Sudbury Valley TrusteesConservation, Collaboration, and Community since 1953
History
It all started with a handful of men and women in Wayland and surrounding towns who sensed that things were not going to stay the way they were in 1953. One of those people was 27-year old Allen Morgan, recognized as one of Massachusetts' premier birders, an excellent public speaker, advocate for nature and an unrepentant optimist. With a belief in big ideas, he gathered up a group of friends and founded Sudbury Valley Trustees. The seven incorporators, Allen Benjamin, George Lewis, Henry Parker, Bill Ryder, Dick Stackpole, Roger Stokey, and Allen Morgan, encouraged by a national longing for environmental action, met at the Morgan home on September 28, 1953, endorsed an Agreement of Association, adopted a set of by-laws, set a governing Board of Directors, and began what has been a 55-year endeavor in land conservation.
During the past half century, SVT has achieved an extraordinary record in preserving open space in the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord river basin, in protecting wildlife and native plants, promoting outdoor recreation, and educating the public in the values of conservation. It has done so with the support of a membershp that today stands at over 3,600 individual, families, and corporations. The organization currently owns, through gift and purchase, more than 2,200 acres in sixteen communities. In addition, it holds conservation restrictions on more than 1,000 acres, and has been instrumental in preserving several thousand acres now protected by local regional, or federal agencies.
During the past half century, SVT has achieved an extraordinary record in preserving open space in the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord river basin, in protecting wildlife and native plants, promoting outdoor recreation, and educating the public in the values of conservation. It has done so with the support of a membershp that today stands at over 3,600 individual, families, and corporations. The organization currently owns, through gift and purchase, more than 2,200 acres in sixteen communities. In addition, it holds conservation restrictions on more than 1,000 acres, and has been instrumental in preserving several thousand acres now protected by local regional, or federal agencies.