ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2025

As we reflect on the year just past, we are reminded how much we value the changing seasons. Even after winter's deep snows and April's swings between unseasonable warmth and freezing tempera-tures, spring returns with fresh life and promise. On April 18th a small group of intrepid nature enthusi-asts joined in a search for ephemeral wildflowers at MLT's Sperry Preserve. What a wonderful time we had!

Spring ephemerals are easy to overlook. They are subtle rather than showy and spotting them takes patience and a shared spirit of discovery. Together, the group found many. These wildflowers take ad-vantage of the early spring sunlight before the tree canopy leafs out. The blossoms may last only a week, but the roots and leaves persist into early summer and beyond, storing nutrients for the following year and producing seeds for the next generation. These delicate flowering plants are perennials, re-turning but not necessarily blooming year after year. Trillium, for example, grows larger each season and may not bloom until the seventh year.

These natural cycles are a fitting metaphor for the work of the Middlebury Land Trust. The many volun-teers who work quietly and steadily throughout the year are the roots, branches, and leaves of our or-ganization. From time to time, this work blossoms into a spectacular success-a completed project, a new property, a grant award, or a special community event. But those highly visible moments are made possible by the often unseen, day-after-day background work that brings forth MLT's more pub-lic events. Roots, branches, and flowers-all are essential to our mission: "acquiring and preserving open space in perpetuity for the benefit of the community."

An important part of this behind-the-scenes work is MLT's productive administrative arrangement with Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust, assisting us with recordkeeping, bookkeeping, mailings, and other back-office tasks. We also have a highly capable internal Finance Committee and Treasurer who oversee a disciplined budget, monitor our investment portfolio, and ensure that MLT complies with all IRS requirements.

Our Preserve Management team continues to be the backbone of our stewardship work, organizing popular monthly workdays as well as special projects to maintain and improve the 57 properties we own outright. Fourteen volunteer monitors formally inspect every one of these lands, as well as our 11 conservation easements, on a yearly basis. Over the past two years, we have monitored the bounda-ries of all our properties and installed more than 120 boundary signs, thus greatly enhancing our ability both to monitor and to protect. Enhancing our Preserve Management work is our long-standing part-nership with local Scouting. In addition to reliable participation on workdays, Eagle Scout projects have included installation of a substantial stream bridge on the Foote Path Trail and several boardwalks at the Larkin Pond Preserve.

Our office volunteers have brought energy and expertise to streamline our digital and paper filing sys-tems, becoming skilled readers of property maps and records in the process. Our recently formed Ac-quisitions Committee has systematized the complex process of bringing new acreage and conserva-tion easements under land trust protection, as well as begun assessments of our existing properties to help guide both future planning and current stewardship.

Our Membership and Outreach Committee has continued to enrich the community with a variety of special programs. In 2025 these again included an educational public wildlife lecture (bears), our annual meeting of members and volunteer recognition awards, and our annual signature Foote Path Hike on Connecticut Trails Day.

These programs are supplemented through Janine Sullivan-Wiley's thoughtful and engaging monthly articles in the Bee Intelligencer, sharing knowledge about the diverse animals and plants that live in our protected environments as well as other nature-related topics. Our Governance Committee, mean-while, has expanded its crucial work of keeping MLT's policies and procedures current, identifying and training new board members and officers, and leading the board in its long-range strategic planning. Of particular note, the Governance Committee and co-presidents cumulatively spent hundreds of hours preparing MLT's application for re-accreditation.

In addition to all of the above, here are four more highlighted special events and achievements marking 2025:

• First snowshoe expedition, thanks to Westover School opening its woodland trails.
• Third annual Sunflower Days, another joyful success thanks to our farmer, our event organizer, and the many volunteers and visitors participating.
• Receipt of a second grant from Thomaston Savings Bank, to support a safety-enhancing redesign of the Sperry Pond parking area off Straits Turnpike.
• Unconditional re-accreditation by the national Land Trust Alliance for another five years, demonstrating that MLT operates according to the highest standards of permanent stewardship of conserved land, financial accountability, and sound governance.

Your land trust's work, whether in the foreground or in the background, is possible only because of the dedication of our volunteers, donors, and program participants. Thanks to all for supporting Middlebury Land Trust and for bringing curiosity, enthusiasm, and love of nature to all we do. Whether as a volun-teer or at an event, we hope you will join us in 2026.

Alice Hallaran

Co-President

Tom Cunningham

Co-President

Financial: MLT is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) public charity, receiving $54,274 in 2025 annual giving, $26,943 in grants, and the remainder of its operating income from investments. Total expenses of $131,874 were allocated to conservation stewardship, to general management (including accounting and insurance), and to mailings. Our investments and cash stood at $2,937,215 at year-end, with our net property values at $4,152,884. Complete financial statements and IRS Form 990 are available for inspection upon request.