Local Links for Biodiversity—Worcester, Massachusetts

Environmental and Conservation Organizations:

Appalachian Mountain Club: Worcester Chapter
20 Foxmeadow Dr.
Worcester, MA 01602
Phone: 508-278-7953
www.gwlt.org
The Worcester Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club advocates the protection, enjoyment, and wise use of the mountains, rivers, and trails of the Northeast. Additionally, the Chapter focuses on the outdoor resources of central Massachusetts for education, recreation, and conservation.

Blackstone Valley Institute
Phone: 401-762-0250
www.nps.gov/blac/institute/index.html
Sponsored by the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission and its partners, the Institute is an Internet-based organization created as a resource for community planning, economic development, historic preservation, and land use management. It provides workshops, one-on-one consulting, local seminars, and technical assistance to connect the local communities within the Blackstone River Valley Corridor and preserve the history and character of the area.

Boston GreenSpace Alliance
36 Bromfield St. #201
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: 617-426-7980
www.greenspacealliance.org
The Boston GreenSpace Alliance is a private, nonprofit organization formed to protect, create, and maintain Boston’s parks and open spaces. The Alliance monitors and advocates policy and planning matters affecting open space in the City. Its comprehensive plan includes such initiatives as helping to improve air and water quality, protecting Boston roads from flooding, improving public health, and ensuring continued improvement and expansion of Boston’s green and open spaces. The group works with state and city officials and a network of conservation groups to protect, create, care, and use the City’s open spaces.

The Boston Harbor Association
374 Congress Street, Suite 609
Boston, MA 02110
Phone: 617-482-1722
www.tbha.org
The Boston Harbor Association (TBHA) offers free programs for youth. Through these programs TBHA hopes to create a long-term interest in and a sense of stewardship towards Boston Harbor, its beaches, and its islands. TBHA’s “Harbor Bound” education program employs Harbor professionals to introduce inner city high school students to environmental and water quality issues in Boston Harbor. The “Adopt a Class” program is a semester-long Boston Harbor curriculum of classroom lessons, Harbor related activities, and field trips. The “Harbor Mini-Camp” runs for six weeks and is filled with hands-on projects, activities, and field trips around Boston Harbor and the Harbor Islands.

Boston Harbor Watershed Team
251 Causeway Street, 9th Floor
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-626-1243
www.state.ma.us/envir/mwi/bostonharbor.htm
This organization seeks to expand citizen monitoring programs and the conservation and clean-up of the Boston Harbor. It conducts water-quality testing and monitors water supply planning decisions in the Neponset River and Weir River Watersheds and resolves flood control problems in the Mystic River Watershed. It evaluates current land use and plans the restoration of wetlands and control of invasive aquatic plant species. The Team also reduces and eliminates sewer overflows and extreme fecal coliform and nutrient levels.

Boston Natural Areas Network
62 Summer Street
Boston, MA 02110
Phone: 617-542-7696
www.bostonnatural.org/home.php
Boston Natural Areas Network attempts to preserve, expand, and improve urban open space through community organizing, acquisition, ownership, programming, development, and management of urban land. The Network works with and advocates for local citizens to maintain open spaces.

The Greater Boston Group of the Massachusetts Sierra Club
100 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
Phone: 617-423-5775
www.sierraclubmass.org/groups/gbg/gbg.html
This group of environmental activists focuses on urban sprawl, air quality, transportation, and the preservation of open space. The organization also hopes to impact regional issues such as wetland preservation, pollution and runoff, and the disruption of sea life. To improve the area’s air-quality, the group advocates increased and improved mass transit solutions, alternative means of transportation, and improved bicycle access.

Greater Worcester Land Trust, Inc.
172 Shrewsbury Street
Worcester, MA 01604-4636
Phone: 508-795-3838
www.gwlt.org
This organization purchases land for conservation purposes. It accepts gifts of land and secures and enforces conservation easements. The Land Trust counsels landowners about conservation techniques and estate-planning benefits of this preservation. Additionally, the organization partners with local and state officials to coordinate conservation efforts and obtain grants.

Massachusetts Audubon Society: Worcester Environmental Affairs Office
414 Massasoit Road
Worcester, MA 01604
Phone: 508-755-8899
www.massaudubon.org
The largest environmental organization in New England, the Massachusetts Audubon Society has developed the Worcester Environmental Affairs Office to focus on local water, environmental policy, and land conservation issues. As the organization advocates sound environmental policies, it concentrates on local land use decisions, land conservation and water resources protection. The Worcester Environmental Affairs Office also monitors the ability of local governments to develop and implement environmental regulations.

Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition
2 Clock Tower Place, Suite 500
Maynard, MA 01754
Phone: 978-897-0739
www.MassLand.org
The Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition increases the ability of land trusts and conservation organizations in Massachusetts to work with the legislature and governmental agencies on conservation issues. It provides a forum for the exchange of ideas, skills, and information within the conservation movement. The Coalition successfully pressured legislators to pass the 1996 Open Space Bond Bill and the 1996 Rivers Bill.

Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA)
490 Chapman Street, Suite 1B
Canton, MA 02021
Phone: 781-575-0354
www.neponset.org
NepRWA works to protect and restore the land and water of the Neponset River Basin for the sustainable use and enjoyment of its natural resources, on the basis that the quality and quantity of the water in the watershed is a measure of its overall health, and acts to raise public awareness of the valuable and fragile ecosystem of the watershed; monitor water quality and quantity in the watershed to identify sources of pollution and trends in water flow; and assist towns and other decision makers in reviewing projects affecting the watershed.

Regional Environmental Council of Central Massachusetts (REC)
P.O. Box 255
Worcester, MA 01613
Phone: 508-799-9139
www.recworcester.org
The Regional Environmental Council of Central Massachusetts (REC) raises public awareness of local environmental concerns through research, public education, and programs. It also hosts community action projects to promote environmentally sound decisions in air and water quality, land use, waste reduction, recycling, and transportation in central Massachusetts. REC focuses on inner city neighborhoods whose residents have been traditionally ignored in the environmental decision making process and are subject to disproportionate effects of environmental hazards.