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Middlesex Graduates for Estabrook Anne H. Faulkner P.O. Box 174 Sullivan, NH 03445 May 8, 2001 Dear Middlesex Trustee: As you are aware, the controversy over the School's plans to expand into Estabrook Woods has been building for many years. As I understand the current status, the School's permits to alter wetlands in order to build the bridge and causeway are being held up on appeal by a local citizens' group over endangered and threatened species in the vicinity of the proposed crossing. While current ecological values motivate many of us who are concerned with the fate of Estabrook Woods, we also want to support the vision and goals of those Middlesex leaders who initially worked to protect Estabrook Woods. One of the issues in the Estabrook controversy has been whether the School actually intended to preserve its portion of the Estabrook Woods. Accounts from those present in the 1960s (when the effort to acquire lands for the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology was underway) indicate that the School's intentions were indeed to manage its own lands east of the pond as a wildlife preserve, in conjunction with the MCZ. It was this expression of the School's intent which helped to convince neighboring landowners to donate or bargain-sell their property to the MCZ effort. In recent years, Middlesex's leaders have downplayed this intent, claiming that it wasn't written down anywhere and couldn't be proved. The Concord residents who witnessed the efforts in the 1960s knew such proof must exist somewhere and at last it has surfaced. The Middlesex School Bulletin, of May 1963, includes a first-page statement from Headmaster Monk Terry. This statement to the alumni demonstrates Monk Terry's goal to hold all of the School's land east of the pond as a wildlife preserve in conjunction with the Harvard acquisition. This statement from Monk Terry regarding what the School intended was officially circulated both to the alumni and to the Concord community. The important paragraph reads as follows (full text is attached): "Of tremendous interest to biologists and laymen alike is the exciting proposal to establish the woodland on the other side of the pond as a wildlife sanctuary. Retired hut-builders and those of you who, in the sturdy early days of skiing, wandered through the winter woods to Punkatasset, will not be surprised to hear that the School land abuts the largest piece of uninhabited property within seventy-five miles of Cambridge. In it, out of sight of highways and split level ranch houses, living as they always have, are deer and fox, coon, otter, and muskrat, porcupine, weasel and woodchuck." "The Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and the Town Conservation Commission of Concord are working with the School to try to make this dream come true, and in the studio at the top of Eliot we are preparing a contour map covering the whole 1,400 acres under consideration. In time we hope to see our older students helping college graduates with research projects centered on these woods. Surely, the grandsons of boys now in school will rejoice to live beside this quiet, protected area." This statement from Middlesex to its alumni was written by Monk Terry, who was not only the long-time headmaster of the School, but also was at about this time the co-chair (with the town) of the Harvard project's major fund raising drive and vice-chair of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology visiting committee. He knew whereof he spoke. The Middlesex board of trustees was also at the time very much involved in the effort to protect the Estabrook Woods. The Middlesex trustees were active in lending money and obtaining options on properties for eventual MCZ acquisition. It is clear that Middlesex not only participated in the effort to protect the Estabrook Woods, but that Monk Terry and others intended the School's land east of the pond to be part of the project as well. I urge you to reaffirm and to support Monk Terry's vision and ask you to vigorously and creatively search out options for permanently protecting Middlesex's portion of the Estabrook Woods. Confirming the ecological importance of the Estabrook Woods, in early April of this year a rare blue spotted salamander was found at the site of the School's proposed three hundred foot bridge into the Woods. It was discovered by the wildlife consultant who was conducting additional rare species studies as required by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection administrative law judge. The discovery of this endangered species demonstrates just how critical and valuable this land is for ecological research and study. You may also be aware that the project area also contains habitat for five state-listed species -- an Endangered dragonfly, which breeds at the southern end of Bateman's Pond; and four Species of Special Concern: the Elderberry Long-horned Beetle, the Blue-spotted Salamander, the Spotted Turtle, and the Mystic Valley Amphipod. It is the breeding site of at least three watch-list species: Spotted Salamander, Northern Leopard Frog, and Northern Goshawk. In addition, four certified vernal pools are in the immediate vicinity of the bridge site. It is a very rich area indeed, and one which, in a rapidly urbanizing world, should be preserved. In the remaining weeks before the Centennial, I urge you to work with your fellow trustees, with Middlesex alumni, and with the land conservation community in Concord to pursue creative ways to permanently protect the School's portion of the Estabrook Woods. It would be a great testament to the School's strength of character to be able to live up to Monk Terry's vision for Estabrook Woods. I'm sure you can find it possible with the resources available to the School to finally fulfill Middlesex's 38 year-old goal of preserving its portion of Estabrook for all time and for all Middlesex students, present and future. Sincerely yours, Anne H. Faulkner '81

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