I am honored to have been asked by the board of the Brewster Conservation Trust to serve as president again. I look forward to working with our members, volunteers, and town officials on many projects of environmental significance to our beautiful little town by the sea. There is still so much to preserve that makes Brewster such a special place, for our residents and visitors alike. Our noble ring of ponds, the broad shining tidal flats, our quiet dark woods and historic homes along leafy avenues—preserving all of this charm is clearly part of the work of the BCT.
But there are other items, not so clearly visible, that need our help. In particular Brewster is grappling with its water quality and water management needs. Water is the lifeblood coursing through the veins of our town: our bay, our ponds, our thin little streams and, most importantly, our aquifer. The water we drink comes from the land on which we live. What we do to the land affects how we steward the water beneath. The BCT supports the hard work being done by the Town Water Planning Committee to shape the preservation of our waters. Nothing is more important, nor as complex. We hope to be part of the education effort around this important plan.
Likewise, we will strive to make progress on our efforts to maintain our properties, a sometimes thankless task, done mostly behind the scenes. A tree from our land comes down in a windstorm across a neighbor’s yard. BCT has to respond. Trash is dumped in one of our woods. We have to clean it up. We are always on the lookout for volunteers to help us. All you need is a pair of work gloves and a helpful attitude. And we can supply the gloves if need be!
Finally, I would like to thank my friend Elliott Carr for serving as BCT president for the past year. He has done an excellent job and his counsel to BCT bears the wisdom of life experience. We are lucky to have one of the Cape’s foremost environmental leaders serving with us on the Brewster Conservation Trust. Thank you, Elliott, and keep it up.