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The Nantucket Conservation Foundation

© Fred Durand

Being the largest landholder on the island, the Nantucket Conservation Foundation owns and protects from development, more than 8000 acres of beach, dunes, heathlands and other natural areas. This represents over 28% of Nantucket's total land area. Created in 1963 with an initial donation of less than one acre, the Foundation follows the premise that the best way to protect land is to own it.

Most of the property accumulated by the Foundation has been donated by individuals and organizations. From time to time, however, additional land with conservation value is purchased. This is accomplished using funds from donations as well as income generated by leasing the Milestone and Windswept Cranberry Bogs to cranberry growers. The majority of Foundation holdings are open to the public year round for education and recreation purposes.

The Foundation actively manages and monitors its numerous natural areas. Efforts include protection of rare and endangered species of plants and wildlife, heathland and grassland management programs and erosion control along coastal areas. In addition, the Foundation develops guides, maps, interpretive signs and educational materials for visitors to the areas. Financial and technical support is available to other organizations, students and independent scientists who conduct research in any of the protected areas.

The western tip of Nantucket is home to a barrier beach known as Eel Point. It is a relatively narrow strip of land separating Madaket Harbor from the Nantucket Sound. Within this Foundation property of 123 acres are nesting sites for American oystercatchers and endangered piping plovers. Both species can be observed there from March through August. Other shore birds such as sandpipers, herons, egrets and terns make use of the area for feeding and nesting during spring and fall migrations.

Here, as in many other natural areas, visitors are likely to find portions of the property periodically closed to motor vehicles. This practice protects birds such as terns and plovers that nest in the sand. Their chicks are flightless and very vulnerable for a number of weeks after hatching.

On the southwestern side of the island lies a 767 acre parcel home to wetlands, grasslands, forests and shrub thickets. Over 6 miles of trails meander through this property named Sanford Farm. Visitors can read signs posted along the way identifying various natural and historical landmarks. A brochure containing additional information and a map of the property can be found in a box at the entrance to the area during the summer and year-round at the Foundation's office on Cliff Road. Sanford Farm together with an adjacent tract named Ram Pasture provide hunting areas for short eared owls and northern harriers, both on the Massachusetts List of Endangered Species.

The copyright of the article The Nantucket Conservation Foundation in Nantucket Island is owned by Dina Ely. Permission to republish The Nantucket Conservation Foundation in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.