Middlesex Land Trust Celebrates 30 Years and 1000 Acres

From The Middlesex Land Trust
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The Middlesex Land Trust is pleased to announce its 2017 Annual Meeting in celebration of its 30th year and 1000th acre preserved featuring Rand Wentworth, Land Trust Alliance President Emeritus, as the special guest speaker. The meeting will take place at 9:30 a.m. on April 29, 2017 at the deKoven House located at 27 Washington Street.
A short business meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. followed by a presentation by Rand Wentworth at 10:00 a.m. Wentworth will discuss the challenges, changing roles, and importance of land trusts.

Rand Wentworth, visionary and effective leader for permanence of land conservation in America, was named President Emeritus of the Land Trust Alliance after a 14-year tenure as President. The mission of the Alliance is to strengthen land conservation by supporting land trusts through increased professionalism, training and education, political support, insurance and legal resources, and by building public support for land conservation across America.The Alliance is a national conservation organization that represents and supports more than 1,000 member land trusts across the country.

Before joining the Alliance, Wentworth served as Vice President and founding director of the Atlanta office of the Trust for Public Land. Before working in land conservation, he was president of a commercial real estate development company. Currently, Wentworth teaches at Harvard University’s Kennedy School as the Louis Bacon Senior Fellow in Environmental Leadership at the Center for Public Leadership. Wentworth is a graduate of Yale University and holds an MBA in finance from Cornell University.

“Last year, the World Wildlife Foundation reported that the world’s populations of wild mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians had declined by more than 50% since 1970 due to human activity. Thirty years from now, our remaining natural areas will predominately exist in areas that we, as a community, have chosen to preserve.  The importance of accelerating the pace of the open space preservation cannot be overstated,” said Middlesex Land Trust Board of Directors Chairman Stuart Winquist.

“The Middlesex Land Trust invites you to celebrate our last 30 years & 1000 acres of open space conservation and hear guest speaker Rand Wentworth, president-emeritus of the Land Trust Alliance, talk about the challenges, changing roles, and importance of land trusts.”

A reception and light lunch will follow with two guided hikes on land trust preserves scheduled for the afternoon. If interested in attending, please RSVP for planning purposes to (860) 343-7537; info@middlesexlandtrust.org; or via www.middlesexlandtrust.org by April 15th. Space is limited.

Since 1987, the Middlesex Land Trust has been dedicated to the preservation of land for all to enjoy. Working in Cromwell, Durham, Middlefield, Middletown, East Hampton, Portland and Haddam Neck, the Middlesex Land Trust has preserved, owns and manages over 1000 acres in 52 preserves. For additional information about the Middlesex Land Trust, visit www.middlesexlandtrust.org.