Dear friend,
Fall is a season of new beginnings, this year more than ever—we’re hearing new voices, new ideas, and seeing more resources toward the most critically important work.
In conversations with donors and friends this year, I've learned a lot about what our community is thinking, hoping for, looking to BNRC to do.
The topic of climate resiliency often comes up. BNRC is focused on creating greater climate resiliency in the Berkshires. That idea can seem very abstract—can saving a parcel of forest in Berkshire County stave off such an existential threat?
Yes!
A forested riverbank can keep floodwaters from overflowing. Pollution from runoff harms fish and wildlife, but the forests protect them, and us, and even cool the air around us.
An intact wetland can absorb extra waters and protect nearby homes and property.
A healthy forest, free of invasive species, sequesters and stores more carbon. So do healthy farm soils. Those well-cared-for lands provide a safe haven for all our creatures.
Protecting these rivers, forests, and fields really does make a difference, locally and beyond.
In fact, we’ve just completed a restoration project at the Rising Pond in Great Barrington that will have an incredible impact on riverbank habitat, forest, and floodplain. This sensitive and biodiverse riverfront land was choked with dense invasive species like bittersweet, buckthorn, and autumn olive. Native plants and trees couldn’t thrive, nor could the insect and animal species that depend on them.
Carefully removing the invasives here over the course of several years has allowed native trees, wildflowers, and mosses to regenerate. This healthier landscape now provides homes for dragonflies, warblers, turtles, and more, just as it did hundreds of years ago.
That’s climate resilience in action!
But make no mistake—it can’t happen without you. In fact, you are often the only line of defense against the loss or degradation of these lands.
Your gift lets us work on protecting and caring for the farm or field or forest you love most.
With you on the team, here’s a snapshot of what’s been going on.
The parking lot at the Old Mill Trail has been expanded and made fully accessible. The trail now meets Forest Service Trail Accessibility Standards so that people with all mobility considerations can experience the clean and free-running east branch of the Housatonic River.
The trails at Tom Ball Mountain are well underway, creating sustainable and beautifully designed access to an area of the county that has been inaccessible to hikers until now.
At the heart of the work, as always, is conserving more land—more precious habitat, more fertile farm fields.
In fact, our strategic plan calls for the conservation of an additional 20,000 acres in the Berkshires by 2030. This goal ties into the 30x30 initiative—a framework adopted by 190 countries committed to conserving 30% of the Earth’s land and water by 2030 to stop habitat and species loss.
The US has signed on, as has the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And, along with many other local, regional, and statewide partners, so has BNRC.
There are a few key ingredients to making that happen.
The geospatial model we’ve built—that is, the data and maps that identify the most critical lands—you may have read about this in a recent BNRC Report.
Landowners who have a vision for the long-term future of their property.
And you. You are a key part of this—your gift now helps us ramp up the pace to work toward that goal.
One other key ingredient to success: the power of collaboration. BNRC works hand in hand with groups like Mass Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, Trustees of Reservations, and so many others—your town’s land trust, state parks and wildlife agencies, the list goes on. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit for the project—all that matters is it gets done.
So about that question, how does conserving a parcel of land here affect the global issue of climate change?
Here’s how.
The Appalachian Mountains, which stretch from Canada to Alabama, have been designated by The Nature Conservancy as one of the four most important global bioregions, as important as the Amazon rainforest and the Kenyan grasslands.
The Berkshires are a critical link in the northern range—our intact forests, healthy wetlands, and cold-water rivers and streams provide some of the best habitat, and store the most carbon, across that entire landscape.
That means that every time you contribute to the conservation of land in your Berkshires town, you are genuinely, truly, making a difference regionally AND globally.
I thank you for being a part of it, and I humbly and gratefully ask for your contribution now to make sure we reach 30x30 and beyond. If, like me, you’re feeling that sense of hope and possibility, you know that there is nothing we can’t do if we do it together.
I want to hear your voice too—please be in touch!
Yours truly,
Jenny Hansell
President, BNRC
P.S. If you have a donor-advised fund, your DAF disbursement can make BNRC eligible to receive matching funds through HalfMyDAF. The deadline is September 27—visit halfmydaf.com for all the details. BNRC accepts donations in many other ways: from stock, an IRA disbursement, and more.