The first census of land trusts in five years found 10 million new acres conserved nationwide since 2005, including 333,334 acres in Massachusetts.
The National Land Trust Census, released by the Land Trust Alliance, shows that voluntarily protected land increased 27 percent between 2005 and 2010. In the same time period, the federal Land and Conservation fund, a major federal conservation program, added just over 500,00 acres and saw a 38 percent funding cut. The census is online at www.lta.org/census.
Land trusts in Massachusetts contributed to this success with a 19 percent increase in acres conserved since 2005. The census reveals a local success story that mirrors a national trend: despite the recession, Massachusetts residents value their land and work to conserve it at the community level. A total of 47 million acres – an area over twice the size of all the national parks in the contiguous United States – are now protected by land trusts.
The Buzzards Bay Coalition partners with local towns and land trusts to play a critical role in the protection of land throughout the Buzzards Bay watershed. The Bay Coalition’s land conservation efforts are focused on protecting the natural lands that are most important to protecting the region’s outstanding water resources.
Recent Coalition success stories from this summer include:
• The Buzzards Bay Coalition worked with the Wareham Land Trust and Wareham Conservation Commission to protect a 48 acre piece of land along the Weweantic River, the largest tributary flowing into Buzzards Bay. The forests and wetlands that make up these 48 acres are critical to preventing and filtering pollutants from entering the river and Bay and abuts Wareham’s existing Fearing Hill Conservation Area, creating over 110 acres of contiguous riverfront conservation land.
• The Bay Coalition assisted the Town of Mattapoisett in the protection of 35 acres of wetland and upland forest on the east side of the Mattapoisett River. The land is a critical drinking water resource for the town of Mattapoisett, Fairhaven, Marion, and Rochester and this project builds on prior successes resulting in over 750 acres of protected land in the river valley. Protecting this clean and reliable source of drinking water is a critical priority for the region and contributes to healthy waters downstream in the Bay.
• At the head of Little River in Dartmouth, 54 acres of woodlands and salt marsh have been protected – the last patch of land in a block of over 650 conserved acres in the Little River watershed. With the use of federal grant funds, the Bay Coalition assisted the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust in acquiring the property and now a remarkable 60 percent of the Little River watershed is under protection.
The Buzzards Bay Coalition is a private, non-profit membership organization dedicated to the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of Buzzards Bay and its watershed. The organization works to improve the health of the Bay ecosystem for all through education, conservation, research and advocacy and is supported by more than 8,000 members.