Press Release: Mount Grace Helps Conserve Swift River Retrievers, Protecting a Generations-Old Sporting Tradition in Templeton
TEMPLETON — Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust is advancing a conservation project that does something rare in Massachusetts: permanently protecting land not just as open space, but as an active, working landscape dedicated to training competition retrievers.
The project will conserve 44 acres at Swift River Retrievers, owned and operated for more than 20 years by professional dog trainer Buck Shope. The soon-to-be protected fields, forests, and ponds have been carefully managed to train hunting retrievers—dogs that require large, clean, and distraction-free spaces where they can run, swim, and work at distance in realistic field conditions.
“Hunting with a dog was my gateway to becoming a hunter,” says Emma G. Ellsworth, Executive Director at Mount Grace. “I fell in love with the dog first, and then the sport. This land conservation project reflects that bond—bringing together a shared love of land and dogs while connecting future generations of sportsmen and women to both.”
Hunting with a dog was my gateway to becoming a hunter. I fell in love with the dog first, and then the sport. This land conservation project reflects that bond—bringing together a shared love of land and dogs while connecting future generations of sportsmen and women to both.
An Increasingly Rare Category of Land Use
Across Massachusetts and New England, professional retriever training grounds are rapidly disappearing. Public lands are increasingly crowded, leash-restricted, and can be unsafe for serious dog work. “Safety always comes first,” says Buck Shope, owner of Swift River Retrievers. “Most people don’t realize what serious retriever training requires from the land. On my grounds, there’s no broken glass to cut a dog’s pad—no barbed wire, rocks, or stumps hidden in tall grass or cover, and there are no groundhog holes a dog could step in and break a leg.”
Development pressure has eliminated many of the large, intact parcels required for field training. Swift River Retrievers represents a vanishing category of land use—one that cannot simply relocate or adapt to smaller or fragmented spaces.
This conservation project ensures the land remains clean, safe, free from urban hazards, and large enough for advanced retriever work. While the core training grounds will remain a working landscape, the broader protected area contributes to clean water, wildlife habitat, and public recreation opportunities in the Swift River watershed.
Building on a Proven Conservation Legacy
Through a partnership between Mount Grace, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, and Buck Shope, two parcels totaling 127 acres have been permanently protected. In 2024, Shope partnered with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to permanently protect 83 acres of adjacent forest, now part of a Wildlife Management Area open to public hunting and recreation. The current project completes that vision by protecting the core 44 acres of training grounds that make Swift River Retrievers possible.
Together, these efforts create a connected conservation landscape that supports wildlife, water resources, public access, and working sporting traditions. “This property has been a labor of love since I purchased it in 1997,” says Shope. “Knowing it’s protected and will continue to be available for the retriever community is fulfilling for me.”
Knowing it’s protected and will continue to be available for the retriever community is fulfilling for me.
Strong Support from the Sporting Community
More than $45,000 in project funding has already been raised from public supporters, including a matching grant from the Worcester County League of Sportsmen, the project’s largest gift to date. Their support reflects a shared belief that conservation must include the people and practices that have long cared for the land.
“The sportsmen and women of Massachusetts, like those in other states, should have the opportunity to train their animals at facilities like this for perpetuity,” says Ron Amidon, Chairman of the Worcester County League of Sportsmen's Clubs Lands Committee. “The permanent protection of this incredible property in Templeton is a first step towards achieving this goal.”
A New Model for Conservation
Held by Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, the conservation restriction will permanently protect the property while explicitly allowing retriever training and hunting-related use consistent with conservation values.
“For us, this project exemplifies how land trusts can adapt to meet today’s conservation needs,” says Emma Ellsworth. “Protecting habitat and the human traditions tied to it go hand in hand.”