Well, 2014 is a wrap! And what a year it was, this our 25th Anniversary. It was a time to reflect on the countless people who have made Greenbelt into what it is today, while outlining a future for the next 25 years. When Greenbelt began so humbly in 1989 amid living rooms and kitchen conversations there was never a lack of vision. You might think that a group that knew so little about nonprofit administration, the technical legalese of Conservation Easements or the art of grantwriting might have let that stop them from establishing far-reaching goals and benchmarks. Not Greenbelt Land Trust. From the onset our founders, Board, and supporters made a leap of faith in this organization, from protecting West Bald Hill within a year of the establishment as a nonprofit, to building connecting trails and identifying potential natural areas.
As we step into 2015, I leave you with words from Greenbelt’s early years from our two greatest champions, Charlie and Elsie Ross. These oft-quoted words continue to inspire me, and likely you, every day. They resonate deeply throughout Greenbelt, not just for who we were 25 years ago, but for who we are today.
We support the Greenbelt concept because it provides a happier way to live in cities large or small. Corvallis and Philomath are blessed with a most interesting and varied setting. Every dictate of reason and desire tells us to retain permanently some of the green fields and wooded hills where we can see them daily and reach them easily. Walking the footpaths and wooded trails of the greenbelt would become our most popular recreation, and a passionate pursuit for many. The healing hand of nature would lift the spirits of those burdened by the loneliness and disappointments of life. Everyone would enjoy a greenbelt, and none more than our myriad successors destined to trod its trails into the future.
Elsie and I believe that Nature is the greatest comfort of life. Therefore, Elsie and I wish for an ample, permanent greenbelt that grows as population grows, a greenbelt that does more than assure “livability”, but makes life here exciting and its future optimistic; a greenbelt that injects vibrancy into city life, provides stability for investments, and immunizes against downtown decay. Success, we think, hinges a lot on actions of this generation. The time is now for townspeople to accord the greenbelt purpose a special place in their charitable giving. Our family and others have been doing this for 10 years and longer.
We need to remind ourselves “In the beauty of the land lies the dream of the future.” We are challenged to keep that dream alive, and it might be Now or Never.
Charles and Elsie Ross