Wildlands to Launch New Training Center

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.

D.W. Field Park Survey Closing Soon

The D.W. Field Park community survey will close at the end of February. If you visit the park or live in Brockton, Avon, or the surrounding area, please take 5 – 10 minutes to complete our survey!  

Patrick Quinn, Presidents of the D.W. Field Park Association nonprofit, assists Wildlands in promoting the community survey to park users.

Wildlands Trust is leading the D.W. Field Park Initiative to revitalize the park for people and planet. In close partnership with the City of Brockton Department of Parks and Recreation, we are bringing experts and community members together to create a master plan that will address ecology, infrastructure, recreation, and education throughout this 700-acre city park.  

The results from this community survey will be used to better understand current park usage and inform development of improvement projects. Project partners will use this data and other public input gathered throughout the process to create a master plan that reflects the wants and needs of the community this park serves. The survey is being conducted by the Old Colony Planning Council on behalf of Wildlands Trust and can be taken in five languages. All responses are completely confidential.  

Learn more and sign up for targeted emails about the D.W. Field Park Initiative:  

Wildlands Trust Statement on the Closure of Shifting Lots Preserve

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.

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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.

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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.

Wildlands' Trail Updates

By Erik Boyer, Director of Field Operations

Wildlands’ Stewardship Staff and volunteers have been hard at work this fall! A couple highlights include the new trail constructed at our Halfway Pond Conservation Area, and new access to Sylvester Field in Hanover.

Halfway Pond Conservation Area, Plymouth

This past August, we began construction on 1.7 miles of new trail at Halfway Pond. Many thanks to a volunteer group from the Sierra Club, who worked alongside Wildlands staff and volunteers to begin this project. We completed the trail this fall with the help of volunteers from REI Hingham. The new trail, “Leona’s Loop,” is named after one of the founding members of Wildlands Trust, Leona Asker. Leona’s Loop connects to Gramp’s Loop and essentially creates a figure eight, providing hikers the opportunity to hike a nearly 4-mile loop. The trail, best accessed from the southeast corner of Gramp’s Loop, begins with a series of switchbacks to the top of a hill. Then, the trail follows a ridgeline running south, providing beautiful views of Halfway Pond from up high. The trail then jaunts west, traveling through pitch pine barren habitat reminiscent of many portions of Gramp’s Loop. Leona’s Loop then links back up with Gramp’s Loop as it heads north. With this new trail, there is now over 6 miles of single-track trail at Halfway Pond, making the preserve a great stop for those looking to add on the miles!

Sylvester Field, Hanover

Sylvester Field in Hanover is now home to a new three-car parking lot, constructed by Richie Ohlund from Ohlund Landscape & Masonry Design. Wildlands staff installed a new preserve sign and trailhead kiosk. The kiosk highlights the agricultural past of the land, as well as the ecological importance of its location on the Third Herring Brook (a tributary of the North River). Sylvester Field did not previously have a parking area, so this construction gives a new audience access to the preserve. There is a 0.3-mile trail that hugs the outside of the field down to a scenic spot on the Third Herring Brook.