Saving open space is only the first step in preserving the best of the Massachusetts landscape. To develop the next generation of stewards, The Trustees is expanding efforts to use our reservations as classrooms for children.   Copicut Woods at the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve Copicut Woods, part of the 13,600-acre Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve, is an ideal setting for place-based education. There, The Trustees is developing programs related to the history, land use, and ecology of the bioreserve. We began by teaming with the Westport River Watershed Alliance to lead summer field trips for 400 children enrolled in daycare at a local antipoverty agency.

This fall, Outreach and Education Coor-dinator Linton Harrington involved 290 kids from local agencies in after-school programs combining classroom instruction with field trips to the bioreserve. The children played games related to habitat protection, classified native species, and studied biodiversity.

Linton is expanding the after-school programs to new organizations and is developing a youth corps to serve as hands-on assistants and bioreserve ambassadors. For more information, e-mail Linton Harrington or call him at 508/679-2115 x12.

Classes on the South Shore
Along the South Shore, Education and Interpretation Coordinator Tara Nieves found that an increasing number of local schools wanted to use Trustees reservations as teaching tools. In fact, 450 students from nine local schools visited South Shore reservations over the past year to participate in an educational program or interpretive tour.

In response, The Trustees developed 'Beyond the Classroom,' a series of nature classes that help school children better understand our reservations' resources. Each hour-and-a-half program features hands-on activities, such as carding wool at Weir River Farm or identifying green crabs along the shore of World's End.

Over the summer, more than 300 children took advantage of seasonal pro-grams to learn about farm animals, salt marshes, and the local animals and plants that rely on our reservations. And Tara has recently expanded fall programs to introduce local pre-school children to Whitney and Thayer Woods and the Norris Reservation.

For more information, e-mail Tara Nieves or call her at 781/740-7233.

Interpreting Cape Ann
Thanks to a generous donation from an anonymous donor, the position of Cape Ann Education and Interpretation Coordinator was created last year to help visitors appreciate the nature of this unique peninsula.

Since May, Jessica Kagle has been developing outdoor natural history explorations for school and youth groups from pre-school through the 6th grade. Program topics include animal habitats, marine and freshwater life, and forest succession. So far, children from three local schools and three youth groups have partici-pated. Looking ahead, Jessica plans to expand her programs to cover middle- and high-school students.

In addition to working with school groups, Jessica has developed 25 nature programs for children and adults, such as a recent Winter Wild Tea that taught participants how to identify and prepare a variety of forest teas.