Mary McFadden

Ms. McFadden used the Alliance book, Starting a Land Trust, as a blueprint for the Wareham Land Trust (MA), which she founded in 2001. Wareham and its surrounding towns were facing the loss of thousands of acres of cranberry bogs and uplands, which spurred their citizens to action. Mary has been active in land conservation at the local, regional, state and national levels for over ten years. She has been a board member of the all-volunteer Wareham Land Trust since its inception, and was a driving force in passing the Community Preservation Act, a conservation funding measure. She also served on the board of the Buzzards Bay Coalition, a regional watershed and land protection organization, where she led its strategic planning committee and co-chaired its successful capital campaign, and continues on its Bay Lands and Watershed Protection Committee. Mary is a member of the Mass. Land Trust Coalition, the Mass. Audubon Council and is a founding member of the Alliance's National Council. Her work in Wareham has made Mary keenly aware of the challenges facing board members of small and volunteer land trusts, who carry the responsibility for both the governance and day-to-day operations of their organizations. Her Trust has benefited from Alliance information and services over the years, including guided organizational assessments, Rally workshops, guidebooks, Learning Center, and grant assistance to help the Trust prepare for Accreditation. Ms. McFadden, who is a lawyer and director of Health Management Resources Corp. in Boston, received an Environmental Merit Award from EPA and was honored by the MA Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and Plymouth County Education Association for her work engaging children in the campaign to support land conservation. She also received the LeBaron Briggs Conservation Award from the Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts and the Buzzards Bay Guardian Award, the highest honor granted by the Buzzards Bay Coalition. With her husband, Larry Stifler, she is also active in land and water conservation projects in western Maine, where they are conserving their working forest lands for wildlife, recreation and resource protection. They are founders of the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel and trustees of a family foundation