By Judith Dorato O’Gara

Why do people move to Wellesley? 

“Proximity to Boston, the education system, and then, it’s the beauty of the greenery in town, the open space,” believes Michael Tobin, president of the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust (WCLT). “I hear people say, ‘I moved to town because of that, and I am within walking distance to a brook, to trails, to green space’ or ‘my property abuts it.’’” Green space, he says, “is a selling point.”

That green space doesn’t always come with a lifelong guarantee, however.

“What astounds people is, when they’re here, and all of a sudden the green space they thought was protected, is in threat of being developed,” says Tobin. 

On Rte. 16, for example, Wellesley College had four acres, says Tobin, wooded land that had been zoned back in the 1960’s. Around 2017-2018, the homes for which it was zoned were built. “People driving by said, ‘Oh my god, how could all this open space we thought was preserved now have five houses? We thought it was preserved!’ My response is much of this land is in private ownership. Whether it’s an institution or a private college or a home and a family, we need to be reaching out to these organizations and these people to say, ‘Let’s preserve half your land; let’s preserve all your land, because once it’s in a developer’s hands, it’s too late. We need to act now to preserve what we currently have before we lose that.”

That’s where the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust steps in. The organization began as the Wellesley Conservation Council back in 1958, when a handful of alarmed individuals facilitated the preservation of the Guernsey Sanctuary, Carisbrook Reservation, Centennial Park, and Boulder Brook Reservation. The founders modeled the organization after the Sudbury Valley Trustees and the Weston Forest and Trail Association, which had been successful in promoting conservation. 

Even land owned by the town, says Tobin, is not necessarily safe from the chopping block.

“We had to rebuild two elementary schools,” Tobin explains, “One of the choices was to do it on one of the school properties, where there was woods and a rock ledge. Six acres were going to be destroyed, versus the other school location, where there were the playing fields in the back and (the plan would) move the playing fields to the front. And so, we helped to advocate preserving the nature. We need smarter thinking instead of trying to react when one piece of property is under threat,” says Tobin.

The 20-year Wellesley resident got involved with the organization during the “Save the North 40” initiative, when Wellesley College was set on selling 46 acres of open space near his street. Tobin joined a community grassroots effort to help convince the college that development to the highest bidder was not necessarily in the interest of all parties and the town. “There was enough community interest that the town purchased the property - and there was overwhelming support by Town Meeting members,” says Tobin.

The Wellesley Conservation Land Trust aims to preserve open space, maintain that open space and educate residents young and old on matters of conservation. The group works in cooperation with Wellesley Natural Resources Commission and works closely with the Town, and Sustainable Wellesley, to present education programs.

“We also partner with the Natural Resources Commission (NRC). Under the NRC is the town parks and town sanctuaries; they have the group the Wellesley Trails Committee, which maintain approximately the 35 miles of trails in town”

Tobin further explains that the Wetlands Protection Committee works under state jurisdiction. 

Sometimes, homeowners will express interest in protecting a wetland near their property, and “we’ll say, ‘it’s already protected.’” 

Among other initiatives, the WCLT has worked in loose collaboration with other local towns in trying to understand and implement the tree bylaws. The Wellesley Conservation Land Trust has been able to share its important successes with other towns in the Commonwealth.

In October of 2020, the WCLT won a court case against a landowner of property for which the organization managed a conservation restriction. “The landowner had clear cut a section of their property and built a sports court on it in violation of the conservation restriction. We ultimately went to state judicial court and won and set a precedent in Massachusetts, that if a landowner violates their conservation restriction, not only do they have to take measures to restore it, but they’re also liable for damages. That’s the hook. Where most land trusts, like us, might be land rich and cash poor; we found a law firm to take the case to court pro bono.”

WCLT invests a lot of time not only ensuring that open space in Wellesley is protected from development, but that the land under protection is maintained as well. Right now, says Tobin, for example, a privately-owned pond, Wight Pond, and its surrounding land, has wetlands protection, but the Land Trust is looking at how it will be maintained into the future. Similarly, a long-term WCLT goal aims to preserve a 13-acre piece of property Wellesley College was looking to sell in 2014, the site of the Cheever House. 

“We would be interested in acquiring it, as a long-term goal. Meanwhile, there’s this 100-year-old mansion that requires millions of dollars of restoration and maintenance. How can you maintain this historic structure, the other 11 acres maintain as natural land, whether it’s working with Wellesley College, town residents or finding grants,” says Tobin.

“People have different reasons they want to protect open space,” says Tobin. “It may be for the greater good, climate change, trees they want to protect or geologic artifacts they don’t want destroyed. Those are examples of ways to reach out to people to get them interested in our mission.”

A groundswell of new WCLT board members also brings various areas of expertise and focus, says Tobin. “Amy Goldman, MIT’s head of Planned Giving, joined board beginning of this year, and so you could imagine that’s a skill we need on our board given our mission,” says Tobin, whose own background is high tech and biotech, and so he handles WCLT’s website, social media, and has used drones to view and photograph conservation areas. The board also has a naturalist and a GIS expert.

Sometimes, areas of expertise lead to projects that draw others’ interest to conservation.

An updated Wellesley Conservation Land Trust booklet on the geological history of Wellesley, for example, spurred recent programs.

“The booklet was done in 1961 by a spouse of a Wellesley College professor of geology. We sit on a fault line. We sit on two different bedrocks (where) the Roxbury granite and Dedham granite both meet. There’s ice age geology,” says Tobin. A recent update of the booklet yielded two PowerPoint presentations delivered over Zoom this spring as well as two guided fieldtrips, filmed by Wellesley Media (available on YouTube), one on bedrocks and one on geological ice age, surficial geology. All were sold out, but free.

“We had people come out of the woodwork, the middle school science coordinator, came out and wanted to teach what we brought out, a structural geologist in town wants to get involved and help carry this forward, and someone came out and wanted to join a Wellesley rock club,” says Tobin, who says the COVID-19’s silver lining, for WCLT, was boosted interest in programs that could be offered remotely.

“We’ve been able to attract four times the number of people to our events. Because of Zoom, it’s easy in the evening to log onto an event, and we’ve put on more programs in (recent) years, attracted more members, attracted more interest and more donations,” says Tobin. 

To stay apprised of upcoming programs, and to learn more about the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust, visit www.wellesleyconservationlandtrust.org.