My very first site visit as the new CEO of the Trustees of Reservations was to the beaches we own and manage on Martha’s Vineyard. I was struck by the unique beauty of Cape Poge, the wildness of the landscape and the birds and other wildlife making their home on these shores.

At the same time, I was humbled by the Trustees’ enormous responsibility to protect and preserve these beaches, to provide access to people and recreational opportunities and to care for the irreplaceable wildlife and ecosystems for current and future generations.

It was easy to imagine the generations of Martha’s Vineyard residents and visitors who have visited these beaches for family gatherings, a simple summer day at the beach, to cast a line in hopes of catching a bluefish or who came for a quiet visit in the off-season to relax and recharge. It’s why The Trustees are so invested in protecting these beaches, so that present and future generations can enjoy them for years to come.

For 130 years, the Trustees has protected Massachusetts’ shores and other places of ecological, scenic and historic importance. Recently, The Trustees released our Cape Poge Wildlife Refuge, Leland and Wasque Beach Management Plan 2023 (BMP) to the Edgartown Conservation Commission. This plan results from a collaborative process and reflects The Trustees’ mission to protect and preserve the natural spaces in our care and the passion and experience of the public and stakeholders with deep connections to these beaches. While I know I’m entering the organization after a year of dedicated collaboration, I’m proud of the way our team has engaged in this journey and worked to build collaborative relationships with the community.

Last summer, the Trustees released a BMP but later rescinded it when members of the public and stakeholders said their voices were not represented enough in its development. We agreed, and we developed a new process that included a forum for listening and sharing information and formed the Martha’s Vineyard Beach Management Plan Working Group. This group, comprised of stakeholders and experts who are passionate about and experienced with the Chappy beaches, participated in facilitated dialogues on issues such as practical beach access, protecting endangered wildlife and building resiliency to climate impacts. I would like to thank the members of the working group for their willingness to engage on the tough issues and find solutions together over the past year.

This improved planning process was educational for the Trustees. The working group made it clear that The Trustees need to do more to honor the history of access and the value the community places on the beaches. We heard about the traditions of fishing, recreation and remote experiences on the beaches along Cape Poge Bay. As a result of these conversations, the BMP we released recently has been improved from our last iteration.

One important addition is a new adaptive management strategy that responds to the constantly changing conditions of a dynamic beach ecosystem. This strategy, developed with the working group’s help, uses data and observations from beaches, shorebirds or other environmental conditions to sensibly balance OSV access with protecting listed shorebirds and mitigating beach erosion that is increasing due to climate change with larger and more intense storms pounding these shores every year. This approach will provide bayside OSV access that is so desired by the community when conditions exist to safely delineate an OSV corridor. This practical new approach is so effective we began putting it into practice this summer with positive results. We also came to better understand how important it was to find a compromise on the dog policy, so we updated this plan to allow leashed dogs on Leland Beach rather than prohibiting them outright.

The Trustees of Reservations took the management decisions for OSV access very seriously and sought creative solutions that ensure the most OSV access possible, while also upholding our commitment to preserving these precious natural habitats and the species that call it home.

As the approval process for the BMP moves into the public hearing phase, we look forward to hearing more from the public and stakeholders on balancing recreation and resilience on the beaches. We are ready to engage in positive, constructive dialogue with the conservation commission and the public about the plan. We also plan to continue meeting with the working group so that we can allow stakeholders to provide ongoing input and feedback.

We all have something we want to protect here, and I do believe that conservation and use are not mutually exclusive. Working together, as we have, promotes a better understanding of what all the stakeholders want when it comes to the use, enjoyment — and protection — of these beaches. Not one single person or group got everything they wanted in the process of crafting this BMP. But everyone was heard, compromises were made and the result is the BMP in front of the conservation commission now.

The everyday work of The Trustees is driven by our focus on people, places and perpetuity. We view the irreplaceable natural and cultural treasures we care for across Massachusetts and on Martha’s Vineyard as engines of hope to be shared with everyone. In this spirit, we worked with the community to create a beach management plan that everyone can be proud of when we, and future generations, create moments of joy and memories on the Chappy beaches.

Katie Theoharides is the president and CEO of The Trustees of Reservations.