The Sheriff's Meadow Foundation, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, owes its existence to the vision, courage and determination of two remarkable people: the late Henry and Elizabeth Hough. In 1920, Henry's father gave the Vineyard Gazette as a wedding present to the two young graduates of the Columbia School of Journalism. Active as managing editor of the New Bedford Evening Standard, the father had introduced Henry to the exciting possibilities of small-town community journalism.
Over 700,000 two and three year seedlings of pine and poplar are to be planted on the State Reservation this summer. The work, which is now in progress, is being done under the state Bureau of Forestry.
The tiny trees are planted in beds at first, and then, as they grow larger and stronger, are transplanted, being placed in spots best calculated to insure rapid and healthy growth.
With the latest acquisition of land by the state, the order of taking of which by the Department of Conservation was published in last week’s paper, the forest reserve on Martha’s Vineyard comprises about 5000 acres. Encircling the heath hen reservation, which consists of 640 acres, this tract extends over the eastern plain lands, the least valuable of any land on the Island.
In a move expected to give Vineyard conservation interests unprecedented strength in shaping the Island’s future, the Vineyard Conservation Society, the Vineyard Open Land Foundation, the Sheriffs Meadow Foundation, the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club and the Trustees of Reservations are shaping an agreement that will allow them to share their strengths and resources.
Mary P. Wakeman, a woman who has devoted herself to the cause of conservation on Martha’s Vineyard, was the guest of honor Saturday when Island conservationists gathered at Cranberry Acres to celebrate her 82nd birthday and to start a fund-raising campaign for the Mary P. Wakeman Conservation Center.
Six Island conservation organizations have joined forces to build a $500,000 conservation center on a lot donated by the Vineyard Open Land Foundation in the subdivision off Lambert’s Cove Road in Vineyard Haven.
On Monday at the Agricultural Hall, farmers and conservationists gathered to talk about ways they can work together to shape the Vineyard's future with respect to the land.
Starting Monday morning, buyers of Martha’s Vineyard real estate will pay two per cent of the purchase price to the Martha’s Vineyard land bank. Tisbury voters yesterday followed the other five Island towns by endorsing the measure designed to raise money for preservation of natural and recreational resources.
The Dukes County commissioners this morning were to appoint one person from each Island town to the land bank commission. The state secretary of environmental affairs will appoint a seventh member.
In June 1965, conservationists concerned about development on the Lobsterville moors sent out letters to residents asking them to join the fight “to preserve the natural beauty of Martha’s Vineyard.” Fifty years later, the Vineyard Conservation Society endures, its mission unchanged.
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission, heralded as a unique and powerful regional planning organization, often the source of controversy, celebrated a quiet 40th anniversary this year.
