Critical Mass

We have developed an educational poster that highlights the changes in Southeastern Massachusetts from 1971 to 1999 and forecasts two possible growth scenarios for the year 2030. The goals of this informational poster are to:

1. Educate the public about the recent history of land use change and the loss of open space in Southeastern Massachusetts.
2. Increase the regional identity of the area by helping people to understand that it is not only what goes on in their own town that directly impacts their lives, but also what happens in the larger region.
3. Convey the concept of ecosystems services and benefits provided by undeveloped lands. Our goal is to have residents understand, for instance, that undeveloped lands clean the air and provide us clean water at no cost.
4. Provide not only a comprehensive look at the region, focusing on the counties of Plymouth and Bristol, but also examine change at the town level by looking at small groups of adjacent communities. 

Poster Side One (pdf - 727KB) Poster Side Two (pdf - 714 KB)

Our work was in collaboration with several environmental and planning organizations in SE Mass, including:

• Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development District
• The Nature Conservancy
• Southeast Massachusetts Environmental Collaborative
• Old Colony Planning Council
• Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences
• Taunton River Watershed Alliance
• Buzzards Bay Project National Estuary Program
• The Coalition for Buzzards Bay
• The North and South Rivers Watershed Association

Funding for this project was provided by:

• The Island Foundation
• The Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust
• The Sheehan Family Foundation
• Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust
• NASA LCLUC
• EPA STAR
  

©Woods Hole Research Center, 2007