 million back into the community in the form of grants and scholarships since inception. Their Priscilla Alden Sears Memorial Fund is used for preservation of open space and wildlife habitats and to provide care for injured or displaced animals and birds.

Protecting wildlife habitat and water quality

In a letter of support for the Six Ponds-Hawksnest Woods Project, Town of Harwich Conservation Administrator Amy Usowski wrote that “the acquisition of this property will help protect water quality within the watershed to Pleasant Bay, drinking water quality for the Towns of Harwich and Chatham, and will help protect vital plant and wildlife habitat within the buffer to Olivers Pond, providing important areas of connectivity for species that move between habitats.”

“Harwich Conservation Trust is grateful to the Cape Cod Foundation for their generous support to launch this important land-saving effort that will yield so many community benefits,” said Michael Lach, HCT’s Executive Director. “And we are thankful to everyone at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church for the opportunity to become the next stewards of this beautiful land. There’s still a lot of fundraising to do and we hope the community will rally behind us. We are excited about the potential for creating future walking access to the miles of trails in the Six Ponds District.”

We invite you to make a local, lasting difference by donating to this exciting new land-saving opportunity. To donate, please click here.

—Sign up for HCT eNews, a great way to stay in the loop about exciting HCT events, guided walks and other interesting news.

—Your tax-deductible contributions help fulfill the mission of the Harwich Conservation Trust to preserve land that protects woods, water, wildlife and our shared quality of life. And your land-saving financial support helps us preserve beautiful properties that can become stellar trail destinations. Find out how to donate by clicking here.