Dilger Conservation Area (Northfield)

Located north and south of Warwick road in Northfield, approximately 600 feet west of the Northfield/Warwick town line, It is difficult to access and parking is limited.

The 14-acre Dilger Conservation Area lies on a steep, north-facing hillside, the southern wall of the gorge of Mill Brook.  Some exceptionally large yellow birch are found near the property boundary.  Other tree species present include sugar maple, beech, and hemlock (with no signs as yet of hemlock woolly adelgid).  Nannyberry, witch hazel, and birch saplings are the main inhabitants of the subcanopy.  The last timber harvest, approximately 50 years ago, removed a majority of the mostly hemlock overstory and released the current overstory of mostly early successional species.  

Drainage flows north off of Great Hemlock Hill into Mill Brook, which flows westerly off the property.  Mill Brook drains into the Connecticut River.  The property is important wildlife habitat, due to Mill Brook and the still dense hemlock cover, and is part of an exceptionally large area of relatively undisturbed forestland.  

The conservation area is open to the public for non-motorized outdoor recreation including hiking, bird watching, nature study, and hunting.