What’s New at Wildlands
Chainsaw Training for Professionals Offered at The Stewardship Training Center
The trainees and their gear and the Stewardship Training Center on March 5, 2023.
Over the weekend of March 4 – 5, Wildlands Trust hosted our first pilot program at the new Stewardship Training Center on Halfway Pond in Plymouth. This training, offered to our land conservation colleagues in Massachusetts, included basic chainsaw safety, use, and equipment maintenance. Bill Girard of Girard Custom Cut Hardwood is one of very few chainsaw safety trainers in the country, and we were lucky to have his leadership and expertise. The 7 attendees included our own Stewardship Coordinator Zoë Smiarowski and Conservation Restriction Coordinator Tess Goldmann, as well as staff from the New England Forestry Foundation, Buzzards Bay Coalition, Manomet, and Wareham Land Trust.
Conservation Restriction Coordinator Tess Goldmann puts her chainsaw training to use on a downed White Oak obstructing the trail at our Brockton Audubon Preserve on March 6, 2023.
Beginning with an emphasis on safety, day one focused on proper use and maintenance of personal protective equipment like helmets, chaps, goggles, boots, and first aid kits, as well as chainsaw mechanics and troubleshooting. Day two started with saw checks and project planning before trainees got to practice using their chainsaws on downed trees. By Monday, Tess Goldmann was putting her skills to the test on a large white pine that had fallen at our Brockton Audubon Preserve during this winter’s strong winds.
Wildlands’ team of stewardship staff often uses chainsaws for removing downed trees that block trails or pose a safety threat. We require that staff undergo safety training and always work in pairs when using these powerful tools. This important training is one of four pilot programs Wildlands will offer at our new Stewardship Training Center for land conservation professionals this year. Stay tuned; more about the Stewardship Training Center will be shared with our members in this spring’s print newsletter.
Funding Secured for Sylvester Field Boardwalk
We are pleased to announce that the boardwalk at Sylvester Field will be installed this spring!
Those of you who have visited Sylvester Field have probably noticed that our trail map shows a trail on the eastern property boundary that does not currently exist. We have been waiting to build the missing trail because it requires a 100-foot section of boardwalk through an especially soggy section of wet meadow.
Well, thanks to a generous donation from the Torrey Family of Hingham, we are now able to build the boardwalk and open the trail. The existing trail is a 0.3-mile out and back trail. The construction of this new trail and boardwalk will provide hikers with a 0.5-mile loop to enjoy. Be on the lookout for construction updates!
Wildlands to Launch New Training Center
The Stewardship Training Center will advance land conservation through skill-building for volunteers and continuing education for professionals.
The Stewardship Training Center will advance land conservation through skill-building for volunteers and continuing education for professionals.
Plans for the Wildlands Trust Stewardship Training Center are coming together thanks to the guidance of wise land professionals from far and wide.
In December 2022, Massachusetts joined 17 other states in establishing an Office of Outdoor Recreation. This is good news for Wildlands Trust, our members, and the growing numbers of people discovering hiking, biking, birding, kayaking, and other passive recreation as a means for achieving mental and physical health.
“Whether it’s a weekend camping trip with the family, a bike ride with friends, or a hike through a state park, spending time outdoors is beneficial to our physical and mental wellbeing,” said Baker Administration’s Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Beth Card. According to a 2021 report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the outdoor recreation economy accounted for $9.5 billion in value added to the Massachusetts economy.
But, with a growing focus on getting more people out into nature, Wildlands and other land-holding entities are concerned that expectations around the care and management of our open spaces will be an added burden on an already stressed and under-resourced land stewardship system. Strapped resources for stewardship are the norm at our State Parks, on our townlands, and on land trust properties. Without additional funding and innovation directed toward caring for land, we risk an erosion of public confidence and the degradation of the biological and social values we seek to protect, especially as more people are encouraged to hit the trails.
Responding to the need for more and better stewardship of our public lands, Wildlands Trust is taking the lead to establish a Stewardship Training Center (STC) focused on developing volunteer land stewards. Programs at the STC will also promote continuing education of professional staff involved in land protection. An advisory committee comprised of conservation professionals and highly experienced volunteers has been convening monthly since the fall of 2022 to advise Wildlands Trust on its nascent STC concept.
Halfway Pond Conservation Area, Plymouth, MA
Located on Halfway Pond in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Stewardship Training Center will offer a wide range of training programs to (1) help municipalities, and land-holding organizations build stewardship capacity and (2) encourage continuous learning for professional practitioners.
Wildlands Trust has developed an exemplary stewardship model that blends professional staff with reserves of trained volunteers. Well-trained and committed volunteers help Wildlands ensure that we fulfill our obligation to steward the lands in our care and custody. We believe that more towns and land trusts could benefit significantly by building teams of trained volunteers to provide leadership and labor.
