A VISION FOR MY CHILDREN

By: Dick Johnson

For seven years I have been writing newsletter articles from the point of view of a biologist and Executive Director of Sheriff's Meadow Foundation. Here I want to step out of my professional role and write instead as the father of two young girls. Like all parents, I often wonder what the future holds for my children. Martha's Vineyard is the only home they have ever known, and I sense how profoundly their lives are linked to the fate of the Island.

During the formation of the Conservation Partnership, the Executive Directors of each of the participating organizations met to discuss their personal and organizational visions for the Vineyard. I found that the best way to translate my personal vision into words was to describe what I hope life will be like for my children as they grow up on Martha's Vineyard, and through them illuminate my hopes for the Island.

I hope my children will still get their milk from cows that they can see, and buy their vegetables from farmers that they know. I hope that they will always have clean, sweet well water, and that they will be able to drink the water without worrying about whether it is safe.

I hope my children will be able to drive or bike down North Road and see the spring sunlight filtering through the trees. I hope they will enjoy a network of trails and old roads that once again connect the most far-flung points on the Island, and that they will be able to walk, bicycle or ride horseback from one end of the Vineyard to the other on trails crossing and connecting conservation land.

I hope my children will hear whippoorwills and see harriers, piping plovers and terns, and not worry that they are seeing and hearing the last remnants of these species on the Island. I hope that the fading light of quiet spring evenings will still highlight woodcocks performing their aerial courtship displays. And I dream that my children will see and hear things that I've never experienced on Martha's Vineyard: prairie chickens booming, flights of regal fritillary butterflies and the strange wolf whistle call of the upland plover.

I dream that someday my children will stand, surrounded by a sea of grassland and savanna and, whichever way they turn, see northern harriers and short-eared owls performing courtship displays. I hope they will know that somewhere on the Vineyard all the different habitats that existed prior to European arrival on the Island still exist, and that these remaining examples are large enough to support the species, the natural communities and the ecological processes that make the Vineyard such a unique biological treasure.

I hope my children will live on an island that still retains its rural character: quiet roads, beautiful views and small-town feel. I hope they will have the opportunity to make their living in a way that sustains the local economy and ecosystem and that is not overly dependent on seasonal tourism. I hope they will live on an Island with viable town centers that support year-round business, and that when they go to the grocery store or the bank, they will be recognized as a member of the community and will not need a driver's license to cash a check or make a withdrawal.

I hope my children will feel the desire and responsibility to participate in community decision-making, and that when they enter the political arena they will know and be known to their rivals as well as to their friends. I hope that they will feel accountable to the community and act accordingly, and not have the luxury of retreating into anonymity and irresponsibility.

I hope my children will always feel as privileged as I do to live on the Vineyard, that they will be as proud as I am to be part of the effort to conserve the Island, and that they will always be as confident as I am that, no matter how difficult the struggle to conserve the Vineyard, it is worth it.