When Winchendon Town Manager James M. Kreidler was contacted in the spring about having town property surveyed for a natural gas pipeline, he said no.

"I did not and will not execute the document," he said. "Instead, I made them a counteroffer."

Mr. Kreidler told representatives of Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. he would prefer the pipeline run through already disturbed property, former rail lines and utility rights of way, which would reduce going through wetlands, conservation land and private property.

"No one's land would be taken," he said.

So far, the alternative has not been accepted and the town's permission has not been granted.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, has proposed running a natural gas pipeline from New York through Northern Massachusetts to Dracut. Among the communities it could pass through are Orange, Royalston, Winchendon, Ashby, Lunenburg and Townsend, with possible spurs into New Hampshire and to communities such as Fitchburg, depending on companies it contracts with.

Since the pipeline was announced in January, opposition has been growing, even as the exact route remains unclear.

Mr. Kreidler said one of his concerns is having the pipeline cut through protected property, which he said the town has worked hard with local land trusts and conservation organizations to preserve.

"Since I've been here, we've directly or as partners locked up over 1,500 acres," he said. "It would be counterproductive or counterintuitive to have done all that work and have the pipeline go through."

At the Winchendon annual town meeting, a request to sell town properties got tied up with the pipeline issue when opponents said they were concerned Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. might buy the property to help its efforts to install the line in the community. The sale was approved after voters were assured the property would not be sold to a utility.

Mr. Kreidler said the town expects to hold a special town meeting soon to consider a resolution in opposition to the pipeline.

The project has generated opposition in most towns affected, even if the exact route is unknown.

In Ashburnham, selectmen initially gave permission for a survey of town land. They later rescinded the permission.

Ashburnham Town Administrator Douglas C. Briggs said he just was notified that surveying will begin in town in about a month on private properties where permission was granted. For those who have not granted permission, including the town itself, if the pipeline company gets approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the developers could opt to take the land or land rights by eminent domain.

Mr. Briggs said he is not advocating bringing the pipeline into town, but also understands the need for cheaper and more plentiful energy supplies. He said there is not enough natural gas to supply demand.

"Energy requirements are going to continue to grow and grow," he said. "There is going to need to be something done with the energy crisis we have."

He said he does agree with one suggestion made that if the line has to go through the region, it would seem sensible to run it along existing roads.

"You could put a lot of pipe in roads pretty quick," he said.

Richard Wheatley, a spokesman for Kinder Morgan, said surveying for the pipeline is under way in Western Massachusetts. Before construction begins, the company must receive a certificate of public convenience and need from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Mr. Wheatley said using highway corridors could mean more land disturbance than in remote areas, especially in cases of high population density, safety concerns, environmental restrictions or protected habitats in the area. He said many issues involving highway use could prevent construction of the pipeline.

The communities in Northern Massachusetts are among the most rural in the state, and concern over land damage is driving opposition.

In Ashby, signs are out front of Town Hall indicating opposition to the pipeline. Voters approved a resolution in May opposing the project.

In Townsend, the Board of Selectmen recently voted to refuse permission to survey town-owned land for the project, and the Athol Conservation Commission also withdrew permission it earlier granted.

Private organizations have also come out in opposition to the pipeline, including Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, North Quabbin Energy, the Nashua River Watershed Association, Trustees of Reservations, Massachusetts Audubon Society, Massachusetts Sierra Club, Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition, Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions and the Nashoba Conservation Trust.

The project has received support from the Northeast Region of the Laborers International Union of North America, which issued a statement indicating support after the pipeline company signed a memorandum of understanding that work would be carried out by craft union laborers.

Opponents of the pipeline plan to walk across the state beginning in Richmond on July 6 and ending in Dracut on July 26. There will be a symbolic march across Boston Common to the Statehouse on July 30 to deliver petitions opposing the pipeline and to hold a rally.

Walks in Central Massachusetts are expected to take place in Orange on July 15, Athol on July 17, Royalston on July 17, Winchendon on July 18, Ashburnham on July 19, Ashby on July 20 and Townsend on July 21.

Marchers plan to bring a symbolic piece of gas pipe with them and pass it off from one town to another.

Mary J. Galat, a homeowner in Winchendon, is one of those who will be marching. She said she has been approached several times to have her land on Mellon Road surveyed for the pipeline and has refused every time she was asked. She said she has many concerns, including that she believes property owner rights are being ignored in the push to get what is being billed as inexpensive fuel for power plants and homes to the Northeast.

Ms. Galat said she received a letter in which she believes the company threatened to take her land rights by eminent domain if she did not agree to the survey. She said there are concerns about safety, damage to property, increased insurance rates, loss of property value and other issues. She said having a pipeline run through private property could be a violation of mortgages of the owners.

"We will get nothing from this pipeline other than liability," she said.

In Royalston, signs have been popping up all over the community, on roadsides, on hay bales and anywhere else opponents can place them.

Pat Worth of Gulf Road in Royalston has also refused to have her land surveyed and refused to sign. She said she and her husband are in their 70s and moved to Royalston to live in a nice quiet place in nature. Now she is worried that peace will be disrupted by the pipeline, which she said could cut a 50-foot corridor through their land.

Mrs. Worth said she has many concerns about the pipeline. A major one is that it is expected to cut through wetlands and pristine forests.

"It would go right through our 25-acre farm," she said. "It would destroy our property values. It has an opportunity to leak and the more we researched it we realized it would become obsolete because we're working on new kinds of energy."

Mrs. Worth said she and her husband fall asleep at night thinking about it and wake up in the morning still thinking about it.

"We are under attack," she said.

Mrs. Worth said 1,000 residents in the state will directly have their lives affected by the pipeline.

Contact George Barnes at george.barnes@telegram.com.