TerraCorps partners all have one thing in common…LAND
Whether our missions are focused on land conservation, urban agriculture, food justice, land access, or revitalization – and a few of us do them all – LAND is the common thread that ties us together in our work.
Massachusetts Partners
Boston Nature Center-Mass Audubon is a community-based education center and wildlife sanctuary located in the heart of Boston, in the Mattapan neighborhood. Its all-inclusive programs promote scientific thinking and ecological learning and are offered on-and off-site, often in collaboration with our many community partners. Intensive school initiatives, licensed preschools, outreach programs, nationally-accredited camp programs, Youth Leaders program, and public programs are some of the offerings we provide. BNC features the City of Boston’s first green municipal building and is comprised of 67-acres which includes wetlands, meadows, and forests.
Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary- Mass Audubon is one of nearly 60 Mass Audubon sanctuaries and protects over 800 acres of conservation land along the Charles River in the MetroWest area of Greater Boston. Sustainable stewarding of our natural environment for resilience, connecting people and nature through education and advocacy, and collaborating with nearby cities, towns and other conservation organizations on land protection and management are key aspects of our mission. Sustainable design of our nature center serves as an award winning model. The team at Broadmoor also works to protect and steward over 400 additional acres in the nearby towns of Holliston and Hopkinton.
CitySprouts is a nonprofit organization with a mission to develop, implement and maintain beautiful, resource-rich school gardens in collaboration with public school communities. Integrated into the academic curriculum, CitySprouts gardens inspire teachers, students, and families with a deep, hands-on connection to the food cycle, sustainable agriculture, and the natural environment. Based in public elementary and middle schools, CitySprouts School Partnership Program works closely with teachers to establish experiential learning and integrate garden-based education into school culture. The CitySprouts Middle School Program curriculum is grounded in scientific inquiry, engineering practices and understanding food systems. CitySprouts’ serve more than 7,000 students and 300 teachers in 21 public schools in Boston and Cambridge.
Charles River Watershed Association was formed in 1965 by a group of local residents who were appalled by the condition of the Charles River and had a vision for something better. Over the past six decades CRWA has been involved in every major decision affecting the Charles River. CRWA was the catalyst for change in one of the greatest environmental cleanup stories of our time. One of CRWA’s early successes was advocating for protection of wetlands instead of pursing a traditional levy system for flood control. Today the Natural Valley Storage Area protects millions of residents and assets across the watershed while enhancing the local ecosystem.
Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)’s mission is to strengthen farms and engage the community to build the local food economy. Like Terracorps, we focus on the importance of a community connection to land, farms, and food. Recognizing that family farms here face many challenges, CISA works on strengthening farmers’ business management and marketing skills and on building the community support that is essential for their survival. We believe that viable farm businesses are essential to preserving working farmland. We work with farms in all business stages, including start-up, expansion, and transition. Farmers choose land preservation as a strategy at all business stages, and we provide support and referrals to the APR program, land trusts, and other local non-profits.
Mass Audubon Conservation Science Department coordinates research, land management planning, and statewide bird conservation efforts. We design and implement habitat restoration projects, partner with academic researchers and citizen scientists to monitor declining species, and lead statewide and regional efforts to identify and protect the most imperiled birds and other wildlife. Mass Audubon protects 38,000 acres of land throughout Massachusetts, saving birds and other wildlife, and making nature accessible to all. As Massachusetts’ largest nature conservation nonprofit, we welcome more than a half million visitors a year to our wildlife sanctuaries and 20 nature centers.
The Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust (DNRT) was founded as an all-volunteer land trust in 1971 with a mission to preserve and protect Dartmouth’s natural resources for people and nature, forever. The organization has grown from one 19-acre fee property in 1971 to 58 fee properties today, totaling more than 1,700 acres. We also steward 55 Conservation Restrictions on another 1,350 acres. Combined with the work we have done in partnership with other conservation organizations, state agencies and the Town of Dartmouth, DNRT has worked to protect more than 5,100 acres in Dartmouth. DNRT provides open space recreation opportunities for residents all along the South Coast of Massachusetts. Many members, nature reserve visitors, and volunteers come from neighboring communities such as New Bedford, Westport, Fairhaven, and Freetown.
