Conservation Means Collaboration
Conserving the lands you love can only happen when people and organizations work together. Kestrel Land Trust always partners with willing landowners to conserve their farms, forests, and other special places. Yet we often work with other organizations and agencies as well to achieve a landowner’s goals and our mission.
Municipalities
Kestrel helps towns create public conservation areas for their communities by guiding landowners through the process of selling or donating to the town; assisting with fundraising and grants for land projects; holding conservation restrictions on town lands, and monitoring those lands every year to ensure they’re being cared for—forever.
State and Federal Agencies
Large conservation areas often need the resources of state and federal governments to ensure they are permanently protected. Kestrel works with agencies like the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation to add more land to national refuges and state parks. Kestrel also works with the MA Department of Agriculture to protect the Valley’s farmlands, which provides funding and manages the APR (agricultural preservation restriction) process. State and federal funding is often critical to getting land conserved, as well.
Conservation Nonprofits
With large projects, or those that include multiple communities or diverse goals, Kestrel may partner with other local, regional, or national land conservation organizations to make it happen. Kestrel also supports smaller land trusts on conservation projects of their own by assisting with fundraising, offering advice, or helping with community outreach.
Community Groups
The people who know the land best are those who live, work, or play on it every day. Kestrel partners with groups like the Friends of Puffers’ Pond to provide fundraising support, or with neighborhood groups to identify new places that could be conserved, or help with education and outreach. We also collaborate with other environmental nonprofits and educational institutions.
