ENVIROTHON IN ACTION TODAY

GOOD LUCK TO OUR WILDLANDS TRUST ENVIROTHON TEAM WHICH IS COMPETING TODAY.

The Envirothon is Massachusetts’ leading natural resource education program for high school students, emphasizing hands-on, team-oriented problem solving and community involvement that prepares young people for environmental careers and active citizenship.  We are so proud of our group of students from Brockton High School who have worked so hard this year.

Check out the video that was made last year about the event.  (Our team members are from Brockton High School)

Conservation Landowners

About Conservation Landowners

Wildlands Trust is proud to work with conservation landowners to protect over 90 separate municipal and privately-owned properties comprising over 2,200 acres throughout southeastern Massachusetts.  Conservation landowners are a special group of people committed to preserving the conservation values of their properties for future generations.  Through legal land protection mechanisms such as Conservation Restrictions (CRs), Agricultural Preservation Restrictions (APRs), and Deed Restrictions (DRs), Wildlands Trust is able to ensure the protection of many unique and precious habitats and landscapes. 

CRs, APRs, and DRs limit specified future uses of the land, such as development, but allow you to maintain ownership, management, and the right to sell your land or pass it on to heirs.  This may result in significant local and federal tax benefits.  As a conservation landowner, you are responsible for complying with the specific terms of the restriction as well as all of the local, state, and federal laws that regulate land-use activities in your area. 

Questions?

Wildlands Trust staff is always happy to discuss landowner interests and concerns.  Contact Scott MacFaden, Director of Land Acquisitions, by e-mail at smacfaden@wildlandstrust.org or by phone at 774-343-5121 x107.

Helpful Links for Conservation Landowners

• Invasive Plants of Massachusetts: http://www.massnature.com/Plants/Invasives/invasiveplants.htm

• Natural Resources Conservation Service – Massachusetts: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/ma/home/

• MA Natural Heritage Endangered Species Program: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/natural-heritage/

• Living with Wildlife: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/fish-wildlife-plants/living-with-wildlife.html

• Rare Plant Conservation: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/natural-heritage/species-information-and-conservation/rare-plants/

The Gift That Keeps on Giving . . .

Our new website, aside from being beautifully streamlined and user friendly, also offers the opportunity for you to donate with a recurring automatic gift.  We received many requests from donors and were unable to offer that feature with our old website. 

Now, through Network For Good, users can enter a credit card, choose the amount and frequency of their gift, and a donation will be made to the Wildlands Trust automatically.  Users can change or stop their donation at any time, choosing “edit a recurring donation” in the top right corner of the donation page. 

We are excited to offer this convenience because we know it makes it much easier to budget and who doesn’t love getting fewer appeals in the mail?  A small gift, even $5 or $10, goes a long way in providing a steady stream of funding to protect the land you love.

We would love your feedback on our new donation page.  Please email ddisabel@wildlandstrust.org to let her know what you think.

Thank you for supporting land protection!

Biodiversity and the Wildlands Trust

By Kathleen Anderson

Wildlands Trust now protects over 7,000 acres scattered through 35 towns from Plymouth north to Milton, west to Swansea, and encompassing much of the vast Taunton River watershed, the largest in Southeastern Massachusetts and the second-largest in the Commonwealth. 

Over the years I am sure records of mammals and birds observed on various of our properties have been noted but, to my knowledge, there has been no organized effort made to record the total number of species (i.e. the biodiversity) of our properties:  Not only birds and mammals but the reptiles and amphibians, the fish, the insects, and the plants. 

With the seemingly endless development of our “empty” land, refugia for native species becomes less and less.  Hence, the importance of Wildlands Trust properties for biodiversity protection becomes greater and greater.

For instance, during my 66 years at Wolf Trap Hill Farm in Middleboro, I have documented the following:

• 35 of the 50, or three-quarters, of the land mammals known to occur in Massachusetts, including Moose!

• 193 of the 500, or two-fifths, of the Commonwealth’s bird species (which includes sea birds not to be expected to occur so far inland)

• 25 of the 46, or more than 50 percent, of the known reptiles and amphibians (“Herps”).

• 47 of the 103 butterflies (almost half of the state’s known species)

• 30 of the 106 dragonflies (“Odonata”) or about one-fifth of the known species

And I am still working to learn more about the dragonflies. 

Just imagine the total Massachusetts species of wildlife whose existence continues secure on our properties, many species of which we are still unaware of, I am sure. 

Postscript:

Middleborough resident Kathleen “Betty” Anderson is a true eminence in the conservation field.   Among her many accomplishments, she founded the Manomet Bird Observatory (now known as the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences), co-founded Wildlands Trust and served as a board member, and served on the Massachusetts Audubon Society Board of Directors and the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program Advisory Board.  She also has made substantial contributions to land protection in her community through land donations and the grant of a conservation restriction to Wildlands Trust that collectively protect over 120 acres.  We are privileged to have the opportunity to share her observations on biodiversity in Southeastern Massachusetts as seen through the prism of her beloved Wolf Trap Hill Farm.  Betty is keeping her eyes peeled for the next Moose to visit her property.   

EAGLE SCOUT PROJECT COMPLETED

Curtis McLellan of Plymouth completed his Eagle Scout service project recently for Wildlands Trust.  He installed a wooden bench, the new sign, and the trail markers on our Emery Preserve in Plymouth.  Wildlands appreciates the research, planning, management, and general hard work that have gone into this project.  The bench is well-built, sturdy, and comfortable.  The trail markers he installed has helped enhance the visitor experience, and the sign that he designed is tasteful and highly visible so that visitors can find this wonderful trail – which is now even more improved by the raking and brush removal that he and his volunteers performed.  These are all significant improvements to the Emery Preserve, and we expect them to last for many years to come.

Curtis has shown great leadership, care, and project management skills throughout his Eagle Scout service project, and his professionalism and good nature made it a pleasure working with him.

We thank Curtis for choosing to work with Wildlands Trust on his project.  We are a small, friendly non-profit organization accomplishing great things.  Our members and volunteers support our efforts and are very important to us – thank you!

If you have a chance, check out the new bench at the Beech tree in our Emery Preserve!