NATURAL LANDS . FALL / WINTER 2020 1 from the president
Before the pandemic , we were living in a world of rapid and continuous change . Since the COVID crisis began , however , it feels that everything is changing ; and at an even more dizzying pace . The most fundamental routines of our lives have been interrupted and many may never again be as they were . It is no wonder that observers say that , as a society , we are in a heightened state of agitation and fear .
It is also no wonder that more people than ever are turning to nature as a remedy .
By now , you have no doubt read of the unprecedented visitation to nature preserves and parks that has been triggered by the pandemic . Natural Lands has experienced this firsthand ; visits to many of our properties have grown three-fold or more since March .
It is as if an ancient strand of our DNA has been awakened , calling us to spend time among the trees , fields , streams , and open skies . And why not ? What better salve for the exhausting mental and psychological toll of rapid , unpredictable change than natural landscapes that provide solid ground on which to walk .
A hawk circling as it rises on a thermal , waves of wind across a field of golden grass , the melodic call of a bluebird . Nature has a steady rhythm and flow of its own . One that is a perfect counterbalance to the unprecedented disruption we are experiencing .
When I walk at one of Natural Lands ’ 43 nature preserves or Stoneleigh : a natural garden , I connect with and delight in that rhythm and flow . And I rejoice in knowing that those remarkable places and the 400 + properties on which we hold conservation easements will remain substantially as they are , forever .
Conserved places — like all of nature — are not immune to change , but they represent constancy in a world that offers little .
The COVID crisis will pass . We will be changed by it . Other challenges will emerge . Change will persist . And so will the nearly 50,000 acres of nature under Natural Lands ’ permanent protection — thanks to you , our community of members , volunteers , easement donors , and other supporters , whose involvement makes our conservation work possible .
OLIVER BASS , PRESIDENT
Ed Cunicelli