Joseph McLaughlin joined the organization in late February after decades as director of properties at the Norman Bird Sanctuary in Rhode Island, according to the Trustees.
The Trustees of Reservations announced Wednesday that it will be laying off 10 per cent off its staff statewide, including one staff member on the Vineyard.
The Edgartown conservation commission grilled The Trustees of Reservations Wednesday as the statewide land nonprofit continued its bid to renew its oversand vehicle program on Chappaquiddick.
After months of increasingly contentious correspondence, Edgartown town counsel has rejected The Trustees of Reservations’ claims that the land nonprofit does not own or have any responsibility to maintain the eastern side of the Dike bridge and aging bulkhead.
In a letter sent to the board Monday, Trustees attorney Dylan Sanders reiterated the organization’s longstanding position that the Dike Bridge is not under Trustees’ ownership, and therefore it is not responsible for funding any repairs.
Roughly $155,000 in grant money will be dedicated to surveying a salt marsh around Poucha Pond and the bay side of Cape Poge Wildlife Refuge on Chappaquiddick.
The select board Monday sent a letter to the conservation commission, urging members to require the Trustees put a portion of oversand vehicle sticker sales toward the bridge’s estimated $4.3 million repairs.
The land nonprofit has been the subject of considerable controversy recently as abutters, recreational beachgoers, and conservation officials dispute the Trustees’ management approach.
The Trustees of Reservations is under scrutiny once again after the Edgartown conservation commission found the regional land trust failed to properly demarcate oversand vehicle trails.
