Members and friends of the local non-profit Acton Conservation Trust recently gathered to celebrate President Susan Mitchell-Hardt’s lifetime achievement award from Sudbury Valley Trustees. It felt like a reunion of sorts as leaders of conservation efforts in Acton from the past decades, many now retired, returned to celebrate Susan. In various tributes to Susan, they reflected on the land preservation successes of the last 25 years. Preserving open space has long been a priority in Acton. And, while it takes a whole community to make it happen, it often relies on key individuals along the way to get a project successfully completed.
Andy McGee, past chair of the town’s Open Space Committee, described how virtually all the open space preservation projects he shepherded through the town acquisition process first came from a contact Susan made with a landowner. Another committee chair noted that a meeting wasn’t ever really started until Susan read her report. Another said many landowners would never have met with the town without Susan making the introductions. It took Susan to bring them to the table, “and then they realized we weren’t bad people.” Those introductions are part of the process that often takes years before a project comes to the voters.
Among those who came to the party were retired members of the Town’s Natural Resources Department, Tom Tidman, Bettina Abe and Fran Portante. Susan has often expressed that without the tireless support and guidance of the Natural Resource Department staff over the years, many of the projects would not have come to fruition.
This land preservation ecosystem of Acton Conservation Trust, Open Space Committee, Community Preservation Committee, Select Board, and Town employees, through the efforts of many individuals, past and present, has resulted in many open space successes. They include early projects such as Morrison Farm, Camp Acton, and Route 2 agricultural fields. In the last decade, preservation wins have included Wright Hill, 176 Central Street, Grassy Pond West, Piper Lane, and Stonefield Farm.
While Susan recently received the lifetime achievement award, she’s far from done, she said, with several more projects in mind over the next few years. Susan was quoted as saying, “My husband Dave is not retiring, so I’m not retiring either!”
Joe Cooney is the Vice President of the Acton Conservation Trust.
