In ecology, a keystone species is one whose impacts on its environment are larger and greater than would be expected from one species. The UMass Forest Conservation’s Keystone Project invests training and resources in keystone people, landowners and community leaders, with a disproportionate impact on their communities in a position to make a significant conservation difference. In return, those that are trained, called Keystone Cooperators, commit to working to support forest conservation in their community through a project of their choosing.

This year’s annual Keystone Training was held in April. Twenty-five landowners and community leaders from across the state were chosen from over 80 applications to attend the 3-day training held at Harvard Forest. The training was made possible through the generous support of MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, the MA Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Harvard Forest, and the law firm of Ray Lyons and Associates.

Below is a list of this year’s Keystone Cooperators:

Name - Town
Mary Canning - Orange
David Cole - Westport
Joan Deely - Northfield
Bob Douglas - Harvard
Maureen Doyle - Southbridge
Tim Enman - Worcester
Frederica Gillespie - Southborough
Gail Godin - Hubbardston
Sandra Grund - Arlington
Cindy Hartwell - New Salem
Laura Herbert - Erving
Cynthia Magrath - Worthington
Stephen Marko - Cheshire
Laura Mattei - Maynard
Sandy Papush - Goshen
Hattie Plehn - Worthington
Marie Raftery - Stockbridge
Michael Rohr - Clinton
Tim Silva - Leominster
Jenny Tufts - Northfield
Ivan Ussach - Petersham
Alan Vint - Middlefield
Harry Webb - Hardwick
Philip Warbasse - Oakham
Anna Wilkins - Lincoln

In total, this year’s Keystone cooperators own 810 acres and are involved in the management decisions of 17,382 acres (e.g., town forest, land trust land). However, the impacts exceed the number acres they are involved in stewarding. These Keystone Cooperators are involved in their communities by serving on town boards, working with land trusts and watershed associations, and grassroots organizing around environmental issues. Since many landowners turn to respected peers for information about their land, these well-connected Keystone Cooperators are in a great position to inform the decisions of other landowners in their communities through conversations and outreach projects. In fact, information delivered by a peer can have more influence than information delivered by an expert, since peers are unbiased and have often made similar decisions.

Since 1998, the Keystone Project, formerly called Coverts, has trained over 350 Keystone Cooperators. Learn more about the Keystone Project. Find a Keystone cooperator in your community.