Proposed camp paradise nature center
Kestrel, along with community partners, has proposed a free public nature center at one of Beverly’s wild reservations.
Background and USe
What is Camp Paradise?
Camp Paradise is a 12 acre reservation purchased by the City of Beverly from the Girl Scouts in 2015, using nearly a million dollars of public funding for conservation and parks. The property consists of a variety of fragile wetlands including 2 vernal pools, a red maple swamp, and a permanent frog pond, and forested hillside. The property includes a 1,000 square foot heated building with bathrooms, and a picnic and fire pit area. We have documented at least 8 species of breeding amphibians onsite.
What is it currently used for?
Camp Paradise grounds are open to the public during all daylight hours. The building is unstaffed, and locked most of the time. It’s used for storage, and occasionally for Park and Recreation classes and event rentals. Most uses are unrelated to the immediate natural surroundings. The building cannot be accessed by the public unless there is a rental or event. Kestrel holds Conservation Club meetings at Camp Paradise and also instructs our Hometown Waters wetland study for all Beverly public school second graders at the property.
What are we proposing?
Kestrel and allies are proposing that the building be outfitted as a nature learning center and kept open to the public several days a week. This would include exhibits, a gear loaning library, maps and information about all Beverly public wild lands and wildlife, and public nature programming. Our proposal is consistent with other existing uses and the land would still be open to the public.
Frequently Asked Questions
What restrictions on Camp Paradise use exist?
Article 97, The Public Lands Preservation Act
The property is dedicated under article 97 of the Massachusetts state constitution, a law for preserving the net amount of open space in the state. When it was acquired, the property was dedicated to “public park and outdoor recreation uses.” Protections from article 97 are only triggered by building additional structures or changing the use of the space or control of the land to non-conservation uses.
The PLPA was crafted by the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition, a group of conservation and environmental /outdoor education non profits. As described on their website, the purpose of the PLPA is to preserve the net amount of public open space in the state, for conservation and recreation purposes. It is designed to keep open space from being converted to non -conservation uses. The authors of the PLPA include non profits currently operating nature centers on Article 97 land, including MassAudubon, which currently operates 2 nature centers in Massachusetts on dedicated article 97 land in public buildings. To quote American Farmland Trust’s website: “Article 97 was intended to be a legislative ‘check’ to ensure that lands acquired for conservation purposes were not converted to other inconsistent uses.”
Camp Paradise is also protected under a conservation restriction held by Essex County Greenbelt Association for the purposes of preserving the “scenic, scientific, outdoor educational, and recreational value of the property in its present state as a natural area and open space.” Commercial uses and additional structures and parking are prohibited. The nature center proposal is more consistent with the conservation restriction than unrelated building rentals.
Is it legal for the City of Beverly to give Kestrel a permit to operate a nature center on a property protected by Article 97?
Quote from the Energy and Environmental affairs office governing Article 97: EEA does not consider the issuance of a revocable permit or license of limited duration a disposition of land subject to Art. 97 or the PLPA, provided that: 1. no interest in land is transferred to the permittee or licensee, and 2. the permit or license does not authorize a change in use of the land.
In fact, Melissa Cryan from the Massachusetts state Conservation Services agency, who is the state representative who signed off on the Camp Paradise article 97 dedication, let Kestrel know by phone on December 18th, 2023, that if the City of Beverly wanted to give a non profit a license to operate a nature center in the existing Camp Paradise building, they would be permitted to do so, provided they first opened an RFP. Melissa also responded to an inquiry from the Salem Evening News with the same information. You can read the entire Salem Evening News article here.
In short, yes, it is permitted. In fact, there are several nature centers run by non profits on article 97 lands in Massachusetts:
Magazine Beach in Cambridge (Mass Audubon)
Blue Hills Trailside Museum in Milton (Mass Audubon)
Hitchcock Center for the Environment (Operated for 40 years on article 97 land) in Amherst
Would Kestrel be “taking over” Camp Paradise and thereby allowing less use by other groups who also need it?
Volunteers help amphibians cross the roads near Camp Paradise on rainy spring nights.
No, this is not the plan or the proposal at all. Kestrel, a 24 year old non profit organization, has always had a collaborative, community based model. We plan to collaborate with the scouts, homeschoolers, and city course instructors in order to invite all users of Camp Paradise to learn more about the unique habitats and wildlife it supports. Our professional naturalists and volunteers would be available to assist other users as desired with nature connected programming and to loan them science gear. We also plan to collaborate with other groups to design, install, and maintain exhibits.
Logistics
Where will visitors park?
There are parking areas inside the reservation off both Cole and Standley Streets. We do not anticipate any parking overflow onto the public roads. This will be a small nature learning facility designed to engage and enlighten visitors to the reservation, not a destination museum.
What else would change?
Signage throughout the property would make all visitors aware of the presence and importance of wetlands and their associated wildlife,
Would the existing uses of Camp Paradise be Preserved?
Yes! The proposal would dedicate the small rooms in the building as office space and the basement as storage for field gear. Exhibits featuring wetlands would be placed primarily around the outer edge of the main room, where the cubbies are currently. Most of the large room would remain open and would be available to continue existing uses.
Why should you support the nature center?
What would the public gain?
Having consistent staff presence at Camp Paradise would deter dumping and other misuse and keep the building clean and presentable. It would allow visitors to the property to engage with professional naturalists to learn more about the nature of the site. Visitors would be able to check out field science gear the way library books are checked out, with a simple reservation process. Having a public nature learning resource would make the city and Kestrel eligible for grant funding to update the building (refurbish the bathrooms and kitchen, for example.)
Why does Beverly need a public nature learning center?
Access to wild nature, the opportunity to explore it, and contact with adults who model its care, are the strongest predictors that children will grow up to care about the natural environment and behave accordingly. In general, legislation to protect natural resources is only effective if there is also widespread education and awareness. The most effective education about natural resources involves direct immersion in the natural world.
Isn’t climate change more important?
Place-based environmental education IS climate education. Building connection with wild places is a powerful route to engaging people with environmental action, and for children, is proven more effective than issues-based education.
See our Research Findings page for more information
Why is Camp Paradise ideal for this facility:
Camp Paradise is Beverly’s only wild, natural, city -owned reservation with a building onsite; a fully applianced, winterized building with existing heat and bathrooms
The variety of wetlands types and other habitats supports unusually rich biodiversity for such a small area. The habitats are easily accessible, with wildlife viewable by all, even from the wheelchair-accessible porch.
We’ve documented at least eight species of breeding amphibians onsite, in addition to a variety of reptiles, birds, and mammals, including egrets, herons, a bobcat.
Conservation Concerns
Over the last 3 years, we’ve found that through lack of awareness and the facility remaining unstaffed, there has been frequent trash dumping and contamination of the wetlands. Nearby, a beaver dam used as a crucial wildlife crossing was recently removed without the approval of the conservation commission. Amphibians and reptiles are being run over on the park road. Without widespread awareness, wetlands are subject to the same casual neglect that led to the initial approval of the Wetlands Protection Act. Making this a property that prioritizes wetlands and education about them will help protect the wetlands and wetlands-dependent wildlife, here and elsewhere.
Resources:
Kestrel Conservation Club’s “Live From Camp Paradise” website