Dear Sinkable Community Member,
Preston and I are very proud to share that we are in the final stages of closing on our first project. Read on below about this incredible forest, it's fascintating and unique history, and our plans for the future. Of course - we appreciate donor support and an anonymous donor is doing a 100% match on all donations supporting this first project.
Over the last three years, Preston and I have been patiently waiting for a piece of land like this to pop up. We had seriously evaluated about five other forests but none really felt quite right. We had strict criteria, and we stuck to those points through this process. We were looking for:
- Location: Vermont. As Sinkable.org is a VT based 501c(3), and both Preston and I have spent a ton of time in the woods here, it was important to both of us to have our first parcel be located in this great state.
- Likelihood of development: We only looked at parcels that were in danger of being developed. There are a lot of forests out there, and there is a wide spectrum in terms of how likely a piece of land is to attract interest from developers. Our search was limited to forests that were likely to be bought by a developer, so that our work could have the most long-term impact. Developers tend to like road access and nearby towns.
- Maple trees: We are both avid back-yard maple syrup producers. For almost the last 10 years, every March we've been tapping 50 trees in Norwich, VT and doing a weekend boil. Over the years, as any syruper knows, one continues to build upon the prior year's work and we got pretty good at it. As you'l read below, we have some big plans to share our knowledge with the Sinkable community and bring more people into this terrific pastime mud-season activity.
- River: The parcel must be on a trout stream or river. In addition to forest preservation, our passion for fly fishing inspires us to embark on a journey of continued river restoration, developing enhanced habitat and environment to boost naturally occurring trout populations.
- Proximity to Higher-Ed: The final criteria is that we wanted a parcel that would be close enough to the University of Vermont and Dartmouth College so that we could (hopefully) partner with certain academic departments, professors, and students to make our property available to others to further academic research and experiences.
We found all that and more in a 59 acre piece located in Strafford, VT. 
This parcel is located on the old Elizabeth Copper Mine, which became an EPA Superfund Site and is now a case study in successful remediation. To read the entire history check out our other page dedicated to this topic here.
For Preston and I, this history added meaning and significance to this particular parcel. What was once one of the most polluted forests and rivers in the entire country is now a clean, safe, quiet and incredibly beautiful area that deserves to be preserved for eternity.
So what are our plans for our very first conservation project? Now we get to the very fun and exciting vision of what Sinkable will grow into over the coming years.
- Forestry plan: We will fully map the property, including marking the Ash trees for logging and the Maple trees for sugaring. In 2018 the Emarld Ash Borer (EAB) insect started to become a problem. This invasive beetle targets ash only and will eventually kill these trees. Clearing them out is both a smart preventative move, will subsidize some of the work we need done, and will make room for other healthy trees to grow.
- Grant Applications for River Restoration: We have researched state, public, and private grants that are available for projects like ours. Thankfully, Preston is a Professor and extremely capable researcher and grant writer. We are hopeful we can get support on our conservation vision.
- Develop Higher-Ed Partnerships: We will make our land available for research to any high-ed institution that shows interest. We are already familiar with relevant research coming out of both Dartmouth and the University of VT so will start there. It would be wonderful to offer students the opportunity to study topics of river and forest biodiversity, trout genetics, and other topics.
- Build off-the-grid sugar shack: We plan to install 500-1000 taps on the property, along with a gravity-powered set of syruping lines, all leading into our reverse-osmosis-enabled sugar shack. Once operational, we plan to send out pints of syrup to our donors as thank you gifts. Donors will be invited to the annual March Maple Sugaring Weekend as well, where you can learn all about the engineering and science involved with the production of maple syrup.
- Build off-the-grid cabin: The cabin will be for the exclusive use of all Sinkable donors, and will be free. We'll have an online-booking system and self-serve check-in and check-out.
- Engage with our small but growing community: We will keep all donors informed on a regular basis, likely in a quarterly email newsletter with upcoming opportunities to join for in-person activities on site.
If you've made it this far...well thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to understand more about what we're working on.
We hope you join us. Any donation is appreciated, and all donations are 100% tax deductible.
Best,
Luke & Preston
