Our Annual Meeting was lively and very well attended. Tom Tidman stopped by to accept the Carol Holley Conservation Award. President Susan Mitchell-Hardt gave opening comments, presented the award to Tom (who got a standing ovation), and ran the brief business meeting, which re-elected all incumbent officers and board members. Hart Millett gave our financial review and we’re in great shape thanks to Hart! We are so grateful to our members for a wonderful year of support.
Tom Tidman’s contributions to conservation in Acton are well known (think Arboretum and NARA Park). Less known are his key contributions to the rebirth of both land preservation in Acton and Acton Conservation Trust. In 1998 he guided Karen O’Neill and Susan Mitchell-Hardt on our second Town land protection project (Morrison Farm) which led to the re-launch of ACT. He helped create our first brochure and sketched what is now our logo. He went on to guide us toward our first land purchase, the 16 acre Whitcomb land in Heath Hen Meadow. He also supported us as we took on our first CR (the Donald Land) and since then has been a part of most of the other 7 CRs we now hold and two more that are in process.
The live owl program, EYES ON OWLS was fantastic! Mark and Marcia Wilson introduced us to several owls of New England. We met two screech owls (both grey and brown), a saw-whet owl, a barred owl, a great horned owl and a beautiful snowy owl. We had an enthusiastic crowd of children in attendance and they were invited to sit on the floor up front for the best views. We learned a bit about each owl: colors, weight, habitat, etc., accompanied by gorgeous pictures taken by Mark. There were hooting lessons, with Marcia describing the sound each owl makes, and the audience replying with their best imitation. Leo Fochtman won Mark Wilson’s beautiful new book “Owling: Enter the World of the Mysterious Birds of the Night.” It was a hoot!
Some quick videos of the meeting…
Check out our gallery of photos…
