The Trust for Public Land in Action: 2020 C E L E B R AT I N G W HAT YO U M A D E P O S S I B L E IN NEW ENGLAND AND BEYOND
BOSTON
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Tommy's Rock Farm Grove Hall Park Chittick School
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Norwell Street Park Edgewater
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Boston area detail
CAN ADA Bald Mountain Pond (Pond and Boat Access Phases) Ursa Major Quill Hill
Lakeville expansion to Downeast Lakes Community Forest
MAINE
Kingfield Community Forest
Codding Hollow Hunger Mountain Headwaters Huntington Community Forest Lincoln Peak
Victory Hill Patterson Brook
AUGUSTA
East Pasture Trail Dundee Community Forest
MONTPELIER
Third Branch Headwaters
Tiger Hill Community Forest
VERMONT Rolston Rest
Mink Brook Community Forest
NEW HAMPSHIRE
N E W YO R K
White Rocks Gateway
AT L A N T I C OCEAN
Pearl Farm The Trust for Public Land projects*
CONCORD
Current Completed in fiscal year 2020 Other completed
Roaring Branch
Appalachian Trail program Community Forest program
MASSACHU SETTS
Green Mountain program
BOSTON See Boston area detail
Rockland Golf Course
Woonasquatucket Adventure Park
CONNECTICUT
PROVIDENCE
RHODE ISLAND
Parks for People program
Appalachian National Scenic Trail Protected land** *Land protection, park development/restoration, Fitness Zone®, garden, playground, trail, or greenway. **For general context only; does not include all locallyprotected or public lands. Note: Connecticut is not part of The Trust for Public Land's New England program.
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New England CURRENT AND COMPLETED PROJECTS July 29, 2020. Copyright © The Trust for Public Land. The Trust for Public Land and The Trust for Public Land logo are federally registered marks of The Trust for Public Land. Information on this map is provided for purposes of discussion and visualization only. www.tpl.org
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Thank you so much for partnering with us in New England! Close-to-home green spaces are vital to communities in today’s rapidly changing world. We know that great parks and green spaces can transform communities from the ground up: they improve public health, advance economic opportunities and learning outcomes, and connect people to nature and each other. We see first-hand how well-designed green spaces are more than a place to play—they change people’s lives. Our new strategic plan places community at the center of our powerful land-for-people work. The impact of our mission is not only the creation of great parks, public lands, trails, and green schoolyards; it’s also the strengthening of the social, civic, personal, and emotional connections upon which our communities depend while addressing the most pressing problems across the country— climate, health, and equity. Over the next five years, we aim to accelerate the transformative impact of our mission—empowering 300 communities with
our work and improving the lives of 85 million people nationwide. The coronavirus pandemic, its economic fallout, and the ongoing realities of systemic racism have defined 2020. We are rising to the challenges of this moment to bring parks and green spaces where they’re needed most. In New England, we engage local communities in Boston to design their dream parks, protect landscapes as new community forests, and secure access to valuable outdoor recreation resources on the Appalachian and Long Trails. We would like to extend our gratitude for your partnership in this work. With your help, we’re creating parks and green schoolyards and connecting people to trails and the outdoors all across the country. We would also like to give a special thank you to our advisory boards, whose leadership and commitment helps us accomplish this crucial work. Thank you!
TPL STAFF
Older and Bolder performing at Sobremesa Boston, MA
Parks for People N O R W E L L S T R E E T PA R K Dorchester, MA This new park will create a neighborhood focal point next to a commuter rail stop along the route of the planned Fairmount Greenway. Thanks to CPA—adopted by Boston in 2016 following a campaign we co-led—the Norwell Street Park site has been purchased, and full construction capital awarded.
High quality, close-to-home parks are essential to community health—particularly in underserved neighborhoods, where legacies of discrimination, disinvestment, and disparity pose stark health, equity, and climate challenges. These inequities have become even more evident due to Covid-19’s disproportionate impact in the Boston communities we serve. Despite the challenges of 2020, we have much to celebrate this year. We completed Tommy’s Rock Farm—and passed the Boston Urban Agriculture baton to our community partners to carry this vital work forward. We created the Woonasquatucket Adventure Park in Providence, providing a place for city youth to have outdoor fun and take healthy risks. And we enabled continued public enjoyment of Rockland Golf Course in Rockland, MA.
We also continued to celebrate Bostonians’ 100 percent 10-minute walk park access. Now, we are focused on ensuring local parks are equitable, climate-resilient, and bolster community health.
