The Friends of the North 40 are resigned to the fact that Wellesley College wants to sell the 46-acre woodland property along Weston Road to raise funds for an expensive campus renewal project. So if the school must sell the land, they say, then sell it to a conservancy that will manage and preserve it for public use and to support wildlife. Currently, the land is using for walking, community gardens and more.

Friends of the North 40 have issued an online petition on the MoveOn website that they are urging supporters to sign (close to 200 had as of late Sunday night). The organization is throwing everything it has into its cause, figuring that Wellesley College wants to move quickly on a deal, possibly before year-end.

The Friends of the North 40 have also penned an Open Letter to Wellesley College President Kim Bottomly, and we’ve embedded that below.

The public will get a chance to further explore the topic this coming weekend. Members of the Weston Road Community Gardens will host open gardens from 9-11am on Saturday, Sept 13, piggybacking on the Wellesley Trails Committee-led tour of the North 40 that morning. (free strawberries while they last from garden plot #29).

Then on Sunday, Sept. 14 at 2pm and 7pm you can learn more about the North 40 at a pair of workshops to be held at the Wellesley High School cafeteria.

[gview file=”https://media.theswellesleyreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/13051155/North40_OnlineOpen_Ltr_WellesleyCollegePresident.pdf”]