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If you have ever meandered through Turner Woods or Lead Mills, crossed the boardwalk on Robinson Farm, done a trail run or walk through Steer Swamp or stared out over Ware Pond, you should thank the Marblehead Conservancy.
The Marblehead Conservancy is celebrating its 25 th anniversary this year, but don’t expect any fanfare. MC President Robert French said over the years, when they hit certain milestones regarding trail work, such as how many hours put into it, they would buy themselves t-shirts.
“And we’d march ourselves down to the Select Board and tell them, ‘Hey, you know, this is where we’ve gotten to so far,’” he said. “In other words, we wanted people to know we exist.”
But not this year. French said they will mark the 25th anniversary simply by annual report andvstories published about them.
How it all got started
Founded in 2001, the Conservancy’s mission is to protect, acquire, and enhance the town’s natural resources for the betterment and enjoyment of the public.
“We maintain about 150 acres of virtually all town owned land,” said MC Treasurer/Secretary and one of its founders, Don Morgan. “Most of it is conservation land, but a couple of them aren’t.”
French, however, said the groundwork for the Conservancy was actually laid in the town’s 1999 updated Open Space and Recreation Plan where a resident survey showed that the community was concerned about the condition and the protection of open space and recreation facilities. The Conservation Commission and Recreation and Parks Commission had some far-reaching goals of their own in the report, from taking care of the properties to buying Lead Mills, French said.
The problem was neither organization had any money or the manpower to act. So, residents stepped up. French said within two years a small group gathered and formed a nonprofit to take on the work as well as the fundraising using the Open Space and Recreation Plan as a guide.
“The Conservancy was born,” he said.
Financing, enough to get them started, came when the authors of “Discovering
Marblehead” donated all of the book sale profits to the cause. French said residents have continued to be generous financially and they are careful to be transparent. The publish a yearly financial report along with a regular newsletter keeping residents abreast of their activies.
"We're very open about who we are and what we do," French said.
Twenty-five years later, French said people are still donating and volunteering their time to maintain trails and even those who simply walk the trails help by watching over the open spaces and reporting issues when they see them.
"And that's a very important part of everything," he said. "What we're trying to do all the time is get the people of the town to love the open space areas, whether town owned or privately owned, we don't care. Love the open spaces out there, and they've really come on to do that.
“These are forms of ownership,” he added.
What have they accomplished
Looking back, French said one of the biggest accomplishments in his mind was the removal of “major trash,” from the open space areas.
“I’m talking about dozens and dozens of tires, rubber tires, a couple of rotted cars, and so on,” he said, adding they had a lot of help from the Board of Health, which allowed them to take everything to the transfer station at no charge, “because it came from town land.”
For Morgan, the big accomplishment is more about building and maintaining trails. He said of the property they oversee about eight pieces initially had trails, but they were just cut throughs.
“So, we’ve rationalized all these places so that they now have looped trails, and within maybe 25 feet of all those trails, we’ve removed all the invasives, and replaced them with native plants,” he said. “It’s a huge accomplishment.”
And they continue to maintain those properties. Morgan said the Trails Committee sends out a trail crew twice a week, every week, except in the winter, when they only go out once a week.
“Sometimes we’re repairing a trail, sometimes, occasionally, rarely, but sometimes we’re putting in a new one and then very often, we’re just cleaning up, particularly after a storm,” French said.
Morgan said the fact that the trails are accessible to people is also a big deal. They made them something of value that everyone can use, not something that is wrapped up or cordoned off, “because we want people to enjoy them,” he said.
But trails are only one of three paths the Conservancy focuses on. The other two are land and education.
French said in 2005 the Conservancy was the driving force behind a successful campaign to purchase the remaining 3.2 acres of Robinson Farm and in 2013, they collaborated with the Essex County Greenbelt to, along with Salem, acquire the Lead Mills site for preservation.
They also had a hand, in 2009, in turning Turner Woods into conservation land and in 2018, assisting a private landowner who donated a piece of property, allowing for the expansion of the Ware Pond conservation area.
“Today, we’ve got a lot of emphasis on education,” French said.
The Conservancy has a history of working with The Tower School. They have also worked with Marblehead High School’s Green Club and they provide summer jobs for teens. And they have worked with both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts over the years on Eagle Scout and Gold Award projects, respectively.
Morgan said they also bring in a good speaker at least once a year on a relevant topic.
“When we have annual meetings, we don’t make you sit through a bunch of stuff about how proud we are of what we did, we get somebody who can educate us on something relative to what we do,” he said.
They also hold a yearly Earth Day event where they invite the public to come help them plant wildflowers at Lead Mills and Forest River. Morgan said after a few fits and stops with the project, they are now planting wildflowers specifically aimed at helping to rebuild the population of native pollinators.
He said it will take another generation to really see the impact, but he is optimistic it will get done.
Why do they do it
Morgan, who was never a hiker as a kid but grew to love it as an adult, said he felt that working with the Conservancy was a way to show people that walking in the woods was more than just a way to exercise your dog.
He also said he was once asked to run for public office and he turned to a good friend, who at the time was on the Select Board. She told him there were lots of good parts to serving, but most of the time, when she was out, she would run into people that just wanted to tell her what she should be doing because she was doing it all wrong, he said.
“When we’re out working on the trails, people come by and thank us all the time,
Morgan said, adding wryly, "I’d rather get a pat on the back than a kick in the ass.”
He said the Conservancy is very happy doing what it’s doing, and he believes they are making a contribution to the town and the community – which could be seen as quite the understatement.
French said by the end of this year, it’s likely they will mark 40,000 hours in total of work on the trails.
And Morgan suspects that people might get more than just exercise when they are out on the trails or on of the open spaces, which adds another layer of worthwhileness for him.
“I’m not that big of a spiritual person, but I think there’s something about a walk in the woods that’s different than a walk on the sidewalk,” he said.
Where it’s going
Both French and Morgan said they haven’t really thought about where the Conservancy might go in the next 25 years other than they hope it will continue. But they face a challenge, not unlike many organizations these days.
“I’m 80 and most of the rest of the core people here are in that age range, upper 60s to mid-80s,” Morgan said. “We have a few younger people coming, not as many as we would like. It’s a big challenge, so we hope we’ll weather it.”
French said one of the best reasons for joining in is the camaraderie. Current volunteers are all nice people from a variety of backgrounds and ages.
Anyone who would like to join the Marblehead Conservancy or volunteer can do so at https://marbleheadconservancy.org/join-us/.
But no pressure, French insisted.
“You come and try it out. If it works for your great, stay with us,” he said. “If it doesn’t work for you … that’s OK. We’re OK.”