Eagle Eye’s mission is to empower urban people from underserved communities, especially youth of color, to be active caretakers of our environment. Eagle Eye was founded in 1991 by Anthony Sanchez and MaJa Kietzke with a vision of a world in which people of all cultural backgrounds are engaged in the stewardship of Earth’s resources everyday. Eagle Eye began offering hands-on outdoor learning programs in 1992 at our forest site in the Berkshires. By bringing together multiple stakeholders, including urban youth development organizations and community groups, natural resource professionals, and state and local agencies, Eagle Eye developed transformational experiential programs that raise environmental awareness, develop responsibility through stewardship, and offer a pathway to environmental careers through mentorship by environmental professionals.
The East Quabbin Land Trust works to foster the sustainable use of our natural and historic resources for the benefit of all generations through the conservation and stewardship of the farmlands, woodlands and waters in our region of Massachusetts. We envision a regional community that continues to care for its natural environment and supports a sustainable local economy, ensuring a high quality of life for generations to come. The work of the East Quabbin Land Trust is focused in central Massachusetts, an area with a diverse landscape of rivers, villages, rolling farmland, forested highlands, wetlands and working communities. The small staff and dedicated volunteers at the East Quabbin Land Trust are mission-driven, always striving to engage more people of all ages and abilities in the care and conservation of our lands. We take risks, we try new things, and we have fun doing this work as we make lasting changes.
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy is a private non-profit stewardship organization founded in 1998 with the mission to restore and improve the Emerald Necklace for all. The Conservancy connects people with the Emerald Necklace parks and uses projects and programs to enrich the visitor experience and restore and renew the 1,100 acres of landscape, waterways and parkways extending from Boston’s Back Bay through Brookline and Jamaica Plain to Franklin Park in Dorchester. The Conservancy works in collaboration with its partners to restore, improve, maintain, and protect this iconic urban landscape through advocacy, maintenance and restoration, education and access, and volunteer and youth stewardship programs.
Since 1982, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts has served as our region’s clearinghouse of emergency food, currently, for a network of 176 independent local food assistance sites (food pantries meal sites and shelters) across the four counties of western Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties). They also distribute food directly through our Mobile Food Bank (26 sites once or twice a month) and Brown Bag: Food for Elders (51 senior centers monthly). They also have their own 60-acre Food Bank Farm in Hadley and recently purchased another 142 acre farm to increase fresh vegetable availability.
The Franklin Land Trust (FLT) works to conserve farms, forests, wildlands, and other natural resources significant to the quality of the environment, economy, and rural character of our region. We are an innovative, efficient, regional non-profit that has been working to conserve rural landscapes in Franklin County and surrounding towns since 1987. For 33 years, FLT has been steadfast in making land conservation our top priority, completing 415 projects in 32 towns across our region to conserve a total of 32,925 acres. Franklin Land Trust is the parent organization to the Massachusetts Woodlands Institute (MWI), a non-profit organization that encourages and assists landowners in responsibly managing their woodlands. MWI supports FLT’s land conservation mission by helping landowners learn about and manage their land according to individual goals and current best land management practices.
Full Circle Earth promotes and practices Organic Land Care and other Sustainable Solutions while creating rewarding vocational/educational opportunities for people of all abilities with an emphasis on community inclusion and equity for all. Currently, FCE is an all volunteer run non-profit organization seeking to build capacity in order to successfully achieve our vision. We are truly fortunate to have constructed an Environmental Education Greenhouse on an amazing Trustees of Reservations property, Long Hill Reservation. This magical space provides an empowering landscape to facilitate the mission and objectives of FCE for the whole community. We are also fortunate to have a small office space on the Endicott College Campus which acts as our office location.
Gardening the Community (GTC) is a food justice organization engaged in youth development, urban agriculture, and sustainable living to build healthy and equitable communities. GTC plays an important role in Springfield’s food justice movement, working to create more access to healthy food, and building toward an equitable local food system. Youth development and urban agriculture are at the center of this work, with youth leadership development built into all levels of the organization. GTC works with youth to grow food on vacant lots and organizes to expand healthy, affordable food access in the Mason Square neighborhoods of Springfield.
