[SEMCO] Orenda Summer Appeal

[Jeff Thiebodeau]

Orenda Summer Appeal

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Dear Friend of Orenda,

What was your most memorable outdoor family experience like? Perhaps it was while on vacation … or in your back yard. Were you a child? ... or perhaps a proud parent or grandparent? Maybe it involved a hike in an old-growth forest, a swim in a pristine river or lake, or an unforgettable visit to the ocean’s edge.

Whatever makes our family adventures unique, at their core is love, and a shared appreciation for the beauty and necessity of quiet, undeveloped places, wild creatures, and fresh, unpolluted air and water.

In my second year as Orenda’s first full-time Executive Director, I have so many exciting things to report. Your funding and volunteer support has been critical to our mission! Each of our successful efforts to protect special places and wildlife was made possible because of you.

You have received (and hopefully responded to) Orenda land and wildlife campaigns over the past year and a half. While this is not my first walk in the woods, my job of guiding Orenda to acquire land and protect it forever, is one of the most important and impactful things I’ve ever done. And our collaborative efforts are working!

Thanks to your support, during the past year or so, we have preserved new wildlife sanctuaries in Mashpee, MA [14 acres adjacent to other Orenda lands within the nearly 6,000-acre Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge], and Centerville, MA [6 acres, recognized as the Lindsey Counsell Sanctuary]. We have also secured a generous south shore landowner’s commitment to donate 60 acres of prime habitat in the future. Many more acres have been protected via conservation restrictions (working with other land trusts).

After 35 years of operation, Orenda volunteer board members, land stewards and I now have the honor and responsibility of protecting and managing over 650 acres within 50 wildlife sanctuaries. Once land is acquired, our stewardship efforts are steady.

Sometimes, we need to protect against unauthorized use, such as:

• Trespassing hunters [No Bottom Pond Sanctuary – 27 acres, Brewster, MA, and Brickyard Sanctuary – 6.97 acres, West Barnstable, MA]...unauthorized hunting stands discovered, and actions taken to dismantle and/or address violators.

Sometimes we find an opportunity to help the community:

• Water supply/treatment and stormwater drainage facilities installed within easements [Witch Pond Sanctuary – 27 acres and Red Brook Sanctuary - 1 acre, Mashpee MA]…after project completion the land will be returned to its natural state.

And there are wildlife-specific actions:

• With support from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the U.S.D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service, we completed a prescribed burning program intended to restore habitat critical to the New England Cottontail rabbit and hosted a follow-up effort to monitor the area for secondary benefits to the Eastern Whip-poor-will [Carl Monge Sanctuary – 13.7 acres, Mashpee, MA].

Our most recent wildlife project is one of our most exciting:

• Orenda’s campaign to protect vulnerable Diamondback Terrapin turtles, including nesting females, nests/eggs, and baby hatchlings [Margaret Wyman Sanctuary – 3.43 acres, West Barnstable, MA].

Since the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet thousands of years ago, diamondback terrapins (Threatened in Massachusetts) have been nesting in sandy open areas on one of our sanctuaries in west Barnstable. The terrapin population, severely impacted by human development, climate change, natural succession, and predation, needs our help, and sometimes the gentle nudge of the human hand and heart can help nature restore its balance through active, informed stewardship efforts.

With that in mind, I consulted experts, obtained permits, and set out on a quest to assemble a dedicated volunteer “Turtle Team”. Together, we created new nesting areas, found and protected active nests, and will assist hatchlings as they make their way to safe cover, so they can start their lives and keep the circle of life alive.

I also respectfully, but urgently, turn to you for another generous gift to support all of these initiatives. To protect land and the wild creatures that thrive there, Orenda needs your donation today! To make an on-line donation, please visit https://orendalandtrust.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=627399c9454745afa91dbf961&id=2a311f9479&e=6da9ebfcef or click on the ”Make a Donation” below.

Thank you so much for all you do as a Friend of Orenda!

Sincerely,

Jeff Thibodeau, Executive Director
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