Thinking beyond ‘bucks and acres’

Peter Forbes, executive director of the Center for Whole Communities (www.wholecommunities.org), has traveled the country over the last five years urging groups like Berkshire Natural Resources Council to stop talking about “dollars and acres” and start thinking about values that speak not to “how much” we accomplish, but to “why?” and “for whom?”

After a year like 2007, in which BNRC and its supporters conserved 1,400 acres, we find it hard to resist letting numbers do the talking. But we take Forbes’ point to heart. And the truth is that each one of the projects that make up last year’s body of work has been put to the community values test.

Vernal pool exploration at the Barrett Reserve in Egremont.

Just as we strive to conserve a diversity of landscapes—farms, forest, wetlands, wildlife habitat, scenic and recreational lands—we also strive to serve a diversity of people and purposes.Investing in trail improvements, keeping our lands open to hunters and fishermen, working with partners to save farmland and promote the success and security of farmers, learning and telling the stories of landscapes and the people who care for them – these are some of the ways we try to make our work more resonant and essential to the community.

We know that there are many more paths to explore and follow before we truly measure up to the standards of a “whole” community member. We can’t follow every path at once, but if you have an idea, we’d love to hear from you.

In a world in which individuals are increasingly isolated and alienated from their communities—media, marketing, suburbanization, globalization, economics and self-absorption all play their roles—conserved land is a venue for the expression of shared values, an embodiment of continuity of place and purpose.

Inspired by our own experiences, by the care and friendship of the landowners and supporters who sustain us, and by thinkers like Forbes, we enter 2008 buoyed by goals achieved, guided by lessons learned, and wholly committed to doing all we can to ensure our community is as healthy as our environment.

— Tad Ames

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