The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Priority Projects

The Berkshire Taconic Landscape
Along the borders of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York lies the Berkshire Taconic Landscape. This landscape boasts a remarkable forest plateau and globally significant wetlands, and is home to many rare plants, animals and natural communities. Learn more about our work in the Berkshires.

Westfield River Highlands
Central and western Massachusetts contain all or part of eleven exceptionally large, intact forest areas. These areas provide important habitat for wide ranging mammals, like the black bear, mink, fisher and bobcat, and interior forest nesting birds. Learn more about our work in the Westfield River Highlands.

The Connecticut River
From its start at a small, lonely pond near the Canadian border, the Connecticut River runs more than 410 miles — past forests, and farms, small towns and industrial cities built and occasionally ravaged by its power. Fed by 38 major tributaries and draining a basin of 11,985 square miles, the river passes rapids where bald eagles swoop for fish and through tidal marshes teeming with marine and bird life. Learn more about our work in the Connecticut River basin.

Southeast Massachusetts
Southeast Massachusetts is our state's fastest growing region. It also hosts ecosystems that provide essential services for people and nature. From rare pine barrens to the Taunton River, the Conservancy is working to preserve and restore the natural resources that define this region. Learn more about our work in Southeast Massachusetts.

Islands and Cape Cod
The coastal sandplain ecosystem found on Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the surrounding Massachusetts Islands is one of the most beautiful and threatened natural systems in the world, with only one percent of its original global acreage still remaining. Learn more about our work on the Massachusetts islands.

The Gulf of Maine
The Conservancy is integrating data from oceanography, biology, chemistry and even social science to identify threats to the Gulf of Maine. A baseline will then be established that will help us develop conservation strategies tailored to the Gulf. Learn more about our work in the Gulf of Maine.

Preserves

Preserves in the Berkshires/Western Massachusetts
Hawley Bog
Reed Brook
Roger & Virginia Drury
Stacy Mountain
Greene Swamp

Preserves in Southeastern Massachusetts
Black Pond Bog
Sandy Neck

Preserves on the Islands
David H. Smith
Hoft Farm

Past Successes

Katama Plains
Francis Newhall
Homer-Watcha