American Notes MASSACHUSETTS

Although 42 units were to be set aside for low-to-moderate-income tenants, the notion of erecting 139 condominiums in Henry David Thoreau's beloved Walden Woods riled conservationists in Massachusetts. Opposition sprang up as soon as developer Philip DeNormandie floated the proposal in 1986. Yet with the 25-acre site priced at $3.5 million, who could buy it for preserving? Nobody, it turned out, until Don Henley, formerly of the Eagles, got on the case.

Starting last April, Henley enlisted fellow singers Bonnie Raitt, Arlo Guthrie and Jimmy Buffett to help raise money, and by last week they had cooked up enough pro-preservation sentiment to inspire the Hearst Corp. to donate a $100,000 down payment on the historic spread. The Walden Woods Project will also pay $50,000 for the developer's agreement not to build on an adjacent 25-acre plot.

Besides coming up with the rest of the purchase price by the end of 1991, Henley and his colleagues face the daunting task of finding an alternative site for the affordable housing. Still, conservationists are optimistic.