G R OV E H A L L PA R K Dorchester, MA The Trust for Public Land is partnering with the community to transform a vacant lot into a vibrant park in the heart of Boston’s Grove Hall neighborhood. Last fall, we engaged the community with Sobremesa—artist Daniela Rivera’s site-specific installation—featuring platforms for community events like karaoke, drumming, and dancing.
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We successfully advocated for increased state funding for the Community Preservation Act (CPA), resulting in a 150 percent increase in matching local funds. CPA has been adopted by 177 cities and towns across the state and provides funding for open space, historic preservation, and affordable housing.
LOOKING FORWARD Community partners are helping us identify two new green spaces along the planned Fairmount Greenway, which will run through Boston’s historically underserved Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park neighborhoods. Additionally, we’re working to enhance access to the Neponset River in Mattapan. To advance this work, we’re finding creative new ways to engage communities in an era of social distancing and coronavirus challenges. Most recently, we distributed nutritious meal kits to provide hunger relief along with a survey to gather input on community needs.
Open Newbury Street Boston, MA
Community Forests LOOKING AHEAD We have ambitious plans to expand the footprint of community forests over the next five years! Thanks to a $1.5 million gift from the NorthLight Foundation and support from donors like you, we are able to focus on New England communities that have limited access to public land. In partnership with the Vermont Land Trust, we are currently working on Huntington Community Forest in Vermont, adjacent to the Brewster-Pierce Memorial School. The 245-acre property provides the students with an outdoor classroom to explore nature and offers town residents a network of trails for exercise and recreation.
In New England, The Trust for Public Land is building upon a nationwide movement that empowers communities to reclaim their local forested land. Community forests provide close-to-home places for recreation and community building. They serve as economic engines for small towns, through recreation, tourism, and timber management. Community forests help towns to address the unique challenges that they face—health disparities, youth retention, climate change, and unequal access to nature’s benefits. In 2020, we partnered with Maine communities to complete two community forests.
KINGFIELD COMMUNITY FOREST Kingfield, ME In deep collaboration with town leadership and community members, The Trust for Public Land is thrilled to protect 215 acres in the heart of Kingfield, which includes the popular fishing and paddling destination of Shiloh Pond. Kingfield Community Forest expands and diversifies local recreational opportunities and protects critical brook trout habitat.
CYNTHIA ORCUTT
TIGER HILL COMMUNITY FOREST Sebago, ME The Trust for Public Land permanently protected 1,400 acres to create Tiger Hill Community Forest in Sebago. Now, people can walk their dogs, hike with their kids, or explore the forest by snowshoes and ice skates. Tiger Hill Community Forest is critical to an ongoing effort to protect the forested watershed of Sebago Lake, which supplies water to 200,000 people in Portland and surrounding towns.
Future projects also include: the Lakeville, ME, expansion of the Downeast Lakes Community Forest, Dundee Community Forest in the White Mountains of Bartlett and Jackson, NH, and Mink Brook Community Forest in Hanover, NH.
Kingfield Community Forest Kingfield, ME
Green Mountains The Green Mountains are one of Vermont’s most defining natural features. The mountain range connects extensive tracks of forests and wetlands with village communities. The iconic Appalachian Trail, Long Trail, and Catamount Trail are within a day’s drive of 80 million people, drawing outdoor enthusiasts who support the economies of rural communities. Yet this landscape is also at risk due to fragmentation and our rapidly changing climate.
exceptional recreational opportunities. The newly conserved properties have become part of the C.C. Putnam State Forest and now provide expanded public access to the approach trails of Mount Hunger and White Rock Mountain.
LOOKING AHEAD As the climate crisis accelerates and the coronavirus continues to spread, our concerted focus on the conservation of key landscapes in the Green Mountains has emerged as an essential tool for creating healthy, equitable, and resilient communities—as well as providing a place to find solace in nature.
The Trust for Public Land has been engaging communities for over 25 years to ensure long-term protection, improved public access, and enhanced recreational opportunities in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Grounded in our community-centric approach, this program promotes civic engagement, while achieving important health, equity, climate resilience, and economic benefits.
H U N G E R M O U N TA I N H E A D W AT E R S Stowe, Middlesex, and Worcester, VT Thanks to your loyal support, we successfully completed the permanent protection of the 1,877acre Hunger Mountain Headwaters property in Stowe, Middlesex, and Worcester in partnership with the Stowe Land Trust. Located in the Worcester Range—considered the last wild and undeveloped mountain range in Vermont—the area supports critical wildlife habitat, significant headwaters, and
KURT BUDLIGER
CODDING HOLLOW Johnson and Waterville, VT We seized a long-awaited opportunity to conserve one of the few remaining unprotected segments of the famed Long Trail. The Codding Hollow property in Johnson and Waterville is now a permanently protected addition to the Long Trail State Forest and will support the wilderness experience for legions of current and future hikers.
