Mallards and wood ducks erupt from the quite waters of the beaver pond --a site worth seeing as they whirl past the standing dead snags of trees bleached silver by the sun. Cool spring waters emerge out of the limestone bedrock entering the pond. Here, longtail salamanders, a state threatened species, hide beneath moss covered rocks. The surrounding forest of northern oak, sugar maples and Canadian hemlock supports a truly diverse understory of ferns, wildflowers, shrubs and herbs. The "sweet" limestone soil provides a rich and lush environment for many state endangered and rare plants. The rocky ridges within the forest are traveled by black bear and bobcat. Once farms and rural home sites, the fields, abandoned long ago, are identified only by the stone walls that marked them. Locals tell the stories of the people and families that lived here and enjoyed the beauty of the place. Nancy Castleman, Helen Winslow- Roundtree, Eloise Lenhardt: it might be said these women homesteaded here and later saw to it that the land they owned would be protected forever. The forgotten town of Kalarama, even then just a cluster of two or three homes, is now only stone foundations. Recently, with the help of The Green Acres Program, a large natural spring at Kalarama and the old grist mill site on Belchers Creek was added to the preserve.