Massachusetts Audubon Society

Mass Audubon maintains 25 field offices and staffed wildlife sanctuaries (including 20 sanctuaries with nature centers, two of which are in urban areas) and an additional 40 unstaffed wildlife sanctuaries which are prepared for public visitation. Mass Audubon sanctuaries serve as the base for nature and environmental education courses and programs, scientific research, ecological management and other conservation-related activities. As of june 30, 2024, mass Audubon protected 42,595 acres of open space in Massachusetts, owning 33,903 acres in fee and protecting the remainder with conservation easements. These diverse protected habitats range from the berkshires to cape cod and the islands and help preserve the rich biodiversity of Massachusetts. Mass Audubon actively pursues both donations and purchases of additional conservation land and is the largest private conservation landowner in the state. An estimated 609,000 visitors came to enjoy mass Audubon properties in fy 2024.mass Audubon is also the largest non-governmental provider of nature education in the state. Mass Audubon develops educational materials and environmental policy materials for students, teachers, legislators, and the general public. In fy 2024, mass Audubon taught nature programs to more than 102,000 children and adults, enrolled more than 10,600 children in its summer day and residential nature camps, and conducted science/nature training for more than 2,500 teachers. In addition, mass Audubon was fortunate to have more than 6,455 volunteers contribute more than 106,000 hours of service across the state in fy 2024.

Mass Audubon utilizes and develops scientific knowledge to support its longstanding tradition as an organization which uses science as the underpinning for its education, land protection, advocacy and habitat stewardship activities. Current research and/or ecological management work focuses on the protection, restoration, and stewardship of selected Massachusetts habitats such as grasslands, coastal heathlands and salt marshes. In addition, monitoring of key groups of organisms such as birds, amphibians, invertebrates and plants continues across the state in order to provide an important baseline to evaluate changing environmental conditions associated with climate change and land development. Mass Audubon has also developed and implements an invasive species management strategy to protect the integrity of its lands as well as to provide guidance for other landowners throughout the state.mass Audubon lands play a critical role in the delivery of its mission, and its land protection efforts focus on conserving ecologically significant tracts of land adjacent to existing wildlife sanctuaries, thereby protecting and enhancing their biological integrity and viability as program sites. Mass Audubon also advances the protection of selected high priority focus areas beyond its existing wildlife sanctuaries through collaboration with state and local public agencies and local and regional land trusts. Collectively, these protection priorities include a wide range of Massachusetts habitats.

In addition to the services provided by the network of sanctuaries and the education programming referred to in 4a above which are available to members and non-members alike, mass Audubon members also enjoy a newsletter (explore) produced four times per year, a quarterly e-newsletter (explorations), discounts on programs and at gift shops, and publications to increase public awareness of wildlife, nature, and environmental issues. For example, in fy 2024 mass Audubon released its landmark solar siting study entitled "growing solar, protecting nature." The report shows that Massachusetts does not need to sacrifice the forests and farmland we have in order to build the solar energy we need. In addition, the mass Audubon website (www.massaudubon.org) offers a wide variety of information on mass Audubon's sanctuaries, conservation efforts, land protection projects, advocacy issues, climate change work, and the natural world. Currently, mass Audubon has nine regional e-newsletters and five other e-newsletters on specific topics, as well as a number of blogs. Mass Audubon also operates a gift shop in lincoln which sells merchandise related to nature, wildlife observation and environmental education to both members and non-members as well as a number of smaller nature-themed gift shops at many of the sanctuaries.

Mass Audubon released its landmark solar siting study entitled growing solar, protecting nature. The report shows that Massachusetts does not need to sacrifice the nature we have to build the solar energy we need. The research demonstrates that by building more solar on rooftops, parking lots, and already-developed areas, Massachusetts can meet our goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while conserving almost all of our remaining farmlands and forests.in a huge win for horseshoe crabs, the Massachusetts' marine fisheries advisory commission voted to ban the harvest of horseshoe crabs for bait during their breeding and egg-laying season. Thanks to the support of nearly 100 advocates who joined us at two public hearings, and more than 2,600 people who spoke up to support stronger horseshoe crab protections in Massachusetts by submitting written comments, this transformative decision could start horseshoe crabs on the road to recovery. Selected key advocacy accomplishments in fy 2024: with encouragement and support from mass Audubon, over 40 cities and towns have taken steps toward launching local campaigns to curb harmful new rodent poisons which are killing wildlife, especially birds of prey. These community campaigns will be key to reducing the use of these poisons in Massachusetts, and in turn helping protect wildlife like raptors, foxes, coyotes, and other predators that help keep Massachusetts' ecosystems in balance. Mass Audubon and our partners offered recommendations for accelerating the build-out of clean energy in Massachusetts while protecting the needs of ratepayers, communities, forests, farms, and wetlands. A climate bill was filed that would have translated those recommendations into action, but despite strong outreach from advocates, time ran out for the legislature to pass the bill during the regular legislative session. We and our partners are still working to get this bill passed this year in informal session, so the state does not wait another two years to streamline responsibly sited clean energy projects.