Wellesley Home Magazine 2022-23

Land Trust
Works for
Wellesley’s
Green Space
By Judith Dorato O’Gara
Why do people move to Wellesley?
“Proximity to Boston, the education
system, and then, it’s the beauty of the
greenery in town, the open space,”
believes Michael Tobin, president of
the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust
(WCLT).“I hear people say, ‘I moved to
town because of that, and I am within
walking distance to a brook, to trails,
to green space’ or ‘my property abuts
it.’’” Green space, he says, “is a selling
point.”
That green space doesn’t always come
with a lifelong guarantee, however.
“What astounds people is, when
they’re here, and all of a sudden the
green space they thought was protected,
is in threat of being developed,”
says Tobin.
On Rte. 16, for example, Wellesley
College had four acres, says Tobin,
wooded land that had been zoned
back in the 1960’s. Around 2017-2018,
the homes for which it was zoned
were built. “People driving by said, ‘Oh
my god, how could all this open space
we thought was preserved now have
five houses? We thought it was preserved!’
My response is much of this
land is in private ownership. Whether
it’s an institution or a private college
or a home and a family, we need to
be reaching out to these organizations
and these people to say, ‘Let’s preserve
Members of the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust bring
their own areas of expertise to the mission, such as the
use of drones to survey and photograph conservation
lands in Wellesley.
Photo use courtesy of Wellesley Conservation Land Trust
half your land; let’s preserve all your
land, because once it’s in a developer’s
hands, it’s too late. We need to act
now to preserve what we currently
have before we lose that.”
That’s where the Wellesley Conservation
Land Trust steps in. The
organization began as the Wellesley
Conservation Council back in 1958,
when a handful of alarmed individuals
facilitated the preservation of the
Guernsey Sanctuary, Carisbrook Reservation,
Centennial Park, and Boulder
Brook Reservation. The founders modeled
the organization after the Sudbury
Valley Trustees and the Weston
Forest and Trail Association, which had
been successful in promoting conservation.
Even land owned by the town, says
Tobin, is not necessarily safe from the
chopping block.
“We had to rebuild two elementary
schools,” Tobin explains, “One of the
choices was to do it on one of the
school properties, where there was
woods and a rock ledge. Six acres
were going to be destroyed, versus
the other school location, where there
were the playing fields in the back and
(the plan would) move the playing
fields to the front. And so, we helped
to advocate preserving the nature. We
need smarter thinking instead of trying
to react when one piece of property is
under threat,” says Tobin.
The 20-year Wellesley resident got
involved with the organization during
the “Save the North 40” initiative,
when Wellesley College was set on
selling 46 acres of open space near his
street. Tobin joined a community grassroots
effort to help convince the college
that development to the highest
bidder was not necessarily in the interest
of all parties and the town. “There
was enough community interest that
the town purchased the property -
and there was overwhelming support
by Town Meeting members,” says Tobin.
The Wellesley Conservation Land Trust
aims to preserve open space, maintain
that open space and educate residents
young and old on matters of conservation.
The group works in cooperation
with Wellesley Natural Resources
Commission and works closely with
the Town, and Sustainable Wellesley, to
present education programs.
“We also partner with the Natural
Resources Commission (NRC). Under
the NRC is the town parks and town
sanctuaries; they have the group the
Wellesley Trails Committee, which
maintain approximately the 35 miles of
trails in town”
Tobin further explains that the Wetlands
Protection Committee works
under state jurisdiction.
Sometimes, homeowners will express
interest in protecting a wetland near
their property, and “we’ll say, ‘it’s already
protected.’”
Among other initiatives, the WCLT has
worked in loose collaboration with
other local towns in trying to understand
and implement the tree bylaws.
The Wellesley Conservation Land
66 WellesleyHOME