BTLT Reports Preliminary Survey Results

This summer, we asked the community to give input on BTLT’s work. Angela Twitchell, BTLT’s Executive Director, reports that the response was very strong and overwhelmingly positive. “Members and nonmembers alike expressed a real interest in our work and had many valuable suggestions on how to broaden and deepen our impact,” Twitchell said.

The survey, intended to gauge community members’ knowledge of BTLT’s work and to learn how it can serve its members and community better, will take BTLT several months to analyze and begin to incorporate into its future plans. Survey Working Group leader Peter Simmons observes, however, that “conserving land is clearly our members’ highest priority, Crystal Spring Farm is our most popular property, and the Farmers’ Market at Crystal Spring Farm is our most popular program. Beyond that, we have much to learn from the survey about how to communicate better with our members and the public, how to get them out onto BTLT’s less well known public access properties, and how we might serve other community needs identified in the survey, like addressing climate change, increasing access for underserved members of our community, and providing more services for families and youth.”

BTLT plans to present a detailed report on the survey at the annual meeting on November 17 and to continue conversations with community organizations to determine how BTLT might partner with them to connect more area residents and underserved groups with BTLT’s conserved properties.