MARK PRIMACK
Making a difference on Earth DayTHERE ARE a few simple things we can do to make a difference in our own communities and our own lives on this 35th Earth Day, actions that will leave this world a better place and also give us at least a moment of peace in a hurried and all too anxious world.
Take a stroll in a protected woodland or field. Pause to enjoy the view of a farm where houses and malls will never overwhelm the fields of corn. Lie on a beach and listen to the waves. Smell last fall's wet leaves. Think of the grace you experience passing a grove of trees on your commute or how you feel when you sight a flock of ducks or geese on the wing. This pleasure the earth gives us, without asking much in return. And then join, volunteer with, or donate to a land trust --for it is these nonprofit land conservation groups that make so many of these tranquil and beautiful moments possible, not only for us but for generations to come. According to a recent Mass Audubon study of changing land use in Massachusetts, our state is losing 40 acres of open space every day. We are losing farms that have operated for centuries, fields that woodcock have returned to for millennia and woodlands that followed on the heels of the great glaciers. Now, megahouses, second homes, and shopping centers seem to be sprawling over our landscape. Even the most active and resourceful land trusts cannot hope to stem this tide, but they do preserve some of the best places for wildlife and people. Walk some of those fields and forests that define our communities and subtly buffer our lives with a gentle joy. On this Earth Day, each of us can and should think about ways to make our land trusts more effective. Land trusts hold land in perpetuity for the benefit of nature and our kind, much as a library holds books or an art museum holds paintings. They have protected tens of thousands of acres in the inner city, the suburbs, and the less trammeled areas of the state. Rich or poor, Democrat or Republican, city mouse or country mouse, young or old, we all need at least a bit of nature. But it has become sad and all too apparent that without human effort, this source of soul-easing beauty can be lost. Massachusetts is the home to the world's oldest land trust, The Trustees of Reservations, as well as newer groups as far apart as Alford and Arlington. In the last 35 years, land trusts have proliferated in Massachusetts as nowhere else on the planet. In addition to statewide groups, we have local, one-town land trusts from Provincetown to the Berkshires protecting the very fabric of our communities. In Boston the local Boston Natural Areas Fund preserves urban wilds from the edge of Logan Airport to the hillsides of Roxbury. In the Berkshires, along the banks of the Sudbury River, and in Essex County, regional land trusts not only serve local needs but create intertown connections and longer walking trails. But whether run by a band of dedicated volunteers or a staffed institution, land trusts need our help in the face of our threatened natural world. Embrace the adage, Think globally, act locally. Join a land trust. Volunteer with a land trust. Find a particular piece of this earth near you. Become a property monitor, pick up litter and report vandalism, and you will also have a productive excuse for a regular walk. Join in a work day, clearing invasive weeds, making it easier for families with young children to walk, and build your upper body strength. Offer your horticultural hand. Or offer a land trust your special skills, whether as a lawyer, contractor, or envelope stuffer. Make a gift to a land trust. They depend on private charitable gifts to be able to purchase land. Help save your region's heritage of working farms. Ensure that foxes and turtles don't become road kill and that rare wildflowers have habitat. Your generosity can make a lasting difference. If you are a land owner, consider placing your land in a conservation restriction or, if you love that land and can do it, donate it to posterity so it will give future generations as much pleasure as it gives to you. Act today and ensure that this little corner of the planet, rich with natural and human heritage, remains for tomorrow.
Mark Primack is chairman of the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition and executive director of Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
|
