Shrinking Federal and State Funding

Federal funding for land conservation is shrinking and some previously approved funding, including a portion of the WHIP program which supported Carlisle’s sheep program this year, is actually being diverted to other USDA programs. In Massachusetts, after years of continued state support for land protection, the Romney administration is revaluating all future funding for open space protection with an emphasis on Smart Growth. Though as yet somewhat undefined, these Smart Growth principles are unlikely to favor Carlisle. This fiscal year alone the Massachusetts Office of Commonwealth Development will reduce by two thirds their level of investment in open space protection. In today’s political and economic climate, local support for land conservation is more important than ever.

Heidi Harring

Local and Federal Support for Sheep Project

This year the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services awarded Carlisle a grant under the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP). This grant and the donations of many enthusiastic Carlislians enabled us to continue a third year of the intensive sheep grazing project, designed to clear fields of invasive growth and restore grassland habitats. Sheepcapes, the company running the project, is very encouraged by the return of clovers and healthier pasture grasses to Towle Field and Spencer Brook Reservation. This project has been a wonderful collaboration with the Town of Concord, Minuteman National Park and especially with the Carlisle Conservation Commission, with outstanding support from Sylvia Willard, who wrote the grant proposal to the WHIP program. Many of you enjoyed the sheep herding demonstration that CCF sponsored at Towle Field in October; we ask your generous support to help us carry this grazing project into 2004 .

Marjie Findlay