Recent News & Stories
Interview with Mike Murray – Andover Conservation Land Manager
12/19/2023
Q: Tell us about your background in land conservation
Mike: I've been involved in conservation for the past 10 years. I started by volunteering for the National Park Service doing stewardship work, particularly pulling invasive plants and learning about botany. I did invasive plant surveys on the Boston Harbor Islands. Then I started work as a natural educator with Mass Audubon. I did a lot of outreach work where I would take groups into Mass Audubon sites and tell them about the ecology and the different flora and fauna. Then I started working with Sudbury Valley Trustees as a Land Steward, where I did trail maintenance, boundary monitoring, and invasive plant control. Then most recently, before coming to this position I was working as a Land Steward for the Town of Concord.
Q: What drew you to take on this role for the Town of Andover?
Mike: When I first heard back from Andover, the first thing I did was start to explore Andover’s conservation land. I was just taken by the diversity the beauty, the variety of conservation, as well as how active the community is, and how much the community values both conservation land and trails. So that was one of the things that really drew me to Andover. The number of partnering organizations from Andover Trails to AVIS, to the Conservation Commission, and just all working together towards this towards a common aim. And it shows in the 2200 acres of Andover conservation land and the 1200 acres of AVIS land. The Town of Andover has a tremendous amount of land and it's really quite a great thing.
Q: What sets Andover apart in the region in terms of the conservation land we have?
Mike: Andover is in an incredibly unique position because being having both the Shawsheen River and the Merrimack River as these two incredible watersheds. I think compared to a lot of other towns in the in this area of Massachusetts, we have an incredible amount of diversity of places -- between ponds, rivers, wetlands, uplands, grasslands, meadows. There's just this huge diversity of different kinds of habitats. And it's unusual. Most towns either have one river wandering through it or they don't have a river. And so, Andover is really we're uniquely placed for having so many different kinds of habitat and land. I think it puts us in a really, really good place.
Q: What are some of your goals and what do you hope to accomplish in the next year or two?
Mike: My priorities are in three main areas: land maintenance, invasive species management, and outreach and education. Recently, with a lot of our downed trees, that's one of our big priorities. We are doing maintenance on some of our bridges and trails, which may need erosion control, for example. So doing trail maintenance, which has been a big part of my background, is really important because making trails accessible and the land accessible is an important priority. By making sure that citizens have access to conservation land makes it so that people want to protect the land and support conservation. They go together.
Invasive species management is another priority. So we're planning on doing some more volunteer work, working together with other organizations in town in doing invasive plant removal efforts, as well as work to do more education in terms of invasive plants, their effect and how we can manage them. And then I'd say the other big push that we have is outreach and education. And so having programs that pull people from the community into conservation land, like doing walks, and programs where people are doing paddling on Pomps Pond for example. We have Winterfest coming up, which is another great opportunity for people in town to get engaged with conservation land. So those are probably my top three priorities for the upcoming years.
Q: What would you say to someone who’s interested in getting more involved in land conservation efforts? Where do you go to get connected to this effort?
Mike: I've often been approached by people who have asked that exact same question. First, I would say you can reach out to me. The first thing I ask them is how do you want to be involved in conservation land? What are you interested in doing? Because we want to give people the experience that they're looking for so that people can connect to the land in the way that feels important to them. For information on land stewardship I would have them talk to AVIS, who we work very closely with and also has an important volunteer network. Also I would offer them to become a Land Steward with the town or join the eco team with AVIS. Those are considered two places to start in terms of getting active in conservation. There are many ways to get involved, it’s just a matter of reach out to one or more organizations.
Mike Murray has been involved in conservation for the last ten years. He began by volunteering with the National Park Service on their Stewardship Saturdays. He was soon asked to conduct invasive plant surveys for the Boston Harbor Islands. He then worked as a naturalist educator with Mass Audubon and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay where he led public outreach programs. Most recently, Mike worked as a land steward with Sudbury Valley Trustees and the Town of Concord where he led invasive plant removal projects and conducted a variety of trail maintenance work. His priorities in his current role as Conservation Land Manager include invasive plant management; trail maintenance and improvement; and habitat preservation and restoration.
