SVT's Extended Family

wrack meadow brook, boylston
By Audra Valaitis, Americorps Land Steward
SVT’s land protection and stewardship work provides the communities in our watershed with valuable opportunities for outdoor recreation, wildlife viewing, local farming, and more.  But SVT doesn’t work in a vacuum.  It takes cooperation, sometimes across a number of different towns, groups, and individuals, to make conservation happen.  That’s why SVT is joining with conservation partners throughout our region in the West Suburban Conservation Council.
Founded in 2009, the West Suburban Conservation Council is a consortium of local and regional land trusts, town conservation commissions, representatives of government agencies, and landowners based in Metrowest Boston.   By bringing so many groups to the table to share ideas and collaborate, the Council makes it easier for its members to find the strategies, contacts, and know-how they need to help make complex conservation projects happen in their own backyards. Over the past year, the Council has enabled partners from all over our region to put their heads together on a variety of issues, including deer management, multi-partner land protection projects, sustainable forestry, grassland habitat management, conserving local farmland, and protecting coldwater streams.  SVT is taking a leading role in these efforts by hosting regional meetings and coordinating Council activities.  
But it doesn’t stop with eastern Massachusetts.  Through its involvement in the West Suburban Conservation Council, SVT is linked to conservation partners working in all six New England states.  The West Suburban Conservation Council is one of over two dozen regional councils in New England that have been set up in conjunction with the Wildlands and Woodlands Partnership.  The Wildlands and Woodlands vision aims to triple the amount of protected land in New England in the next 50 years, and to help land stewards work together to sustainably manage the land that has been protected.  
SVT is connected to people, places, and conservation groups not only in its own backyard, but also across our entire region and all of New England.  By working together with our partners to protect and take care of the lands around us, we can help make all of our communities stronger.