Growing Places works to connect the community through ‘real’ food. GP was founded in 2001 as a private nonprofit organization to donate raised-bed vegetable gardens to low-income individuals in North Central Massachusetts in response to the high levels of poverty, hunger, food insecurity, health disparities and limited access to fresh, affordable and healthy food in the region. As we have strengthened our connection to and understanding of the community’s need, we have expanded beyond simply donating garden materials to creating long-term, sustainable changes that focus on increasing fresh food access and environmental sustainability for those with compromised social determinants of health.
GreenRoots Chelsea works to achieve environmental justice and greater quality of life through collective action, unity, education and youth leadership across neighborhoods and communities. GreenRoots is a community-based organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the urban environment and public health in Chelsea and surrounding communities. We do so through deep community engagement and empowerment, youth leadership and implementation of innovative projects and campaigns.
Hilltown Land Trust‘s mission is to protect land and promote ecological diversity and health, respectful land stewardship, historic character and natural beauty in the Hilltowns of western Massachusetts. Hilltown Land Trust (HLT) serves thirteen rural towns in western Massachusetts, in which it holds 34 conservation restrictions and owns 9 properties protecting over 4,000 acres. HLT maintains active hiking trails at three properties with development of a fourth property coming in the next year. In 2010, HLT and The Trustees of Reservations launched a partnership to combine the efforts and resources. HLT and The Trustees continue to function as independent entities, but now collaborate to increase the pace of land conservation in the Hilltowns.
Since 1970, Kestrel Land Trust has conserved and cared for forests, farms, and riverways in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, while nurturing an enduring love of the land. Kestrel has conserved more than 25,000 acres throughout Amherst, Northampton, and their surrounding communities, and we are responsible for stewarding 3,000 acres of protected lands. Throughout our history, we have partnered with landowners, governmental agencies, citizen groups, and other organizations to protect farmland, woodlands, wildlife habitat, water resources, historic landscapes, and scenic vistas throughout the Valley.
The Metro South Sanctuaries position will be based at the Museum of American Bird Art (MABA). MABA is a family- frienly, professional art museum set on a 121-acre wildlife sanctuary with 2 miles of trails and is located 15 miles south of Boston in Canton. MABA’s mission is to connect people with nature through art and nature-based STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) programs. Onsite and offsite education, including our innovative Wild at Art summer camp, programs serve children adults, families, and school and community groups. MABA offers unique exhibitions and programs that explore the wonders of birds and the human creative capacity.
The Metro West Sanctuaries position will be based at Drumlin Farm. At Drumlin Farm, you can experience life on a working farm and explore a wildlife sanctuary at the same time. Watch the pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, and cows in the farmyard; see how crops are sustainably grown; walk the trails explore field, forest, and wetland habitat; and observe resident owls, hawks, and a fox in the native wildlife exhibit.
Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust(Mount Grace) conserves significant farms, woodlands, and wild areas of North Central and Western Massachusetts for the benefit of the environment, the economy, and future generations. Mount Grace has worked collaboratively to protect more than 33,000 acres of land in our twenty-three-town region comprised of small rural communities and larger urban centers. We are nationally recognized for projects that conserve entire landscapes and watersheds and for creating innovative conservation solutions that keep farmland undeveloped and affordable for farmers. We partner with community groups and schools to ensure that everyone has access to the outdoors and to meaningful experiences in nature. Mount Grace also fiscally sponsors two unique partnerships: the North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership and the Greater Quabbin Food Alliance.
Mount Grace founded TerraCorps as a pilot program back in 2008 and helped to spin it off to an independent nonprofit organization in 2018.