The Property will be available to other organizations that would like to offer trainings related to the mission of the Stewardship Training Center.
To receive more information about the opportunities available at the Stewardship Training Center, sign up for our email list.
Wildlands Trust Statement on the Closure of Shifting Lots Preserve
On February 9, 2023, for the first time in 50 years, Wildlands Trust was forced to close a property under our care and custody, the Shifting Lots Preserve in Plymouth. The property will remain closed until further notice. We received several phone calls about hunters staged on the trail entrance to the beach; we also heard from property visitors about two off-leash dogs attacking and maiming wildlife. At that point, to protect the public from known safety issues and to protect defenseless wildlife, we instructed the Wildlands’ stewardship staff to lock the parking lot gate and to post the property as “Closed.”
Wildlands Trust was founded 50 years ago as a community-based non-profit dedicated to advancing land protection in Southeastern Massachusetts. Since 1973, we have permanently protected nearly 350 parcels of land across 52 towns.
On February 9, 2023, for the first time in 50 years, Wildlands Trust was forced to close a property under our care and custody, the Shifting Lots Preserve in Plymouth. The property will remain closed until further notice.
Our stewardship staff and volunteers have worked to address and manage disruptive, dangerous, and abusive human behavior at Shifting Lots Preserve for two decades. The ongoing incidents at this coastal property include illegal hunting, illegal camping, illegal dumping, violation of property rules intended to protect endangered wildlife, assaultive behaviors against our staff and volunteers, and the destruction of property, such as gates, kiosks, signage, and fencing.
The recent closing of Shifting Lots was directly related to an onslaught of illegal hunting on the property. Over the past three months, Wildlands Trust and Shifting Lots neighbors have notified the Environmental Police and the Plymouth Police Department of the illegal hunting. Yet, hunters have continued to use the property and recently set up decoys in an area that is a popular walking spot for the public.
On Thursday, February 9, we received several phone calls about hunters staged on the trail entrance to the beach; we also heard from property visitors about two off-leash dogs attacking and maiming wildlife. At that point, to protect the public from known safety issues and to protect defenseless wildlife, we instructed the Wildlands’ stewardship staff to lock the parking lot gate and to post the property as “Closed.”
Social media posts have been active, and some disagree with our decision. However, Wildlands Trust will stay focused on doing the job the public has entrusted us with, including protecting the resource and ensuring public safety on our lands.
Karen Grey
President
Eagle Scouts Make a Difference!
Read Time: 3 min
Along with our other volunteer opportunities, Wildlands Trust often works with scouts looking to complete their Eagle Scout service projects. An Eagle Scout service project provides scouts with planning, fundraising, and managing experience. Past Eagle Scout projects you may have seen include the Little Free Library at Willow Brook Farm in Pembroke, and the interpretative signage at the Indian Head River Trail in Pembroke/Hanson/Hanover. This summer we had two scouts complete their projects at our properties!
For his Eagle project, Eagle Scout candidate Noah Sherman installed 15 new signs at Halfway Pond East Conservation Area in Plymouth. The trail system on the east side of this preserve can be confusing at times, so reworking the signage was a really helpful project for Noah to take on! The new signs are easy to read and make navigation much easier for preserve visitors, and we are very delighted that Noah was able to install them this summer. Between the new signage on the east side and the brand-new Leona’s Loop on the west, Halfway Pond has plenty of great new reasons to visit!
In addition, Eagle Scout candidate Max Cunniff built a 20-foot-long bridge across the Drinkwater River at town-owned Melzar Hatch Preserve in Hanover. Max made sure that the bridge was high enough for vegetation flowing down the river to pass under it. He also took great care to make the ramps onto and off the bridge flush to the ground. He and his friends enjoy biking on the trails and the previous bridge was very difficult to bike over. This new bridge is already much more accessible for all and has received high praise from members of the Hanover community. Wildlands Trust is thrilled that Max made this exceptional bridge for our preserve! You can see and the new bridge at Melzar Hatch. We expect it to be there for a very long time though, so there’s no rush!
We have some other Eagle Scout projects in the works, including Chickadee boxes at Great River Preserve in Bridgewater, and Blue Bird boxes at Sylvester Field in Hanover. If you are interested in completing your Eagle Scout Project with Wildlands Trust, contact our Stewardship Coordinator Zoë Smiarowski at zsmiarowski@wildlandstrust.org.
Thank you again to Noah for the signage and to Max for the bridge!
Eagle Scout candidate Noah Sherman installing new signs at Halfway Pond East Conservation Area in Plymouth.
Eagle Scout candidate Max Cunniff standing on the newly completed 20-foot-long bridge across the Drinkwater River at town-owned Melzar Hatch Preserve in Hanover.