The original GWLT board from 1987: Evelyn B. Silver, Allen W. Fletcher, Deborah D. Cary, Brian M. Nickerson, and George L. Dresser. Photo from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

About

The Greater Worcester Land Trust is a small non-profit organization created in 1987 to purchase, hold, advocate for, preserve or transfer, critical open space parcels in the Greater Worcester area. The Land Trust is run by a board of trustees, volunteers, and a small office staff.

We endeavor to acquire and maintain land for preservation of wildlife so that current and future generations can enjoy the mental and physical well-being wilderness and our natural environment provides.

We achieve this by:

• Purchasing land of conservation interest
• Accepting gifts of land
• Securing and enforcing conservation easements
• Pursuing limited development ventures where appropriate
• Advising landowners regarding techniques and estate-planning benefits of land preservation
• Working with local and state officials in the coordination of conservation efforts and the securing of grants

Our goal is quite simply the preservation of quality open space in the Greater Worcester area, with the idea that if someone doesn’t attend to it, it will go away. The city has been blessed with the legacy of the forward-looking parks movement of a century ago; and the region as a whole has been blessed with large reserves of undeveloped areas—forest, farmland, and simply vacant land. Now, with development transforming both urban and rural land at an unprecedented pace, it is apparent that the old park system is simply not enough. If we want to see a healthy mix of land uses in Greater Worcester’s future—one where urban values are complemented and intensified by significant natural preserves—we have to attend to the problem now.

Allen Fletcher, President, Greater Worcester Land Trust in The RECORD, Fall 1987