The Putney Mountain Association (PMA) was established in 1946 by a small group of Putney residents who wished to assure that Putney Mountain, a popular local lookout, remained undeveloped and accessible to the public.  They purchased a 45-acre tract including the lookout and surrounding woodlands lying just above the Putney Town Forest, which had been donated to the Town in the thirties. In the 1960s, the uplands began to experience development, as houses with spectacular views began to appear on the crest, limiting public access.  In the early nineties PMA, in collaboration with the newly-formed Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association to the north,  became more proactive in conserving undeveloped lands along the ridge.  Its Board was enlarged, a membership drive begun, and a strategy developed to conserve and enlarge its holdings.

Currently, membership has risen to over 800. With generous private and public assistance PMA acquired additional parcels of ridge-land – four by purchase and one by donation – raising the total acreage from the original 45 to now over 900. All were placed under conservation easements held jointly by the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and the Vermont Land Trust, assuring that they will remain forever a protected wildlife habitat with managed, low-impact human access.  A Stewardship Endowment helps assure future organizational stability. Through the acquisition of two significant easements, and two passage agreements, PMA lands are now connected with the Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association’s lands to the north, establishing the Windmill Ridge Nature Reserve and Trail facilitating the development of the 14-mile Ridge Trail. It has also created a major protected, ridge-line wildlife habitat corridor, a resource much needed in southern Vermont, where valley development encroaches on wildlife migration corridors. In league with local Audubon Societies our Association sponsors the annual Fall Putney Mountain Hawk Watch which provides valuable scientific information about raptor migration patterns. In cooperation with the Putney School, PMA recently completed a self-guided Nature Trail in the summit area. Trails have also been extended south into Dummerston, and will soon connect with Prospect Hill, and eventually may even reach Black Mountain and beyond.