Three CR Staff Speaking Engagements in Winter 2012

The Conservation Restriction team at The Trustees of Reservations are busy year-round.  Three seasons of monitoring leads to a winter of paperwork processing, followup communications to landowners, gearing up for next season's field work, and completing our last few monitoring visits.  However, it is our quietest time of year, and so has left some time to present several seminars on our work.  These will cover CR Stewardship and Defense of CRs.  Two of these events are free, and all are open to the public. The third is part of the 22nd Annual Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference, and so requires event registration and fee.  See below for details on all three!

CR Stewardship and Defense in action during last year's very different winter!

The first presentation, titled "Defense of Conservation Restrictions," takes place on Tuesday, February 21, from 4:00-5:15 PM at UMass Amherst's Holdsworth building, featuring CR Program staff Sally Naser and Andrew Bentley.  This is hosted by the UMass Department of Environmental Conservation, part of Professor David Kittredge's "Case Studies in Conservation" graduate seminar.  Weekly speakers from conservation organizations around the state will speak about challenges and successes in private land conservation.  Though it is a UMass class, Dr. Kittredge encourages and welcomes the public to attend, so don't be shy!  This is a series not to be missed, if you're within range of Amherst.  Other weekly talks include another TTOR staff member Wendy Sweetser of the Highland Communities Initiative, (HCI), and speakers from Mass Audubon, Mass Wildlife, New England Forestry Foundation, and many others - the speaker schedule can be seen by clicking here.

The second is entitled "Introduction to CR Monitoring and Stewardship," and also takes place in the Pioneer Valley.  The workshop takes place at 7pm on Wednesday, February 29, at the South Hadley town hall - 116 Main St, South Hadley, MA.  It is sponsored by the Highland Communities Initiative, and will be co-presented by CR Program and HCI staff, along with the Amherst-based Kestrel Land Trust.  The presentation is free and open to all, but please RSVP by calling or emailing HCI- see the flyer below.

Last but certainly not least is a workshop entitled "Effective Enorcement of CR Violations," at the 2012 Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference (MLCC), which takes place just past the Vernal Equinox, on March 24 in Worcester.  CR Program Director Chris Rodstrom will co-present with colleagues Sally Naser and Andrew Bentley, joined by Sudbury Valley Trustees Stewardship Director Laura Mattei.  MLCC has three sessions throughout the day, with over 30 workshops to choose from, and is the premiere gathering of conservation professionals and supporters in the Commonwealth.  Click here or the conference link above to find out how to register for this exciting conference, now in its 22nd year.  Be sure to register before March 10, to save money on the registration fee!  Even better, volunteering to help out on conference day will earn free registration, in exchange for six hours of volunteer time!  Check out the conference brochure for a listing of all workshops.