Home » News » Key W.D. Cowls forestland protected in $3.3M deal Nine years after completing the largest contiguous private land conservation arrangement in the state’s history, additional W.D. Cowls forestland totaling 2,038 acres, between North Amherst and the Quabbin Reservoir, is being permanently protected. Last week, state officials announced the creation of the Walter Cowls Jones Working Forest, which supplements the 3,486-acre Paul C. Jones Working Forest and will serve to protect water supplies locally and for Boston, preserve extensive wildlife habitat and promote continued production of timber. The conservation restriction was purchased for $3.34 million, or $100,000 less than the appraised value, with public funding coming from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, U.S. Forest Legacy Program and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game — which will hold the conservation restriction — and private funds raised by Kestrel Land Trust from the John T. and Jane A. Wiederhold Foundation and other philanthropists.