The Nature Conservancy has finalized the $3.5 million purchase of Glebe Mountain in Windham and Londonderry. The former private hunting preserve was once the proposed location of a 27-turbine wind farm, but will now be permanently conserved and opened for public use.

The Conservancy bought the 3,500-acre parcel from Ron McGraw, of Plainfield, New Jersey, who had assembled 26 parcels of land on the mountain over the last 25 years, via Bobby Waite, a real estate agent with Sotheby’s International Realty in Londonderry, to create a private hunting reserve for himself and his extended family.

Jim Shallow, director of strategic conservation initiatives, said the land was appraised at $5.2 million, but McGraw put it on the market for $3.99 million in 2017. He ultimately agreed to sell to the Conservancy for $3.55 million.

“This is a unique opportunity,” Shallow said. “In Vermont, we don’t have very many parcels of this size, so it provides an opportunity for us to protect this forest at middle and higher elevation.”

He said this is especially important in the long term, to allow for future movement of species as climate change intensifies.

Eve Frankel, director of communications for the Conservancy, said certain species are moving 11 miles north and 30 feet up in elevation each decade. Bears and songbirds have made Glebe Mountain home.

At one point, McGraw was working with Catamount Energy Corp. and Marubeni Power on plans to lease parts of the land for a 27-turbine wind farm, but after a negative reception locally, the companies pulled the project in 2006.

Because McGraw’s land was divided into parcels, a buyer could have developed the property without going through Act 250, Vermont’s land use and development law. Now that the land is under Conservancy management, it will be open for the public to hunt, fish, birdwatch, hike and snowshoe. Some mountain biking may be permitted; camping, however, will be prohibited.

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The Conservancy has raised $1.5 million in donations for the project. Shallow said the remaining money will come from a variety of sources. He said they will borrow money from an internal fund that will be paid back over time. The state has expressed interest in applying some money to the project. Proceeds from properties the Conservancy has been selling for conservation use in Northern Vermont that will go toward the project.

A public comment period is currently underway as the Nature Conservancy looks for feedback on the future management of the Glebe parcel. Several meetings have been planned for residents of Windham and Londonderry in May.