As proposals for golf courses begin to pile up on the Island, the Sheriff's Meadow Foundation released a white paper last week that among other things explains the reasoning behind a decision to oppose a golf course development on the MacKenty land in Edgartown, but not oppose a similar proposal for the Vineyard Acres II subdivision.
"A golf course at Vineyard Acres II — especially the right kind of course — would have far less environmental and ecological impact than the 148 houses that are allowed under the subdivision plan," the paper states in part.
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank has signed an agreement to buy and conserve seven acres of farmland as part of a larger, proposed 35-acre subdivision in West Tisbury that would include affordable and market-rate housing developments.
The State, acting through the fish and game commission, has under consideration the purchase of the 600-acre farm of Antone Andrews, located on the Martha’s Vineyard plain, near Little Pond some three miles from Edgartown, for the purpose of establishing on the tract a state reservation for the better protection of the heath hen, or pinnated grouse. As is well known, the few fowl of this species on the Vineyard are the last of this famous branch of the grouse family. Nowhere else in the world are these heath hen found.
A conservation army, numbering 219 men, will arrive on the Island today to take up the work of reforestation in the state reservation under the federal plan for relieving unemployment. This army is one that has been through the preliminary course of training at Camp Devens, and will be in charge of a captain and two lieutenants of the regular army, besides a detail of military police.
The osprey, once a seriously threatened Vineyard bird, has made a significant recovery. The osprey population on the Vineyard has doubled and doubled again in recent years. The recovery comes from a well proven nesting pole program developed by Gus Ben David, director of Massachusetts Audubon’s Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary.
Leaders for the the new Conservation Partnership of Martha's Vineyard and the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank have pledged full cooperation with one another, announcing among other things that they will begin to hold regular meetings to exchange information pertinent to the conservation movement.
"The land bank is committed to meet with the partnership monthly, to talk about specific properties and also priorities," said land bank executive director James Lengyel.
The initiative announced Monday will preserve nearly all the remaining undeveloped land on Cuttyhunk — including a large swath of unspoiled barrier beach, marsh and upland.