Natick Community Organic Farm is a 501c3 nonprofit, certified-organic farm with ambitious agricultural and environmental mission of providing productive open space, farm products, and hands-on education for all ages, year-round. Located on 27 acres of conservation land since 1975, NCOF is an integral part of the Town of Natick’s geographic and agricultural landscape and a rich center of community life. Over 20,000 visitors come to the farm every year for educational programs, informal visits, and hands-on learning. Thousands of students, volunteers, and community members spanning several generations have now been introduced to the importance of open productive space, organic agriculture, and supporting local farms and farmers.
The North Shore Sanctuaries position will be based out of the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary (IRWS). The IRWS is one of the largest and most popular sanctuaries in Mass Audubon’s statewide system. The sanctuary’s staff provides educational programs to more than 14,000 school children annually, and serves an additional 650 children annually through camp and school vacation programs. The Sanctuary attracts thousands of visitors who participate in programs and events, such as maple sugaring, canoeing, and the Nature Festival, and is visited by an additional 25,000 people a year who simply want to enjoy the sanctuary. The staff at Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary also help to maintain a network of sanctuaries throughout the North Shore.
Round the Bend Farm is a 94 acre working farm and educational non-profit. We are a living laboratory that cultivates, educates, and empowers people of all ages. We are devoted to the global paradigm shift toward hope and abundance by valuing diversity, modeling nature, and redefining wealth. We serve the Southcoast communities around new Bedford and Fall River, MA and beyond. This includes young children, school-aged youth, young adults and adults.
Speak for the Trees, Boston (SFTT) aims to improve the size and health of the urban forest in Boston, especially in under-served and under-canopied neighborhoods. We focus on environmental justice neighborhoods where trees will have the biggest impact in improving the health and well being of residents. Since our founding in April, 2018, we have planted nearly 200 trees, given away over 100 free trees, inventoried over 5000 street trees and 1500 empty planting sites, worked with over 100 volunteers, and trained 9 teens through our Teen Urban Tree Corps summer program. We work at the community level to advocate for a healthy community forest.
Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance (SEMPBA) is a 501c3 not for profit organization that is directed and managed solely by volunteers. SEMPBA formed in 2013 when a group of citizens realized that Plymouth, Massachusetts is in the heart of a globally rare and richly bio–diverse ecoregion named by the United States Geological Survey as the Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens. Our mission is to raise awareness and promote the restoration, management, conservation and protection of the world’s second largest remaining coastal pine barrens.
Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT) is a regional land trust that conserves land and protects wildlife habitat in the Concord, Assabet, and Sudbury river basin for the benefit of present and future generations. We care for some of this region’s most important forests, wetlands, and grasslands—natural areas that support wildlife habitat, working farms, and recreational trails. As of 2018, SVT cares for more than 4,800 acres on 89 reservations and 75 Conservation Restrictions and maintains more than 55 miles of trails. We collaborate with numerous partner organizations, and our work is supported by 2,900 members and 200 volunteers. Our headquarters is located in an old farmhouse on a lovely 53-acre property with views of field and forests.
Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary- Mass Audubon is a 481-acre landscape of cold-water streams, ponds, forest, and woodlands. Once a working cranberry farm, this landscape underwent the largest freshwater ecological restoration ever completed in the Northeast. Its previous owners, the Schulman Family, along with many other organizations, re-created nearly three and a half miles of meandering stream channel, sculpted the land’s surface, and removed nine dams to reconnect the headwaters of Beaver Dam Brook to the ocean. Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary opened to the public in January 2018. In the first year we welcomed over 35,000 visitors, launched public and school programs, created and enhanced trails, and continued to restore habitats across this amazing landscape.
The Wareham Land Trust’s mission is to conserve Wareham’s open space and natural resources, to unite citizens in a common goal of conservation and responsible land use, and to educate the public about the environmental and economic benefits of protecting open space and promoting sustainable development. The Wareham Land Trust is guided by a group of hard-working volunteer board members and supported by individuals and organizations throughout Wareham and the neighboring communities.
Nearly all of the Greak Neck property was designated a priority habitat of state-listed rare species, which is why Mass Audubon collaborated with public and private conservation organizations, as well as private landowners, to protect and manage this sanctuary. Wandering through pine forest on old carriage roads and deer paths, you may encounter a roosting Great Horned Owl or a wading heron at the marsh edge.
