Woodie Wheaton Land Trust

Presidents Letter 2006

President's Letter

December 13, 2006

Dear Friends,

It is a privilege to serve those who believe in preserving and protecting a portion of things natural from those made to fit our modern life style. This privilege is especially meaningful when the shared belief includes our natural heritage found along the shorelines and forests of the Chiputneticook chain of lakes.

Through the efforts of a few hard working people who are motivated and empowered by your faithful participation, the WWLT has enjoyed great success, extending conservation outward from its roots in Forest City to the shorelines of Spednic Lake and the St. Croix River.

It would be tempting to relax and enjoy the fruits of this collective labor, but life is not static and neither is the competition for those same natural values that we cherish and enjoy. The landscape on which we now concentrate is large, complex in use, and more at risk than ever before. Much land ownership is governed solely by return on investment with a major focus on those same natural resources that we value and cherish. This landscape, the goals of ownership, and the diverse and potentially conflicting uses, present both challenges and opportunities. Conservation has become very expensive, collaborative, and extremely business intensive--and so must our mission.

We are embarking on some ambitious endeavors to best position the WWLT to meet these present challenges and to be prepared for the future. Our Board will be undertaking a strategic planning effort this coming winter and spring to ensure that all of our resources from human capital to the fruits of our land trust Center project will be used most wisely in the mission of land conservation. We appreciate greatly your past and continued support of our efforts. Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns about WWLT and these exciting times.

I hope that you enjoy our newly formatted newsletter. (reproduced below)

Sincerely,
Elbridge G. Cleaves
President