The Land Trust will present its 20th anniversary annual meeting via Zoom this year on Tuesday, January 19, at 7:00 pm. The agenda will include the usual reports of recent activities and board member elections. Please save the date and sign up here to receive the Zoom link to the meeting.
Our special guest speaker this year is Bob Wilber, Director of Land Conservation at Mass Audubon. Long-time ALT members may recall that Bob was instrumental in helping the Land Trust negotiate the purchase of Elizabeth Island in 2010.
He will address the topic Land Conservation in the Time of Climate Change. Land conservation has always been an important activity to protect diverse habitats for animals and plants and to provide opportunities for people to experience the wonders of the natural world firsthand. During the last decade, the immense human health benefits of spending time in natural settings have been well documented. More recently, the convergence of two other critically important issues – the need for impactful responses to climate change and the need for environmental equity and justice for all people – has elevated the priority of strategic land conservation to an altogether new level.
Bob Wilber has been the Director of Land Conservation for Mass Audubon since 2000. Previously, he worked in similar capacities for the Massachusetts Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and Massachusetts State Forests and Parks. Bob is a past president of the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition (MLTC), and currently serves on MLTC’s Board of Trustees. He lives in Stow, where he is president of the all-volunteer Stow Conservation Trust, and a member of the Town of Stow’s Open Space Committee. During his 35+ year career, Bob has been directly involved in the protection of more than 40,000 acres in Massachusetts.