“Transforming a Legacy” – Lloyd Center Kicks Off $3M Capital Campaign

“The Lloyd Center for the Environment has reached a defining moment, after more than 30 years of serving the community: The time has come to address our most urgent capital and financial needs. In order to continue to offer and expand the best and most relevant environmental education, and research possible in classrooms and open spaces, we must embrace the challenge of initiating this campaign.”

“If the Lloyd Center for the Environment is to continue to transform not only lives, but also the futures of our communities and our region, we must put our whole heart and best efforts into raising the necessary funds to renew and sustain our programs and campus: Our students, members and communities deserve no less.”

“We encourage all who share our commitment to protecting the environment to support the Campaign priorities that excite their imaginations.” – Peter L. Macdonald and Eric A. Braitmayer, Campaign Co-Chairs.

The Lloyd Center for the Environment is pleased to announce the Center’s “Transforming a Legacy” Campaign.  In planning for the Campaign, the Lloyd Center conducted extensive research to determine necessary improvements to support the programs that serve the Center’s constituents – students, professionals and South Coast residents.

A Facility Needs Study was conducted that identified enhancements to the Center’s buildings and site that will advance the superior educational and research programs the Lloyd Center offers, as well as align the facilities with the mission of environmental education.

An Operational Needs Study determined the additional program support necessary to meet the costs of providing the level of educational services delivered by the Lloyd Center, especially in high-need, under-served communities. Planning processes were funded in-part by the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund, a program of the state of Massachusetts administered through a collaborative arrangement between MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The planning processes provided a firm foundation for making the facilities improvements needed to meet the growing demand for Lloyd Center programs and create a new vision of the Lloyd Center as a regional Biodiversity Center….  And at this year’s annual meeting, the Lloyd Center announced that the “Transforming a Legacy” Campaign has already begun to raise the funds needed to make these plans a reality.  The campaign will address the six defined facilities and operational priority goals, and in the process, secure the Center’s infrastructure and capital foundation for the future.

The Center’s transformation will take place in a three-phase process and has been designed to ultimately deliver Lloyd Center programs within a “living classroom”, where buildings blend into the ecology of the preserve where they exist and inform the excellent environmental programs the Center offers.

As early as this summer, the project will begin with parking and roadway improvements.  The plans for a new Welcome Center where students and visitors will be welcomed and oriented to the Center is also underway.   Housing a bus drop-off shelter, interior and exterior meeting and teaching space, information displays and composting toilets, this 960-square-foot Welcome Center will be a state-of-the-art, net energy and net water positive structure certified by the Living Building ChallengeTM ( living-future.org) – the building industry’s most ambitious sustainable construction performance standards.

Additional steps in the project will include the construction of a teaching pavilion on the Slocum River and a 1,600-square-foot addition to the Exploration Center dedicated to education, outreach and research programming in addition to live animal and natural history exhibits.

Completion of the project will enable the Lloyd Center to expand its educational and research programs and provide space for public programs in collaboration with its organizational partners.

In addition to the above facility enhancements, the capital campaign will also raise funds for program support and endowment. The Lloyd Center Finance Committee has developed a carefully-crafted plan to addressing revenue and expenses over the next five years.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LLOYD CENTER

The Lloyd Center for the Environment was founded in 1978 when Karen Gallup Lloyd donated 55 acres of forested land, salt marsh and her home along the Slocum River to the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust (DNRT). It was created as a living memorial to her mother, Katharine Nordell Lloyd, a life-long conservationist, lover of nature and philanthropist.

In 1987, the Center was incorporated as an independent organization to serve people throughout the South Coast through education and research programs addressing issues of coastal environmental quality, management and protection.

In 2009, the Lloyd Center received an additional bequest from Karen Lloyd of the 27-acre “Lloyd Woods’ fronting on Little River on the northeast side of Potomska Road. The property was permanently protected through a conservation restriction held by the DNRT and the Coalition for Buzzards Bay.

The Center’s 82-acre property now offers over five miles of walking trails, the “Bridge to Discovery” dock on the Slocum River, vernal pools, oak-hickory forest, freshwater wetlands, salt marsh, estuary views, and is home to two injured raptors (a screech owl and red-shouldered hawk). Karen Lloyd’s former residence houses live exhibits highlighting local marine and land species. The building’s stunning “Osprey Room Observatory” with views of the Elizabeth Islands and Slocum River watershed was designated as one of the Commonwealth’s 15 “Special Places’ by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs in 1986.