About MECT
Mission
Permanently protecting natural beauty, wildlife habitat and resources.
History
The Manchester Essex Conservation Trust (MECT) is a 63-year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving ecologically important land and wildlife habitat in Manchester and Essex, Massachusetts, and promoting its use for quiet recreation, education and research.
MECT enhances the quality of life on Cape Ann by ensuring that lands that are vital to public health remain in their natural condition. These lands protect drinking water supplies, hold back storm waters that would otherwise threaten homes and businesses, provide educational and research opportunities, and offer quiet recreation on miles of trails. An informed public is essential to long-term success, and we gladly share knowledge of the special conservation values of the lands that we protect.
Through this sharing of the land we steward, we affirm that it is the people in these communities that helped assemble these gifts over more than six decades, creating reciprocity that is at the heart of what we do. Just as the watersheds and wildlife corridors cross town boundaries, so do our members. As such, we are committed to broadening our circle of outreach and membership to include surrounding towns, with an emphasis on growing the community of supporters that have shared values of conservation.
