News & Events – Page 5 – Harvard Conservation Trust

Review: 2020 Annual Meeting

November 19, 2020

For those who may have missed it, the 2020 Annual Meeting was one of the best attended anyone can remember. Nearly 70 individuals joined our Zoom meeting, and all learned something new about how mycorrhizal relationships work, how trees share, and how fungal species establish relationships with plants while avoiding other fungus. We also learned how all of the preceding three statements are all referencing the same wood-wide web! Dr. Susan Goldhor, of the Boston Mycological Club has left us all with a better understanding and appreciation of the many ecological processes taking place right under our feet that we

Annual Meeting

November 6, 2020

The Harvard Conservation Trust’s Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 18th at 7:00 pm, and we invite you to join us. Our invited speaker this year is President of the Boston Mycological Club, Susan Goldhor. She will speak to us about fungi, conservation, and the ways in which they are related. Ms. Goldhor will begin speaking at about 7:30 pm, following the completion of the required Trust business. This year’s highlights will include a review of a very busy year in land protection with a video tour of some recent successes, the introduction of HCT’s new Executive Director,

Brehm Trail Re-Opened with Student Trail Work

September 21, 2020

The HCT has just re-opened the Brehm trail! It’s a great hike or ride, with some significant hills to climb if you’re looking for a cardio workout. You’ll find the new trailhead, marked with an HCT sign, just west of 149 Stow Road, on the north side of the street. There’s parking for 3-4 cars alongside the road across the street, or you can park at the town gravel pit, which sits back from the road about 150 yards west of the trailhead. The new Stow Road entrance trailhead provides easy access into the Brehm lands, purchased by the Trust

Choosing What to Conserve

September 1, 2020

How does HCT know which lands to pursue and protect? The Lands Protection Committee has created a matrix to help sort the variable and drive the process.

Introducing: HCT-Bromfield Student Service Collaboration

August 17, 2020

Student volunteers from Bromfield have been working outdoors all Summer on protected lands across Harvard: clearing new trails and making sure that existing trails are well marked and safe for hikers and wildlife. It’s all part of a new collaboration between The Harvard Conservation Trust and the Bromfield School, who have worked together to create an alternative learning experience off school grounds. As part of Bromfield’s commitment to encouraging active citizenship and volunteerism, students must complete 40 hours of community service in order to graduate. Through the HCT collaboration, Students can be of service to their community and learn about

Thank You and Farewell

July 29, 2020

HCT Members and Friends, There is a conservation legacy in Harvard that is important not only for the town, but for the region and the broader conservation community, and it has been a privilege to serve as HCT’s executive director for the past five years. HCT is a sound and effective organization because of the talent and dedication of thousands of volunteers and members since 1973. Thank you for the tireless commitment, generosity, and energy that you bring to the ongoing work of protecting and caring for the forests, fields, and farmland of Harvard. It’s inspiring, a true example of

HCT Seeks Next Executive Director

July 9, 2020

Executive Director – Job Description Cherished as an asset to the residents of Harvard, MA, and surrounding communities, the Harvard Conservation Trust, HCT, is a private, charitable, non-profit land trust whose mission is “to preserve the unique character and natural resources of Harvard”. Since its inception in 1973, HCT has helped to permanently protect more than 850 acres of land for conservation, through purchase, conservation restriction, and easement. With the full support of its Board of Directors, the Trust seeks an Executive Director to execute the strategic vision of HCT – to preserve natural resources through conservation and to create a fully connected network of protected lands.

Connections: Holy Hill, Kaufman Land, Town Forest and Ohlin Land

June 2, 2020

Conservation work focuses on connectivity: between people and the land, between individuals and community, and, for ecological and recreational reasons, between and among different pieces of protected land. Many of us look for connecting trails to extend our hikes, rides or runs – and as new ways to get to know the landscape of the town. A case in point: it’s possible to walk – almost exclusively on trails – through the enormously varied landscapes of Holy Hill, Kaufman Land, the Town Forest, and Ohlin Land. Directions Park at the Holy Hill Lot on South Shaker Road, then head north into the