December, 2004

Dear Friends,

As we race towards the holidays and our mailboxes flood with catalogs and annual
appeals and we hunker down against the early cold snap and bemoan the fading hours of daylight, we need to remind ourselves to take the time to walk our favorite trail, or stop to enjoy our backyard birds, or simply slow down on our daily driving routes through town and enjoy the scenic views. Perhaps it is also a good time to reflect on what is unique about our town and what it means to us. Many of us were drawn to settling in Carlisle because of its green space, its rural vistas, the many recreational opportunities within its protected open spaces and its small-town qualities. Preserving these very qualities is the primary mission of the Carlisle Conservation Foundation.

Founded in 1960, CCF is a non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to maintaining the rural character of Carlisle and preserving its natural beauty and wildlife habitat. We rely entirely on donations from our members and friends to support our work.

CCF has been very busy over the past few years—leading efforts to permanently protect over 600 acres of open space. With the culmination of the Benfield Master Planning Agreement and the registering of important Conservation Restrictions for land abutting the Estabrook Woods, 2004 was no exception. (Read more inside.) Our land management efforts have included the ongoing sheep study on Towle Field and Spencer Brook Reservation, mowing of various properties, and the monitoring of CR’s to insure there are no violations of agreement. While we are fortunate to have a very active Board of Directors who donate countless hours of expertise and time, we still need to raise $30,000 to cover other surveying, legal, printing and land maintenance costs from this year and to carry us into 2005.

We know from the Community Planning Days sponsored by the Town Planning Board that many of you rank the preservation of Carlisle’s rural character and open spaces as your top priority for the Town and its future generations. Yet the pressure to develop open space and the ever faster pace of town growth are the realities we face. CCF tries to proactively protect valuable undeveloped spaces by working with private land owners and the Town. We can’t afford to buy the land outright so we offer resources and services to make it easier for landowners to set aside land as open space—whether through orchestrating outright donation of land, helping to place Conservation Restrictions on valuable open space, or in some cases, facilitating the financing of open space protection through limited, responsible real estate development. Please help us continue this work.

We are most grateful for your past support and hope you will consider increasing your tax-deductible gift. If you have never contributed, please join us. We hope you will give as generously as possible—and find time in this busy season to enjoy your favorite trail or open space in Carlisle.

P.S. CCF is run entirely by volunteers, fellow Carlisleans, so every dollar you contribute, $50, $100, $1000, goes directly to our work.