For immediate release

Contact:   Dr. Kent Curtis
                 The Walden Woods Project
                 (781) 259-4721
                 education@walden.org                     

LINCOLN, MA; January 16, 2004 – Bob Durand, former Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA), will lead a panel presentation and discussion entitled “Conservation Innovation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”  Durand will be joined by Sharon McGregor, former EOEA Assistant Secretary, and James Levitt, Director of Harvard Forest’s Program on Conservation Innovation and editor of Conservation in the Internet Age (Island Press, 2002).  Durand, McGregor, and Levitt, each an expert in his or her own right on the history and practice of conservation in Massachusetts, aim to spark a lively discussion about the origins of the conservation ethic in the Bay State and the innovative practices that have been developed in Massachusetts over the years.  Panelists will provide historical context about conservation issues in order to stimulate a discussion about the future direction of conservation in Massachusetts.  The panel discussion will follow a wine and cheese reception beginning at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 5, 2004 at the Walden Woods Project’s Thoreau Institute, 44 Baker Farm, Lincoln, Massachusetts.

“Bob Durand has long been a friend of the Walden Woods Project and a staunch supporter of our mission to preserve historic Walden Woods.  Bob’s leadership on a myriad of issues related to conservation is unparalleled,” said Kathi Anderson, executive director of the Walden Woods Project.  “We’re so pleased that he will be participating in this panel.”

The Durand, McGregor, Levitt panel marks the first of a new six-part annual lecture series being launched by the Walden Woods Project entitled The Stewardship Lectures.  This series is organized around the theme of environmental stewardship, broadly defined, and will highlight and celebrate innovation and creativity in environmental stewardship.  To this end, the lectures include authors, policy-makers, scholars, and activists who have taken unique and effective approaches to identifying, understanding, and contributing solutions to today’s environmental problems.  This year’s speakers will also include Dr. Donald Worster, professor of environmental history at the University of Kansas, Jeffrey Hollender, President and CEO of Seventh Generation, Inc., Jeffrey Cramer, curator of collections at the Walden Woods Project’s Thoreau Institute and editor of the forthcoming The Annotated Walden (Yale, 2004), Allen Hershkowitz, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council and author of Bronx Ecology: Blueprint for a New Environmentalism, and Kathi Anderson and Anne Anderson discussing the challenges surrounding the Woburn hazardous waste cleanup.  Each event will take place at the Walden Woods Project’s Thoreau Institute in Lincoln, Massachusetts, beginning at 7 p.m., and will run approximately two hours.

“This series is yet another opportunity for our organization to provide the public with information concerning sound environmental stewardship,” says Kent Curtis, the Walden Woods Project’s director of education.  “We want to be cutting edge and creative, showing that good stewardship can take place in a variety of contexts and venues, ranging from the arena of politics to business practices to academic scholarship, as well as among environmentalists themselves.  Each of this year’s speakers is a regional or national figure who we believe will contribute great substance to this idea.”

Reservation for the February 5th event can be made at (781) 259-4707 or by sending an email to education@walden.org.

About the Walden Woods Project

The Walden Woods Project is a national conservation, education, and research organization committed to preserving the land, literature and legacy of Henry David Thoreau. Founded in 1990 by recording artist Don Henley, the organization uses the land it has protected in Walden Woods to foster an ethic of environmental stewardship and social responsibility, both cornerstones of Thoreau's philosophy. In 14 years, the Project has protected nearly 140 acres in and around Walden Woods and provided educational programming for hundreds of teachers, students, and life long learners. The Walden Woods Project also administers The Thoreau Institute, a research center near Walden Pond that houses the world’s foremost collection of Thoreau-related materials.