Welcome to the Swampscott Conservancy! We’re so happy you’ve come to visit us. Please enjoy your experience on this site, and we hope to see you at our next meeting or event!
The Conservancy’s next meeting will be held remotely on Wednesday, October 23 at 6:30 pm. Click here to see meeting agenda.
View informative videos on our YouTube channel.
Read our Current Newsletter and catch up on past editions:
The Swampscott Conservancy is announcing a Youth Conservation Grant Program designed to provide support to Middle and High School students who wish to make positive environmental change in their community and more broadly New England.
Who can apply? Students who live or attend school in Lynn or Swampscott and are in Grades 6 to 12 are eligible to apply for funds to support a project aimed at making a difference in our natural world. Individual students or groups are welcome to apply. Click here for more information and to apply.
Toni Bandrowicz, President of the Swampscott Conservancy, has written four articles for the Open Space Committee regarding the design and development of the Hawthorne property as open green space. They underscore the unique opportunity that Swampscott has to create a seaside park that will be an exceptional resource for future generations of its residence. This issue is not really about dollars and cents, it is about the character and the heart of a small community that has resided by the sea since 1629.
The Swampscott Conservancy’s letter to the Select Board regarding the April 3, 2024 Hawthorne Proposal is available here:
Swampscott Conservancy’s Photo of the Month
The Swampscott Conservancy looking for high quality photos that capture Swampscott’s natural beauty – scenery, plants, and animals. Submit your photo as an email attachment to swampscottconservancy@gmail.com
Include your name, the location and the date where the photo was taken in Swampscott. If your photo is chosen as a “photo of the month”, it will be featured here as well as the Swampscott Conservancy’s Facebook and Instagram sites. Also, please be aware that the Conservancy may use your photo, with credit, in other contexts, such as in a calendar or notecards.
A young rabbit hides during the day near Puritan Road. Photo taken by Jack Lawler.
Nature in the Neighborhood – October 2024
Spending Time Outdoors
Want to sleep better? Reduce anxiety? Then try spending more time outdoors. There’s no question that doing so improves physical health, but study after study shows that it helps with mental health as well. And, in this day and age, with media overload and news-related anxiety, who couldn’t benefit by lowering the stress level in their lives?
A prescription for spending time outdoors may be just what the doctor orders–literally. Dr. Robert Zarr, a pediatrician at Unity Health Care in Washington, D.C., is the founder of “Park Rx America” (parkrxamerica.org), a nonprofit that encourages doctors to prescribe that patients spend time in nearby parks to improve mental health and reduce risks of certain physical conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension.
Rather than just telling patients to “exercise more” or “eat healthier,” he recommends that physicians write a specific prescription, naming where to go, the activity to do, and for how long (for example, “walk in a nearby park for 30 minutes, 3 times per week.”) Park prescriptions seem to be catching on. Just this spring, the National Park Service held a ParkRx Day for people to get outside and celebrate the healing power of parks and the great outdoors (nps.gov/subjects/healthandsafety/park-rx.htm).
But you don’t have to wait for a doctor’s prescription; you can, as Dr. Zarr suggests, write your own prescription: name an outdoor place where you feel safe and comfortable; plan the activity you enjoy; and decide how often, on which days of the week, and for how long (parkrxamerica.org/patients/write-your-own-nature-prescription.php)
You may be saying to yourself as you read this, “Yeah, right, if I only had the time.” But keep in mind that studies have shown that just 120 minutes a week in an outdoor, natural setting results in health benefits and a greater sense of wellbeing (nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44097-3). It seems we should all be able to take two hours out of a busy, stress-filled week in order to feel better.
As for where to go, we’re lucky to have a number of parks, forests, and beaches in our neighborhood to help fill the prescription. A partial list includes:
Swampscott: Harold A. King Forest, 47 acres of undeveloped natural forest and wetlands; Charles M. Ewing Woods, a small, wooded parcel nestled in a residential area near the new elementary school; and Upper Jackson Park, 12 acres of woodland of mature oaks and a lovely stand of white pines adjacent to the High School. There’s also Linscott Park and Phillips Park. As for beaches, there’s Fisherman’s, New Ocean House, Whales, and Phillips, with adjacent Palmer Pond.
Lynn: Lynn Woods Reservation, with over 2,200 acres and more than 30 miles of scenic trails; and Lynn Heritage State Park and Red Rock Park, coastal walks with views of Nahant Bay.
Saugus: Breakheart Reservation, 600-acre forest featuring walking rails, swimming holes, and beautiful natural scenery.
And don’t forget the neighborhood rail trails, including those in Marblehead, Salem, Danvers, as well as the Northern Strand Community Trail that connects Everett, Malden, Revere, Saugus, and Lynn and offers lovely vistas of the Saugus River.
So, consider writing yourself a park prescription today and boosting your mood by getting outside in our neighborhood!
A word on the Community Preservation Act
The health benefits of being outdoors is all the more reason why communities need to invest in expanding and improving the open space in their neighborhoods. One tool for doing this is the Commonwealth’s Community Preservation Act (CPA). Supported by organizations such as Audubon, the Trust for Public Land, and Essex County Greenbelt Association, the CPA is something 195 Massachusetts communities, including the Northshore communities of Salem, Nahant, and Peabody, have already taken advantage of. By adopting the CPA, these communities have created a reliable funding source to help pay for open space improvements.
After receiving strong support from its Select Board and approval at the spring town meeting, Swampscott has placed adoption of the CPA on the ballot for the November election. If adopted, Swampscott would implement a 1.5% surcharge on the real estate tax bill (with an exemption for the first $100,000 of residential and commercial property, as well as exemptions for many seniors and those with low-income). Just as important, its adoption would make the town eligible for state matching funds from the Commonwealth’s Community Preservation Trust Fund. Since the state gets the money for this match from fees on all Registry of Deeds real estate transactions, property owners in non-CPA communities are paying into the statewide fund without getting any of the benefits.
As the Swampscott Conservancy believes that the CPA would benefit the town by giving it a dedicated resource to expand and improve open space, we strongly supports its passage.
Toni Bandrowicz, President
The Swampscott Conservancy
Donations to the Swampscott Conservancy are an invaluable resource that must be tapped in the fulfilling of the crucial and altruistic goals that are laid out in our organization’s mission statement, and which are embodied by our dedicated members and our ongoing activities. All monetary contributions will be applied in the direct interest of furthering the natural wonder of our community; whether a member or not, your assistance is greatly appreciated and will be perceived in one way or another by any and all who immerse themselves in Swampscott’s natural, open spaces. Thank you for supporting The Conservancy and empowering your local community!