Rhode Island Partners
Aquidneck Community Table’s mission is to grow a healthy local food system accessible to all on our island. ACT brings together partners in the community to collectively build a healthier future, generating events and discussions to explore solutions that strengthen the island’s food system, support the local economy, and expand access to fresh food for everyone. ACT’s programs work directly in communities to grow more food, teach life skills, and empower individuals to take pride in their neighborhood green spaces. ACT serves the population of the island in the towns of Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth, approximately 60,000 year round residents, and considerably more in the tourist season. which includes wetlands, meadows, and forests.
Aquidneck Land Trust‘s mission is to preserve and steward Aquidneck Island’s open spaces for the lasting benefit of the community, while connecting people with the land that defines the island’s natural character. ALT has existed for 30 years with a service area of three towns, covering approximately 25,000 acres on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island. We work to connect people to nature, protect our drinking and coastal waters, preserve farmland and support local agriculture, provide places to play for the community, and work to make our island more resilient to climate change. ALT has conserved 2605 acres across 81 diverse properties and manages over 12 miles of free hiking trails.
Audubon Society of Rhode Island was founded in 1897 and is not affiliated with National Audubon. The mission of Audubon-RI is the protection of birds, other wildlife and their habitat through conservation, education and advocacy for the benefit of people and other living things. Audubon-RI protects nearly 9,500 acres of habitat consisting of significant woodlands, wetlands, coastal marshes and grassland habitat in Rhode Island for the benefit of the environment, the economy, and future generations. We partner with community groups and schools to ensure that everyone has access to the outdoors and meaningful experiences in nature. Audubon also provides environmental education programs for
every school district in the state and advocates for sound environmental policy.
Rhode Island Land Trust Council is a coalition of Rhode Island’s land trusts – nonprofit and municipal organizations with a mission of conserving land to protect the special places in our communities. The Council represents land trusts and land conservation interests in the state, facilitates collaborative efforts, and connects land trusts leaders with training and guidance resources. The Council also provides assistance to help land trusts achieve their conservation goals and ensure the sound stewardship and permanent protection of the special places they are conserving. There are over 45 land trusts in Rhode Island. Most are entirely volunteer organizations. Collectively they have conserved over 17,000 acres of land that they own or protect with a conservation easement.
Southside Community Land Trust’s mission is to provide access to land, education and other resources so people in Rhode Island can grow food in environmentally sustainable ways and create community food systems where locally produced, affordable and healthy food is available to all. In the past two decades we have helped to develop policies at the local and state level to purchase and protect farmland, increase state investment in agriculture and aquaculture and establish the RI Food Policy Council. Since 1981, SCLT has transformed nearly 10 acres of urban parcels into 52 community gardens and urban farms. We also manage a 50-acre farm in rural Cranston, RI. Most recently we have focused on beginning farmer and food systems training (supporting beginning farmers, especially immigrant and low-income farmers) and helped found the RI Land Access Working Group. and restoration, education and access, and volunteer and youth stewardship programs.
The Westerly Land Trust works to conserve open space, revitalize culturally significant properties, and provide environmental programs for the enduring benefit of our community. Since being established in 1987, WLT has conserved approximately 1,700 acres of conservation lands in the town of Westerly. Our 31 properties consist of upland forests, wetlands, grasslands, salt marshes, and downtown urban spaces like our Community Garden. In 2017, WLT was awarded national accreditation by the Land Trust Alliance Accreditation Commission, becoming one of only six accredited land trusts in Rhode Island at the time. In addition to land conservation, the Westerly Land Trust has a strong focus on environmental education and community engagement.
The Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council sparks economic development through our work restoring the Woonasquatucket River and communities around it, and by enhancing, extending and bringing people to the Woonasquatucket River Greenway. Our mission is to encourage, support and promote the restoration and preservation of the Woonasquatucket River Watershed as an environmental, recreational, cultural, and economic asset of the State of Rhode Island.The WRWC is a successful model of community revitalization that helps people discover this local American Heritage River and its natural resources, channeling life and economic development into neighborhoods.