Woodland owners in Massachusetts make decisions about their land that have great impact on their communities and surrounding forest land. Often these woodland owners lack the resources to make informed decisions that conserve land. The Keystone Project, formerly Coverts, for the past 23 years has sought to bring information about land conservation and management to woodland owners across Massachusetts through peers. During the weekend of April 16^th, twenty community leaders from across the state attended workshops and field trips on a variety of topics from forest ecology, sustainable forest management, wildlife habitat enhancement, and land protection. Four of those individuals come from towns in the Deerfield watershed including Charlie Kaminski from Savoy, Phil Lussier from Ashfield, Lynn Rose from Deerfield, and Josiah Simpson from Shelburne. See the weekend in a short YouTube video.

The Keystone cooperators were chosen from a pool of applicants because of their impact on their communities through participation in Open Space committees, Planning Boards and many more. They came to the workshop with a variety of backgrounds but all were hungry for more understanding of forest ecology and different methods of land protection. For two mornings they attended lectures on topics such as Forest Succession, Invasive species, and Land protection tools. Two afternoon field trips took cooperators to see timber harvests, different levels of forest succession, and examples of forests that are habitat for different wildlife species. One evening cooperators heard the story of a private landowner’s successful protection of a landscape in New Hampshire through partnerships with individuals and public and private organizations. Another evening, cooperators learned about invasive insects impacting trees in Massachusetts. In the end cooperators heard the experiences of former Keystone cooperators, including Tony Borton from Conway. Tony spoke about the success of communicating a conservation message in his neighborhood. He emphasized how the relationships he and his wife, Ann, had built over the 35 years of living in Conway, helped when he wrote letters to neighbors about conserving their land. By an improved understanding of ecological, management, and legal concepts like shade tolerance, even age stand, and conservation restrictions,  cooperators are better equipped to have conversations about forest management and conservation in their communities. 

Every woodland owner in Massachusetts faced with a decision about their land will not be able to attend Keystone, but The Keystone Project's goal is to have  cooperators  communicate through word of mouth the right information  to many woodland owners about land conservation. To a large extent this goal has already been met, as past Keystone cooperators have reported helping to conserve land because of the knowledge gained at the weekend training. Through the empowerment of a few key members, the whole community can flourish with good information resources. 

 Click to contact a Keystone cooperator from current and years past in the Deerfield and Westfield watersheds

Contact a recent Keystone Cooperator near you:

Charlie Kaminski in Savoy, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Phil Lussier in Ashfield, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Lynn Rose in Deerfield, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Josiah Simpson in Shelburne, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

See the weekend in a short YouTube Video!