Q: Tell us about your background in land conservation
Mike: I've been involved in conservation for the past 10 years. I started by volunteering for the National Park Service doing stewardship work, particularly pulling invasive plants and learning about botany. I did invasive plant surveys on the Boston Harbor Islands. Then I started work as a natural educator with Mass Audubon. I did a lot of outreach work where I would take groups into Mass Audubon sites and tell them about the ecology and the different flora and fauna. Then I started working with Sudbury Valley Trustees as a Land Steward, where I did trail maintenance, boundary monitoring, and invasive plant control. Then most recently, before coming to this position I was working as a Land Steward for the Town of Concord.
Q: What drew you to take on this role for the Town of Andover?
Mike: When I first heard back from Andover, the first thing I did was start to explore Andover’s conservation land. I was just taken by the diversity the beauty, the variety of conservation, as well as how active the community is, and how much the community values both conservation land and trails. So that was one of the things that really drew me to Andover. The number of partnering organizations from Andover Trails to AVIS, to the Conservation Commission, and just all working together towards this towards a common aim. And it shows in the 2200 acres of Andover conservation land and the 1200 acres of AVIS land. The Town of Andover has a tremendous amount of land and it's really quite a great thing.
Q: What sets Andover apart in the region in terms of the conservation land we have?
Mike: Andover is in an incredibly unique position because being having both the Shawsheen River and the Merrimack River as these two incredible watersheds. I think compared to a lot of other towns in the in this area of Massachusetts, we have an incredible amount of diversity of places -- between ponds, rivers, wetlands, uplands, grasslands, meadows. There's just this huge diversity of different kinds of habitats. And it's unusual. Most towns either have one river wandering through it or they don't have a river. And so, Andover is really we're uniquely placed for having so many different kinds of habitat and land. I think it puts us in a really, really good place.
Q: What are some of your goals and what do you hope to accomplish in the next year or two?
Mike: My priorities are in three main areas: land maintenance, invasive species management, and outreach and education. Recently, with a lot of our downed trees, that's one of our big priorities. We are doing maintenance on some of our bridges and trails, which may need erosion control, for example. So doing trail maintenance, which has been a big part of my background, is really important because making trails accessible and the land accessible is an important priority. By making sure that citizens have access to conservation land makes it so that people want to protect the land and support conservation. They go together.
Invasive species management is another priority. So we're planning on doing some more volunteer work, working together with other organizations in town in doing invasive plant removal efforts, as well as work to do more education in terms of invasive plants, their effect and how we can manage them. And then I'd say the other big push that we have is outreach and education. And so having programs that pull people from the community into conservation land, like doing walks, and programs where people are doing paddling on Pomps Pond for example. We have Winterfest coming up, which is another great opportunity for people in town to get engaged with conservation land. So those are probably my top three priorities for the upcoming years.
Q: What would you say to someone who’s interested in getting more involved in land conservation efforts? Where do you go to get connected to this effort?
Mike: I've often been approached by people who have asked that exact same question. First, I would say you can reach out to me. The first thing I ask them is how do you want to be involved in conservation land? What are you interested in doing? Because we want to give people the experience that they're looking for so that people can connect to the land in the way that feels important to them. For information on land stewardship I would have them talk to AVIS, who we work very closely with and also has an important volunteer network. Also I would offer them to become a Land Steward with the town or join the eco team with AVIS. Those are considered two places to start in terms of getting active in conservation. There are many ways to get involved, it’s just a matter of reach out to one or more organizations.
Mike Murray has been involved in conservation for the last ten years. He began by volunteering with the National Park Service on their Stewardship Saturdays. He was soon asked to conduct invasive plant surveys for the Boston Harbor Islands. He then worked as a naturalist educator with Mass Audubon and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay where he led public outreach programs. Most recently, Mike worked as a land steward with Sudbury Valley Trustees and the Town of Concord where he led invasive plant removal projects and conducted a variety of trail maintenance work. His priorities in his current role as Conservation Land Manager include invasive plant management; trail maintenance and improvement; and habitat preservation and restoration.