This coming year, we expect to complete a fiveyear effort to protect the Rolston Rest property, the largest remaining private inholding within the Green Mountain National Forest. Other important sites include Lincoln Peak in Warren and Lincoln and the new White Rocks Gateway in Wallingford, which aims to provide the only wheelchair accessible trail within the Taconic region of the Green Mountain National Forest.
Hunger Mountain Headwaters Stowe, Middlesex, and Worcester, VT
Appalachian Trail Stretching 2,190 miles from Georgia to Maine— and hosting 3 million visitors per year—the Appalachian Trail (AT) is America’s most iconic long-distance hiking trail. While the width of the historic footpath itself is fully protected, the adjacent and surrounding landscapes are profoundly vulnerable. Any further degradation and loss of this wild landscape would have a tremendously negative impact—for hikers who draw strength from the magnificent vistas; for local communities, for whom the small town character that drives critical tourism revenue could be lost; and for the diverse wildlife that live along the trail. The Trust for Public Land is leading the charge to protect this iconic landscape, having completed 142 projects to date.
WESTERN MAINE Over the past five years, The Trust for Public Land has protected over 35,000 acres along the AT in Western Maine, and the recent completion of two major efforts helped strengthen that landscape. Bald Mountain Pond is frequently cited as a
thru-hiker’s favorite part of the trail. Now, this pristine 1,100-acre pond and 1,500 acres of oldgrowth forest are forever protected. Ursa Major, another site in Western Maine, added 8,500 acres to the protected AT landscape—a breathtaking property loved by fishers, hunters, hikers, and snowmobilers.
LOOKING AHEAD Southeast of Ursa Major, we’re working with the State of Maine and The Nature Conservancy to protect 13,900 acres through the Quill Hill to Perham Stream project. Protection of these properties will create new public access to land immediately next to the AT and offer recreational access for people of all abilities. Quill Hill includes an ADA-accessible picnic area with 360-degree views of the Western Maine Mountains. In addition to Quill Hill to Perham Stream, we are in the early stages of protecting land near the AT in the Katahdin Region, New Hampshire’s White Mountains, and Vermont’s Green Mountains, with the White Rocks Gateway and Roaring Branch efforts.
JERRY AND MARCY MONKMAN
Ursa Major from Quill Hill Western Maine
MIM ADKINS
POLICY AND ADVOCACY The Trust for Public Land does more than complete exceptional land protection projects. In partnership with The Trust for Public Land Action Fund, we create, renew, and protect public funding and support for conservation through education, ballot measures, and legislative advocacy. At the federal level, this year brought an exceptional victory. For nearly four decades, we have led the fight for full, dedicated, and permanent funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the budgetary lifeblood for parks and open space. Through the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA)—signed into law on August 4, 2020— LWCF is now permanently and fully funded, providing $900 million annually for conservation and parks. Full and dedicated funding for LWCF means stable and predictable support for complex long-term land conservation efforts.
In addition, GAOA provides $9.5 billion over five years to address longstanding maintenance backlogs in our national parks, forests, and other public lands. Here in New England, we are partnering with the Maine Climate Council to identify funding sources for natural climate solutions, advocating for increased funding for the Land for Maine’s Future program, working with Massachusetts CPA communities to secure a state match for municipal funds spent on open space, and advocating for a robust future for Vermont’s trail networks. We are extremely proud of the work we do to advocate for our public lands—and we will continue to lead the charge to ensure that we all have access to the extraordinary benefits that connection with nature brings. Thanks to everyone who spoke up for LWCF. This is your victory!
Thank you
for joining us as we reimagine and realize the power of land for people to create stronger communities. We couldn’t do it without you.
Join us. The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come.
tpl.org
Ally McDougal Director of Philanthropy—Northern New England 781.856.5564 | ally.mcdougal@tpl.org Arleaya Martin Associate Director of Philanthropy—MA/RI 617.371.0538 | arleaya.martin@tpl.org Betsy McGean Sr. Director of Philanthropy—VT/NH 617.780.8735 | betsy.mcgean@tpl.org
COVER, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: JERRY AND MARCY MONKMAN;BRIAN MOHR AND EMILY JOHNSON/ EMBER PHOTOGRAPHY; ERIN CLARK; JERRY MONKMAN; JERRY MONKMAN.