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Date: 10/12/2021
SOUTHAMPTON – A “conservation walk” will take place at Whittemore Conservation Area in Southampton on Oct. 16 to teach residents about conservation, climate change and sustainability from a local perspective.
The event is the third and final walk sponsored by the Southampton Conservation Commission and funded by the Southampton Local Cultural Council over the course of October. The first walk occurred on Oct. 2 at Wolf Hill Sanctuary, and the second walk happened on Oct. 9 at Conant Park as an “accessible” walk for those who have mobility concerns.
The walk at Whittemore will be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and will focus on the impact climate change has had on local land, and what solutions the town could use to mitigate these problems. According to Brittany Gutermuth, the Arcadia climate education coordinator at Mass Audubon, the idea for these walks sprung from the community engagement survey conducted between June and September of 2020 that identified town needs for the seven-year Open Space & Recreation plan.
“We found that the young people and the older people in town were not using the conservation areas,” said Gutermuth, when speaking on town needs from the survey results. “We also found that people weren’t even aware of them, so they rarely visited them, which is sad because Southampton has some amazing conservation areas.”
As a result, Mass Audubon, the Conservation Commission, and the Cultural Council wanted to encourage all residents – but especially those who are unaware of these areas – to participate in the three walks. In providing the three different events at three different locations, Gutermuth said that she wanted to accommodate people’s different needs but also emphasize the different idiosyncrasies found between each area.
“We’re so lucky that we’re not running into the crazy things [in Massachusetts] like wildfires or really big hurricanes … we maybe sometimes don’t even realize that we’re facing a climate emergency,” said Gutermuth. “But we have had a bunch of impacts, and there will be a bunch coming, especially for the wildlife area.”
Gutermuth added it is important that Southampton has this open space as a natural mitigation strategy for climate change. The walks specifically focus on what the impacts of climate change are currently, what the impacts will look like in the future, and how open space areas in general function as a solution from a local and broader perspective.
Since Southampton specifically is a part of a “rural transitional community,” Gutermuth said that it is important that residents become aware of climate change’s impact on the area, particularly within the local open space areas like Whittemore, Conant and Wolf Hill.
“There’s so much beautiful forests and farmland, and I don’t think a lot of people recognize how special that is” said Gutermuth, adding that there are development pressures in Easthampton and Southampton for places that are not currently protected. Gutermuth notes that Easthampton specifically has pursued development projects on unprotected land in the past. “We really need to reflect a little bit on what we’re losing when we start building over forests,” she added.
The walk at Whittemore is free to everyone, though Southampton residents will have priority. People must pre-register for the walk and they can do so at https://www.massaudubon.org/program-catalog/arcadia/79950-community-conservation-walk-whittemore-conservation-area.
Participants are required to wear masks, and there will be a maximum of 20 people allowed on the walk. People can also visit the Mass. Audubon site at https://www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/climate-change to learn more about climate change in the community.