Массачусетс қорықтарын сақтау және дамыту ұйымының тарихы

Preservation and conservation nonprofit organization in MA, US (established 1891)
The main office of the organization was formerly at Long Hill in Beverly. In 2017, a new headquarters was established in Boston. The Trustees Archives & Research Center (ARC) is located in Sharon. In June 2006, The Trustees earned gold level recognition from the United States Green Building Council for its Doyle Conservation Center in Leominster. Financial support for the organization comes from membership dues, annual contributions, property admission fees, special events, grants, and endowments. In 2014, after seven years as an affiliate, the Boston Natural Areas Network merged with the Trustees.

The Trustees of Reservations was proposed in 1890 when the New England periodical Garden and Forest published a letter by landscape architect Charles Eliot (protégé of Frederick Law Olmsted) entitled "The Waverly Oaks." Eliot's letter proposed the immediate preservation of "special bits of scenery" still remaining "within 10 mile (16 km) of the State House which possess uncommon beauty and more than usual refreshing power." To this end, Eliot proposed that legislation be enacted to create a nonprofit corporation to hold land for the public to enjoy "just as a Public Library holds books and an Art Museum holds pictures." In the spring of 1891, the Massachusetts Legislature established The Trustees of Public Reservations "for the purposes of acquiring, holding, maintaining and opening to the public beautiful and historic places within the Commonwealth." The act was signed into law by Governor William E. Russell on May 21, 1891. The word "Public" was dropped from the organization's name in 1954 to avoid confusion with government owned land. This property was conveyed to the Metropolitan District Commission in 1923 and is now a part of the Middlesex Fells Reservation. Waverly Oaks itself was also conveyed to the state by The Trustees and is part of the Beaver Brook Reservation, established in 1893. In 1925, The Trustees joined with the Appalachian Mountain Club, Massachusetts Audubon Society, and the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England) to organize a conference on "The Needs and Uses of Open Spaces." This conference led to a 1929 report by the Governor's Committee on Needs and Uses of Open Spaces that emphasized the need to protect the state's rural character and countryside and the importance of identifying and describing the qualities and characteristics of specific sites that should be preserved. The report included a "Map of existing and proposed open spaces". Today, nearly every site listed in the report is protected by a government or nonprofit conservation agency. The 1929 report included a proposal by Benton MacKaye, the creator of the Appalachian Trail, to build a "Bay Circuit Trail" encircling Boston from Plum Island to Duxbury. Work to build the Bay Circuit Trail began in 1990 when the Bay Circuit Alliance was created. Six individuals have served The Trustees as President and CEO. Barbara Erickson, the first woman to serve in the role, was appointed in 2012. John Judge was appointed in 2021. Katie Theoharides was appointed in 2023.

The purpose of The Trustees is to "to protect and share the Massachusetts places people love for their exceptional scenic, historic, and ecological value."

The Doyle Conservation Center is a green architecture initiative and regional office, conference, and education center located in Doyle Community Park in Leominster, Massachusetts. The structure, designed by HKT Architects of Somerville, Massachusetts and landscape architects Hines Wasser & Associates, was registered for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification with the United States Green Building Council. The building includes "photovoltaic panels, high efficiency lighting and controls, a displacement ventilation system, high performance windows, a high performance building envelope, geothermal wells and carbon dioxide monitoring systems;" it incorporates green materials such as desks made of sunflower seeds, bamboo and cork flooring, and recycled fiber carpet and paneling.

The Putnam Conservation Institute, also known as the Conservation Common, was active from 2007 to 2012. It offered workshops, conferences, and networking for land conservationists, urban park advocates, historic preservationists, watershed associations, state agencies, and municipal commissions. The Highland Communities Initiative was a cooperative effort of The Trustees and community members from small hilltowns in The Berkshires geography dedicated to preserving regional cultural and physical landscapes and enhancing the quality of life of local residents.

Copicut Woods, Slocum's River Reserve, the Tully Trail, and Appleton Farms represent collaborative efforts of The Trustees, government agencies, local communities, and private groups to create a bioreserve, a mixed use open space preserve, a 22 mile (35 km) recreation trail, and a mixed use and community supported agriculture preserve, respectively. Copicut Woods is part of the cooperatively managed Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve which protects of forest in Fall River, Freetown and Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Slocum's River Reserve is a cooperative effort by the state, The Trustees and the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust and includes protected braken river frontage and farming conservation restrictions. The Tully Trail, in northern Worcester County, is a collaborative recreational project of The Trustees, the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, Harvard University's Harvard Forest, the National Park Service, the New England Forestry Foundation, state agencies, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Appleton Farms of Ipswich is a combination CSA project, retail feed and mulch haying operation, livestock and dairy program, recreation area, and ecological preservation area; it includes experiential education programs for adults and children. Current conservation projects include cooperative efforts on the Mount Tom Range and interpretive development of the birthplace of suffragist Lucy Stone in West Brookfield.