$260,000 GRANT TO LIFT LAND PROTECTION EFFORTS IN MASSACHUSETTS
Duxbury— July, 2010
Working in partnership with Wildlands Trust, Southeastern Massachusetts’ regional land trust, Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust announced that it has been awarded $260,000 from the AmeriCorps program in support of the Massachusetts Land Initiative for Tomorrow (MassLIFT). Mount Grace Executive Director Leigh Youngblood described the new grant as “An opportunity to engage local communities in land conservation at a time of greater recognition of the importance of local food and healthy forests.”
Wildlands Trust will be the Southeastern Massachusetts coordinator for MassLIFT, a collaboration of seven regional conservation groups designed to meet the Commonwealth’s needs for land protection, including starting new conservation projects, stewardship of protected lands, outreach to the community, and service learning opportunities to engage young people in conservation. MassLIFT is modeled on a pilot project carried out by Mount Grace in 2008-2010 funded by the Massachusetts Commonwealth Corps program. Early results from that project included the establishment of new community gardens, trail adoptions by community groups, and new programs in schools to certify vernal pools.
Other partners include Franklin Land Trust, Greater Worcester Land Trust, Kestrel Trust, Nashua River Watershed Association, and Sudbury Valley Trustees. Each partner will host at least one AmeriCorps member and will provide staff support for the program. MassLIFT partners will also be raising money to fund the costs of supporting the program. Karen Grey, Wildlands Trust Executive Director said “We are excited about this new partnership as the Americorps members that will work with us will help increase our land protection and stewardship efforts throughout the region.”
The $260,000 grant provides stipends for twenty AmeriCorps volunteers who will serve for at least one year as full time Land Stewards, Outreach Coordinators, Regional Conservationists, or Service Learning Coordinators. Each position has different responsibilities and goals: Land Stewards monitor protected land to ensure that conservation agreements are followed; Outreach Coordinators work to involve community groups in conservation and to strengthen ties to the land; Regional Conservationists initiate and implement new conservation projects; and Service Learning Coordinators expand education and volunteer programs to bring young people into greater contact with the outdoors to learn about and assist with conservation, farming, and forestry.
MassLIFT aims to help AmeriCorps members develop skills necessary to carry out conservation projects in their communities, increase community participation in land protection, and lead to the conservation and stewardship of more Massachusetts land including community gardens, farms, working forests, trails, wetlands, and parks.
“As a volunteer Land Steward with Commonwealth Corps, I’ve put my education to work and gained hands on experience monitoring protected land for local trusts,” said current volunteer Alex Krofta, of his time with Mount Grace. “At the same time, I’ve learned new skills and gained an understanding of how conservation works in Massachusetts.”
Those interested in volunteering for land conservation with AmeriCorps in Massachusetts can contact Dee Robbins, Program Manager for MassLIFT at 978-248-2043 or robbins@mountgrace.org. Volunteers who want to focus on conservation in Southeastern Massachusetts can also contact Wildlands Trust at (781) 934-9018. AmeriCorps volunteers typically commit to either one or two years of full time service through the program, which also provides free health insurance and money for college after the volunteer completes the program successfully.
The volunteers will join 57,000 AmeriCorps members nationwide in service to their communities in support of the five national priorities laid out in the Serve America Act: education, healthy futures, clean energy and the environment, veterans, and economic opportunity. By engaging with volunteers around the state, MassLIFT will help the seven partner groups, along with participating town conservation boards and small land trusts, to protect land and water in towns they serve from the Berkshires to the Cape.