Middlesex School faces protest on Estabrook Woods

To Steve's Estabrook Woods home page

Middlesex School's
Proposed Development in the
Estabrook Woods:

Index Page

Construction Starts

1. Events & News thru Sept. 7, 2005

Sept. 7, 2005. BAD BAD NEWS. CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY 1200 feet into the Estabrook Woods. The heavy equipment has moved into the Woods.

Click here for VIVID photos of construction.

Click here for a BLOG (sort of) of very recent news.

Major news: In Feb. 2005, the School's trustees again turned down the offer of a $5 million endowment to fund, with support of Harvard, a joint environmental program in the Estabrook Woods. Amazing. What a lost opportunity. It would have distinguished Middlesex from every other prep school in the country. Click here for text of offer.
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This construction violates the 1963 statement to alumni and the community by Middlesex headmaster Monk Terry applauding the school's commitment to participating in a 1400-acre wildlife sanctuary in all the woodland east of Bateman's Pond.
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The Concord Selectmen to Middlesex School agree: "It is no secret that the Town of Concord [desires] that the Estabrook Woods be preserved....We have expended Town dollars and private monies for land acquisitions to defend the Estabrook boundaries. This public commitment...grows out of the... [1960s] preservation effort...led by [Headmaster] Lawrence Terry and Thomas Flint....Donors to [that] campaign clearly believed that the Woods would be preserved as an ecological study area for the use of Harvard, area scholars...and, expressly, Middlesex School."

2. NEW Project Plans & Engineering Drawings

Some folks just want the facts. Here are the project drawings, current as of January 2005, with colorful explanation: [ Click here].

3. A brief project description & a one page summary For a brief project description, Click Here.
And for a summary of how we all got to this point, boiled down to one page, click here. And here's a useful map.

4. Middlesex School students and graduates speak: "it is a spectacularly bad idea"
  [ Click here ]   April 2004 issues of student publications Anvil and Fides opposed the project and in a student survey 88% opposed.

5. Other Educational Visions for the Estabrook Woods A benefactor has offered $4.5 to create a premier environmental science program at Middlesex School in Estabrook Woods, with Harvard's enthusiastic support; but Middlesex has not accepted the offer. In Jan. 2005, another Middlsex graduate pledged $500,000 for the protection of Estabrook Woods. Also, a Middlesex-graduate educator proposes an educational alternative educational future for Middlesex School in which Estabrook Woods would play an integral role: see book chapter entitled "Educating for Sustainability." The eminent Ernst Mayr has also written on an environmental curriculum for the Estabrook Woods as training for the wise conduct of human affairs.

6. Harvard's Concern
Harvard's Dr. Andrew Biewener, director of its Concord Field Station (Harvard's part of the Woods), is continuing to work with conservation groups to dissuade Middlesex School from developings its land in the Estabrook Woods, as stated in his this May 2002 letter. Biewener is also Lyman Professor of Biology and chair of Harvard's Department of Biology. This map, a larger image of which is here, shows why. Middlesex's Development Area B extends a third of the way across the woods and to within sight of the old Estabrook Road Minuteman Trail.
In 2005, Harvard also supported a proposal to create a Harvard-Middlesex joint environmental program in the Estabrook Woods. This would both have saved the Woods and have distinguished Middlesex from every other prep school in the country. But the Middlesex trustees turned it down, twice. Amazing. What a lost opportunity. Click here for text of offer.

7. Protection map

  This annotated map Protection of Estabrook Woods [click here] (80K) clearly shows how the townspeople have been carefully protecting the Estabrook woods and how deeply the Middlesex School project intrudes. The legend explains that dark green is permanently protected conservation land other than Harvard's land. And that light green is Harvard's Museum of Comparative. Zoology "Concord Field Station." And that tan denotes land in some process of protection. (I do not show as "protected" the CR -2 land because Middlesex offered it only if the School were to get permission to build deeper in the woods.) For more maps, see items 5, 6, and 12 below.

8. More Project History   [Click here] . Find out why so many in Concord are upset.

9. Rare and Endangered Species Impacts of the Proposed
Middlesex Project   [ Click here ] Also, the state declared the entire Estabrook Woods is CORE HABITAT which should be preserved to save the state's biodiversity.


10. What you can do to help?

  [ Click here ]

11. Photographs of Project Area   Below is in the middle of the project area. For these and more photos of the project area, click here.



12. More Maps of Project Area

  People have asked for more general orientation maps about the Middlesex project, so here are four such maps:

The first group is a newly-prepared useful map and also a diagram showing existing campus and the proposed development.

The second is a diagram showing how the development is located in the overall Estabrook Woods. A smaller version [36k], and a larger, printable, more legible version [48k].

The third is the1960s Flint-Terry Committee map, showing the overlapping relationship between the Harvard land and Middlesex land.

The fourth is the state's BioMap, showing the entire project area to be in CORE HABITAT for biodiversity protection.

The fifth is a USGS map (at left). Click on it for larger area.

For other maps of wider Estabrook Woods, click here.

13. For more information on overall Estabrook Country and its colonial, natural, and literary history: Click here for my Estabrook Country home page. Or click here for information about the book, "The Seasons in Estabrook Country."

