Picture this: you’re standing at the edge of a salt water inlet, surrounded by tall green reeds and waving grasses. In the near distance, a small, heron-like bird—an egret—patrols the shoreline, while above an osprey returns to its sky-high nest.
You follow a meandering dirt trail through topography you’ve never before encountered: gently rolling moorlands covered with low-lying vegetation – including bayberry, little blue stem, huckleberry, and scrub oak – whose subtle hues and changing colors are as eye-pleasing as the terrain is vast.
You’re sitting near a high dune with hundreds of feet of fine sand reaching from you to the ocean. An American Oystercatcher works the sand near the shoreline, as do clutches of Sanderlings, who skitter and retreat from each fallen wave, oblivious to your presence. To the left and right, all you see are miles of pristine beach.
This is just a sampling of Nantucket’s natural beauty. Although it is a small island, the diversity of its geography is such that it has long inspired painters, photographers, and those who simply enjoy the serene pleasures of an unspoiled landscape.
Nantucket’s landscape is as unique as it is varied.
Take the island’s sand plain grasslands, for example, described by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation as “relatively flat, open habitats similar to the prairies found in the Midwest,” adding: “It is currently estimated that over 80% of the worldwide acreage of sand plain grasslands occur on Nantucket, Tuckernuck, and Martha’s Vineyard.” As the Nature Conservancy points out: “The coastal sand plain ecosystem found on Nantucket and the surrounding Massachusetts Islands is one of the most beautiful and threatened natural systems in the world, with only one percent of its original global acreage still remaining.”
UMass/Boston, which operates a scientific field station on the island on land now owned by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, has this to say about yet another ecological aspect of the island: “Nantucket’s heath lands are unique in eastern North America, including 25 plant and five animal species considered rare, endangered or of special concern.”
Nantucket truly is a wonderland. In many areas, the island appears as it has for thousands of years. It’s not surprising that the Nature Conservancy has named Nantucket one of forty “Last Great Places” on earth. We can thank the foresight and diligence of several conservation organizations for helping safeguard the island’s untamed aspects for future generations to enjoy. Today, thanks to conservation efforts, over 45 percent of Nantucket is preserved in its natural state, with vast open spaces, hidden forests, salt marshes, barrier beaches, bogs, and pine barrens forming only a part of the island’s unique terrain. From the sweeping sandy arm of Great Point to the aforementioned sand plain grasslands of the south shore, Nantucket’s natural treasures are as awe-inspiring as they are fragile.
Protecting our natural assets is a top priority. In 1963, the Nantucket Conservation Foundation was founded with the mission of purchasing open space and wildlife habitat to conserve. In 1974, the Nantucket Land Council was founded to conduct the tedious and sometimes controversial advocacy and legal work required to research and clear titles, and shield undeveloped land from dubious claims.
In 1983, Nantucketers took the initiative to approve the Nantucket Islands Land Bank, a concept that was the first of its kind in the nation. This ground-breaking legislation enabled the island to enter its own real estate market by levying a two percent fee on most real estate transactions, establishing a “bank” of funds to purchase open space. The Land Bank today oversees more than 2,600 acres of open space, including the public, 18-hole Miacomet Golf Course. Special emphasis is devoted to preserving access to the island’s beaches. “Our focus is on key waterfront parcels, to make certain the public will have access to these areas,” Land Bank executive director Eric Savetsky explains. Included in the Land Bank’s holdings are “dozens of beaches,” Savetsky notes, including the popular Cisco Beach on the south shore.
Collectively, the island’s thousands of acres of conservation land keep Nantucket looking like, well, Nantucket. “The island would have an entirely different character if the combined efforts of conservation groups hadn’t been as successful as they have been,” Savetsky continues. The broad stretches of open space, he points out, would be replaced by something more “fragmented;” of pockets of land, and not the wide, spectacular swaths that exist today. He credits the early efforts of the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and the Nantucket Land Council for helping lead the way. “The Nantucket Conservation Foundation, having begun its work in the early 1960’s, combined with the Nantucket Land Council’s legal work and public advocacy starting in the early 1970’s, allowed vast tracts of land to be preserved,” he notes. “Today, that would be prohibitively expensive. These conservation efforts helped shape the appearance of Nantucket’s countryside.”
Today, the Nantucket Conservation Foundation is the largest conservator of land on the island, and holds over 29 percent of the island’s total land area. But Foundation executive director James Lentowski points out that protecting Nantucket is truly a joint effort. “The collaboration between public and private agencies is something you don’t find in other places,” he remarks. The reason for this is that people continue to realize how special Nantucket is.“Nantucket has uncommon natural resources,” Lentowski adds. “I don’t know if you’d find anywhere else that looks like Nantucket.”“And, perhaps most importantly,” he continues, “Nantucketers appreciate what they have. I think the ultimate testimony to the character and natural beauty of Nantucket shows up in every year-round Nantucketer who, after being on the mainland for a time, can’t wait to get home.”