At its annual meeting in November, the New England Wildflower Society presented its 2004 Taylor Education Award to Northern Woodlands magazine. In making this presentation at the Society’s headquarters in Framingham, Massachusetts, Kay Taylor commended the magazine for “true bridge building” and as an antidote to “a culture that is losing its connection with the natural world day to day.”
Taylor noted Northern Woodlands’ editorial quality and balance as well as the Center for Woodlands Education’s work in educating schoolchildren through its Northern Woodlands Goes to School program. The Society’s Taylor Education Award is given for original and significant work that promotes public understanding and appreciation of temperate North American plants.
Taylor cited the evolution of Northern Woodlands from a small, Vermont-based periodical (first known as Vermont Woodlands) to a regionally focused publication covering the Northern Forest region, and then to the nonprofit Center, which manages a variety of programs including the magazine, all of which are designed to inform and engage a diverse array of forestry and conservation interests.
The New England Wild Flower Society (NEWFS), founded in Boston in 1900, is the oldest plant conservation organization in America, dedicated to preservation of native North American flora. NEWFS has over 7,000 members, with chapters throughout New England. NEWFS offers programs on native plant conservation, invasive species, botanical inventorying, and education on subjects including habitat protection, plant taxonomy, and rare plant propagation.
The Society also operates two plant nurseries: one at its Garden in the Woods in Framingham, and a second at its recently acquired Nasami Farm Nursery in Whately, Massachusetts.
We’re honored to receive this prestigious award from an organization that is 94 years older than we are. Like many conservation organizations, NEWFS has evolved over the years in its understanding of the challenges that confront the protection of important ecological, economic, and cultural resources. Just as Northern Woodlands advances the belief that the natural world and the people who are part of it are inseparable, the New England Wildflower Society has, throughout its history, committed itself both to celebrating native plant life and educating its members and the public about their vital relationship to these treasures.