It should be apparent that the author of these pages is opposed to the proposed development and that the page does not reflect the views of Middlesex School. The material included is on the public record or is published with permission of the authors. I would appreciate questions and comments. Steve Ells, <sfe[[at]]post.harvard.edu>. The address of this site is <http://homepage.mac.com/sfe/henry/estabrook/index.html>.

Return to Steve's | Estabrook Woods home page |

1. Events & News thru Sept. 7, 2005	Sept. 7, 2005. BAD BAD NEWS. CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY 1200 feet into the Estabrook Woods. The heavy equipment has moved into the Woods. Click here for VIVID photos of construction. Click here for a BLOG (sort of) of very recent news. Major news: In Feb. 2005, the School's trustees again turned down the offer of a $5 million endowment to fund, with support of Harvard, a joint environmental program in the Estabrook Woods. Amazing. What a lost opportunity. It would have distinguished Middlesex from every other prep school in the country. Click here for text of offer. . This construction violates the 1963 statement to alumni and the community by Middlesex headmaster Monk Terry applauding the school's commitment to participating in a 1400-acre wildlife sanctuary in all the woodland east of Bateman's Pond. . The Concord Selectmen to Middlesex School agree: "It is no secret that the Town of Concord [desires] that the Estabrook Woods be preserved....We have expended Town dollars and private monies for land acquisitions to defend the Estabrook boundaries. This public commitment...grows out of the... [1960s] preservation effort...led by [Headmaster] Lawrence Terry and Thomas Flint....Donors to [that] campaign clearly believed that the Woods would be preserved as an ecological study area for the use of Harvard, area scholars...and, expressly, Middlesex School."
2. NEW Project Plans & Engineering Drawings	Some folks just want the facts. Here are the project drawings, current as of January 2005, with colorful explanation: [ Click here].
3. A brief project description & a one page summary	For a brief project description, Click Here. And for a summary of how we all got to this point, boiled down to one page, click here. And here's a useful map.
4. Middlesex School students and graduates speak: "it is a spectacularly bad idea"	[ Click here ] April 2004 issues of student publications Anvil and Fides opposed the project and in a student survey 88% opposed.
5. Other Educational Visions for the Estabrook Woods	A benefactor has offered $4.5 to create a premier environmental science program at Middlesex School in Estabrook Woods, with Harvard's enthusiastic support; but Middlesex has not accepted the offer. In Jan. 2005, another Middlsex graduate pledged $500,000 for the protection of Estabrook Woods. Also, a Middlesex-graduate educator proposes an educational alternative educational future for Middlesex School in which Estabrook Woods would play an integral role: see book chapter entitled "Educating for Sustainability." The eminent Ernst Mayr has also written on an environmental curriculum for the Estabrook Woods as training for the wise conduct of human affairs.
6. Harvard's Concern	Harvard's Dr. Andrew Biewener, director of its Concord Field Station (Harvard's part of the Woods), is continuing to work with conservation groups to dissuade Middlesex School from developings its land in the Estabrook Woods, as stated in his this May 2002 letter. Biewener is also Lyman Professor of Biology and chair of Harvard's Department of Biology. This map, a larger image of which is here, shows why. Middlesex's Development Area B extends a third of the way across the woods and to within sight of the old Estabrook Road Minuteman Trail. In 2005, Harvard also supported a proposal to create a Harvard-Middlesex joint environmental program in the Estabrook Woods. This would both have saved the Woods and have distinguished Middlesex from every other prep school in the country. But the Middlesex trustees turned it down, twice. Amazing. What a lost opportunity. Click here for text of offer.
7. Protection map	This annotated map Protection of Estabrook Woods [click here] (80K) clearly shows how the townspeople have been carefully protecting the Estabrook woods and how deeply the Middlesex School project intrudes. The legend explains that dark green is permanently protected conservation land other than Harvard's land. And that light green is Harvard's Museum of Comparative. Zoology "Concord Field Station." And that tan denotes land in some process of protection. (I do not show as "protected" the CR -2 land because Middlesex offered it only if the School were to get permission to build deeper in the woods.) For more maps, see items 5, 6, and 12 below.
8. More Project History	[Click here] . Find out why so many in Concord are upset.
9. Rare and Endangered Species Impacts of the Proposed Middlesex Project	[ Click here ] Also, the state declared the entire Estabrook Woods is CORE HABITAT which should be preserved to save the state's biodiversity.
10. What you can do to help?	[ Click here ]
11. Photographs of Project Area	Below is in the middle of the project area. For these and more photos of the project area, click here.

12. More Maps of Project Area	People have asked for more general orientation maps about the Middlesex project, so here are four such maps: The first group is a newly-prepared useful map and also a diagram showing existing campus and the proposed development. The second is a diagram showing how the development is located in the overall Estabrook Woods. A smaller version [36k], and a larger, printable, more legible version [48k]. The third is the1960s Flint-Terry Committee map, showing the overlapping relationship between the Harvard land and Middlesex land. The fourth is the state's BioMap, showing the entire project area to be in CORE HABITAT for biodiversity protection. The fifth is a USGS map (at left). Click on it for larger area. For other maps of wider Estabrook Woods, click here.
13. For more information on overall Estabrook Country and its colonial, natural, and literary history:	Click here for my Estabrook Country home page. Or click here for information about the book, "The Seasons in Estabrook Country."