In This Edition

Success Stories
People Making a Difference
Projects That Needs Your Help
Project Updates

The Land Protection Team (left to right): John Coolidge, Charlie Wyman, Bob Wilber, Dinah Rowbotham, Bob Ford.

Giving Thanks For the Land - a celebration of land preservation and the people who make it possible - was held again this year at Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary on November 15th. Attendees were treated to several speakers sharing heart-felt personal experiences of conserving land.

Charlie Wyman, Senior Land Protection Specialist, smiled through a very rainy clean-up day at Mass Audubon's newest wildlife sanctuary, Attleboro Springs Wildlife Sanctuary at LaSalette.

  
Did You Know?
Since its founding in 1896, Mass Audubon's system of wildlife sanctuaries has grown to become the largest private ownership of conserved land in Massachusetts. 
 

Find out how you can support Mass Audubon’s land conservation work in many different ways.

Land like this 400-year old hemlock forest in the Berkshires becomes available only rarely.

The protection of this amazing 900 acres of forest and fields would not have been possible without the support of people like you.

Our land protection activities provide essential outdoor classrooms for children and adults to experience the wonders of nature firsthand.

Preserving nature's diversity allows people to benefit from medicines of many kinds — including those yet to be discovered. 

Land conservation provides expanded opportunities for outdoor recreation, promoting physical and spiritual well being.

Decisions made by landowners in the next twenty years will have a profound effect on the  Massachusetts our children and grandchildren will inherit, and on the wildlife that share this landscape with us.

Winter 2009

Dear Friends of Mass Audubon Land Protection,

The first edition of this e-newsletter Land: for People and Wildlife that was launched in August was very well received.  It went out to more than two thousand recipients–many of whom sent messages telling us how much they enjoyed it. Thank you for the encouraging response, we are thrilled to be better connected with you. 

I am pleased to share that we are about to reach several important milestones in our quest to protect the nature of Massachusetts:

• 10,000 acres protected this decade,
• 30,000 acres in our sanctuary system,
• 100 Conservation Restrictions acquired, conserving
• 5,000 acres of privately held land.

We’re looking forward to celebrating these milestones with you through this e-newsletter as they occur. 


Bob Wilber
Director of Land Protection

“I want the land to be protected, and to leave this farm as a legacy.” Chet Kulisa Chet and Ann Kulisa with their daughter, Martha Tierney

Chet Kulisa - Conservationist and Steward of Land

Chet Kulisa was raised to understand that people are stewards rather than owners of land.  He believes that landscapes in their natural condition are vital places where nature and wildlife coexist and water recharges the earth. His conservation ethic and commitment to land preservation have resulted in the protection of literally thousands of acres of land, including Mass Audubon’s Pierpont Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary in Dudley. more >>

Read more People Making A Difference stories >>

You are our community. We are united by our desire to protect the most important natural landscapes of the Commonwealth for people and wildlife while we still have the opportunity to do so.

To help achieve that outcome, we need to step up our pace of land conservation. To do this we have just defined an exciting new vehicle to address our biggest limiting factor – available capital.

The Mass Audubon Land Fund has a goal of raising $250,000 per year, and will be used:

• for rapid response to land protection opportunities
• to leverage additional gifts through matching challenges, and
• to support projects that have tapped all other funding possibilities. 

This fund represents a move from a reactive project-based mode of fundraising to a more proactive and visionary statewide approach. With additional financial resources in hand, and an aggressive approach, we can substantially expand the impact of our land protection efforts in this time of opportunity.

To build the fund, we are calling on you, our community, and humbly asking for your generosity. By supporting the Mass Audubon Land Fund, you will be making an investment in our vision to protect the habitat and natural landscapes we all value and enjoy. Working together, we can increase our resources and protect and steward more of the land we cherish.

To make a contribution to the Mass Audubon Land Fund, donate online or send a check, payable to Mass Audubon, to Liz Albert, 208 South Great Road, Lincoln, MA, 01773.  If you have any questions, please e-mail lalbert@massaudubon.org or call 781-259-2104. Thank you.

$320K in Wareham CPA funds approved for Great Neck Conservation Partnership Initiative: This wonderful project is now a big step closer to being a reality, following the approval of $320,000 in Community Preservation funds by town meeting voters in Wareham in October. This completes most of the funding needed to move forward with protection efforts, which are expected to be wrapped up sometime in the first quarter of 2010.