Controversy, primarily around land use and land development issues, has been a defining trait of the Vineyard community in recent years. So it is remarkable and gratifying to see signs that the Vineyard is uniting around the common goal of conserving energy, improving efficiency and thinking about the future.
Can’t wait for those fresh salad greens? Well, by the first of May, a mere 45 days away, you should be able to drop by Cronig’s and purchase a 10-ounce bag of North Tabor Farm’s salad greens, and the season will be under way.
On May 31, the Polly Hill Arboretum and the Vineyard Conservation Society will welcome Paul Tukey, founder of SafeLawns.org, an international coalition promoting environmentally friendly lawn care, for a lively discussion on lawns.
There are times when it’s hard to see the environment for the trees.
Look across the Martha’s Vineyard landscape and that mantle of woods, growing where once the land was substantially denuded, and things look pretty good.
But beneath that green canopy, as Vineyard Conservation Society executive director Brendan O’Neill points out, are 78 parcels of land, ranging in size between 20 acres and 100 acres, which remain undeveloped, but also unprotected from development.
It is one of the enduring pieces of Martha’s Vineyard lore: you take your recycling to the transfer station, separate it as directed into containers for plastics, paper, cardboard, aluminum and so on, and then at the end of the day it all gets tossed in together and dumped.
Like glass, the myth recycles endlessly. But it is a myth.
The Vineyard Conservation Society executive director Brendan O’Neill has been named the 2008 recipient of the Nicholas A. Robinson Environmental Award for his placed-based environmental work on Martha’s Vineyard. The award recognizes significant public service contributions in the environmental field by a graduate of the environmental legal studies program at Pace University School of Law in New York.
Mr. O’Neill shares this year’s honor with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also a Pace graduate.
The Vineyard Conservation Society Winter Walks Program will feature a guided walk at Thimble Farm in Tisbury on Sunday, Jan. 13 at 1:30 pm. Andrew Woodruff, an Island farmer with 25 years’ experience, will lead the walk.
The Vineyard Conservation Society is celebrating over 25 years of leading free winter walks for the community with a walk in East Chop on Nov. 8 at 1 p.m.
Liz Durkee and David Grunden will lead and look at erosion and the possible impacts on fisheries. Walkers will then have the opportunity to enter the light house and get a view from the top. Please park at the East Chop Beach Club parking lot.
As always, cider and cookies will be served. All VCS walks are family friendly.
The Vineyard Conservation Society, at its annual meeting on June 29, voted to approve the nomination of four new directors: former Martha’s Vineyard Commissioner Mimi Davisson; Richard Toole, who currently serves on the Oak Bluffs conservation commission and the zoning board of appeals; marketing and nonprofit management consultant Alan Ganapol; and Julie Anne McNary, professional fundraiser.
