Acceptance Speech given by GLT president, Chris Craig

I just want to say that the Goshen Land Trust is honored to be selected to receive the White Memorial 2011 Conservation Award.  Though the first award was given in 1964, the ultimate award goes to Alain and May White who personify land conservation in Connecticut.  At a time when few people saw land as anything other than something to be farmed or developed, the Whites had the foresight to see the value of open space for people as well as wildlife.  We owe a debt of gratitude to the Whites for much of the protected land in Northwest Connecticut.

And at the same time that we are honored, we are also humbled to join an elite group of individuals and organizations who have carried on the work that the Whites started.       

I suspect that we were chosen for this year’s award as much for our potential as for our accomplishments.  While we are currently working on two projects that will more than double the land area that we have protected, much more remains to be done.  We refer to Goshen as a town above all others, because of our elevation.  As a consequence, we are the headwaters of at least 7 streams and supply drinking water to 6 municipalities in addition to ourselves.  We are also part of one of the largest relatively unfragmented forest blocks in Connecticut, extending from the Torrington Water Company lands in the east through North Goshen to Great Mountain Forest and Robins Swamp to the north. 

We accept this award as a challenge to protect these resources for all future generations.