Conservation Lands Around Kripalu
CONSERVATION LAND There are 3.2 million acres of privately owned forestland in Massachusetts and 285,000 acres of state forest and parks (MA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, 2011). A number of conservation lands are found around the Stockbridge Bowl area; Kripalu’s property is near many of these properties.
Berkshire Natural Resource Council
Kripalu
Mass Audubon
Tanglewood Stockbridge Bowl Association
Different conservation organizations work to manage, maintain, and preserve land. Oftentimes, land conservation, in conjunction with trails networks, serve as contiguous core habitat for wildlife and vegetation. Adjacent parcels of conservation area are better able to maintain habitat because they provide a connected network of greenways.
Stockbridge Land Trust
Lake Mahkeenac
Greenways are protected open space areas managed for conservation and recreational purposes. They can also preserve native habitat and wildlife migration routes. Greenways also provide ecological, economic and quality of life benefits (Housatonic Valley Association, 1999). Conserved lands owned by Tanglewood, Stockbridge Bowl Association, and Goulds Meadow create a greenway along the northern portion of Lake Mahkeenac. The Berkshire Natural Resource Council and Mass Audubon own contiguous properties along Lenox and West Stockbridge mountains, north of Kripalu’s site. Fragmentation of greenways and conserved land harm wildlife’s ability to move between land areas and adapt to environmental changes. Conservation organizations can work together to increase connectivity between habitats and perpetuate the ecosystem’s
Source: Office of Geographic Information (Mass GIS), Commonwealth of Massachusetts Information Technology Division, March 2011
Contiguous conservation lands surround Kripalu to the north and the southeast.
integrity. New or stronger partnerships between conservation organizations are especially important because 77 percent of the Marble Valley ecoregion remains unprotected, as compared to the Taconic Mountains, of which 62 percent of the land remains unprotected, or the Berkshire Plateau ecoregion which still has 53 percent unprotected lands (MA Dept. of Fish and Game, 2011). 29