A "One Page Summary"

Estabrook Woods and the controversy about Middlesex School's plans      (Updated, Sept. 8, 2005)

The Estabrook Woods is a wild tract of more than 1200 acres of protected woodland, hills, ledge, and swamp two miles north of Concord village. It was called Easterbrooks Country by Henry Thoreau, who knew it intimately and wrote about it extensively. In its midst, a minute man route used on April 19, 1775, the start of the Revolutionary War, follows the old dirt Estabrook road past old cellar holes. (It is the only Minunteman route of this length in a near-unchanged condition.) One such cellar dates from 1683. Though much is publicly accessible, these protected woods are mostly privately-owned, including the 700 acres owned by Harvard and used as an ecology study area. Other protected land is held by land trusts (town land trusts and the Trustees of Reservations) or private owners under conservation restrictions. Some is owned by town conservation commissions. This forest is now the home of fisher, beaver, wild turkey, mink, foxes, goshawks, porcupine, rare salamanders and rare plants, hermit thrushes and wood duck, and an occasional moose and black bear. Its neighbors include the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and the Minuteman National Historic Park. The state recently designated it as "Core Habitat" essential for the preservation of biodiversity.

A large public and private effort in the 1960s to preserve this extensive habitat was inspired by townspeople and by the renowned biologist Ernst Mayr. He was then the director of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, and he saw Estabrook as an ideal educational opportunity for students to have a hands-on experience in the natural world. In the last 40 years, more than $4.5 million of public and charitable funds have been spent to preserve Estabrook Woods and adjacent land. And significant private donations of land almost double that sum.

Estabrook Woods is not a public park, though public access is permitted on most for study, sauntering, and low-impact traditional uses. The project was hailed nationwide in the 1960s as an outstanding example of cooperative private stewardship that demonstrated that public ownership was not always needed to protect land of such historic, literary, and scientific value. Middlesex School shared that vision and was a leader in the effort to preserve the land. The Middlesex School headmaster co-chaired the fund-raising drive. The ecology study area included the land Middlesex is not clearcutting and digging up.

Current Plans of Middlesex School
Middlesex School now plans to open for development 70 upland acres of its part of the Estabrook Woods by building a bridge across the wetland behind Eliot Hall and its Theater Arts Building. The bridge would be 300 feet long (the length of a football field) and 25 feet wide, with a steel grate deck; and it would have 100-foot ramps on each end. Sewer, water, and other utilities would be built-in for possible future development.

This new bridge would permit initial construction on 28 upland acres of an additional 1500-foot road, two soccer fields, a sports shelter, six tennis courts, and stormwater retention basins. The dogleg layout of these facilities would extend 2000 feet into the Woods from the currently developed campus. Construction would occur within ten feet of Harvard's ecology study area. Other facilities could be built in this area.

Under the school's settlement with the town, an adjacent 40 acres of upland could be developed after the year 2017, free of local zoning. This area extends even deeper into the woods, up to 2800 feet from the current campus. This phase 2 development would fragment the forest along 4000 feet of the border of Harvard's adjacent ecology study area. And this development area is only 400 feet (and visible) from the old minute man path and the Estabrook cellar.

Where Does the Issue Stand Now?
Construction has started. This is a key moment in the history of the land. The wetlands permit has been issued. Though certain parts of it have been appealed, the School's trustees say they intend to build all proposed facilities. In June 2005, clear-cutting and major grading commenced 1200 feet deep in the woods. Opponents believe that, if this expensive bridge were built, significant building even deeper in the Woods would be inevitable. Also significant are the activities of alumni, students, and local conservation groups, who are hoping to convince the School's trustees that solutions exist not only to meet the school?s physical needs but also to preserve the Estabrook Woods as part of its educational vision. Wouldn't that really be something for all to celebrate?

Why save Estabrook Woods? Perhaps the Protect Estabrook Woods coffee mug distributed by "Common Sense" (the student environmental club) summarized it best: preservation of nature, spiritual enrichment, historical value, scientific research, and recreation. What a story could be told about each of these! Almost the entire curriculum could be enriched by using the Estabrook Woods as a classroom. As related elsewhere, benefactors, with the support of Harvard officials, have offerred the school $5 million to create a premier environmental science program using the Estabrook Woods. This would include an endowed chair at Middlesex in environmental science and joint teaching with Harvard. To date, the trustees have not accepted the offer and are proceeding with the development.

To my knowledge, these organizations have worked to preserve Estabrook Woods: Carlsle Conservation Foundation; Common Sense at Middlesex School (student environmental club); Middlesex Graduates for Estabrook; Thoreau Country Conservation Alliance; Concord Land Conservation Trust; Concord Rural Land Foundation; Carlisle Conservation Commission and Conservation Foundation; Concord Natural Resources Commission; Concord Historical Commission; Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology; Thoreau Society; Trustees of Reservations in Massachusetts; Restore the North Woods; Walden Woods Project; the Nature Conservancy; the Forest Legacy Program of the U.S. Forest Service; the Mass. Open Space Self-Help Grant Program; the Sierra Club (Mass. Chapter); and the Appalachian Mountain Club (Greater Boston Group).

More information? Write the author at <SteveElls--at--gmail.com>. Or visit Estabrook web sites at <http://homepage.mac.com/sfe/henry/estabrook/index.html> or <http://www.estabrookwoods.org> (the latter posted by Middesex Graduates for Estabrook Woods).

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