I GIVE TO … save our woods
why i give
canco woods, maine
Trust for Public Land for help in raising the $350,000 needed to buy and permanently protect the forest. In addition to donating funds, the
First-time donors to The Trust for Public Land, the Kostadinova-Bernard fam- ily—mother Victoria, father Ben, son Julian (12), and daughter Elwen (9)—live in Port- land, Maine. One of their favorite things about their home is that it’s just down the street from Canco Woods, a 13-acre pocket forest beloved by generations of visitors as a place to hike, mountain bike, walk their dogs, and even ice-skate. Though privately owned by the local power
company, Canco Woods had long served as a de facto neighborhood park. So when “For Sale” signs started popping up around the property, the entire community was rattled. “Canco Woods is about quality of life—it’s
a little bit of wild space in our otherwise urban environment,” says Victoria. “When we real- ized the woods could be developed, it was like the bottom dropped out of our lives.” Heartbroken by the prospect of the community-maintained trails and streams being paved over to make way for offices and parking lots, the family banded together with neighbors to form Friends of the Canco Woods. The group reached out to The
FIRST LOOK · 25
Kostadinova-Bernards and their neighbors spread the word both online and throughout the neighborhood. The kids drew signs in the spirit of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax and acted as media ambassadors, telling anyone who would listen how much they loved their backyard woodland. In fact, Elwen’s spirited defense of Canco Woods (see page 15), delivered to a standing-room-only crowd at a city council meeting, helped convince the city to contrib- ute $75,000 toward conserving it for good. “It was such a valuable lesson for the kids,” says Ben. “It brought the whole community together. If you care enough about something and work together and put your back into it, anything can happen.” “We are so glad and grateful we were able to conserve Canco Woods,” says Victoria. “It’s truly amazing what communities can accomplish with help from The Trust for Public Land.”
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
—Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
The Kostadinova- Bernards of Portland, Maine, made conserva- tion a family affair: all four chipped in to help save a local forest.
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