Patience
By Tom Slayton
Photographed by Jon Vachon
Is a Bob Klein is walking along a
deserted woods road in the town
Virtue of West Haven when he comes
to a sign that declares firmly in
Working bold black type: “No Trespassing:
quietly in Extreme Danger to Personal
the thickets Safety From VENOMOUS
of land-use REPTILES.”
debate,
Bob Klein It hardly even slows Klein down.
has helped
Which is mildly surprising,
preserve
since he is well aware of what
wild
lies ahead: the dens of timber
Vermont
rattlesnakes.
40 • vermont life Autumn 2010 • 41
The signs have been posted by the example. It is incredibly rich in both their opponents. Even
organization he heads, the Vermont animal and plant life, some of which farming, under certain
Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. is unusual or endangered, like the circumstances, can create
Protecting land in Klein has been its director for more
than 30 years and was instrumental
eastern timber rattlesnakes and the
peregrine falcons that live above
a backlash.
Klein’s most bruising
in acquiring the property on which them on the cliffs of Bald Mountain. fight was over the Cham-
Vermont rarely the “venomous reptiles” live.
Klein breezes by the sign and push-
There are more than a dozen rare
plants or animals that live in the
pion lands — a complex
debate a decade ago that, in
happens with a single
es through a brushy area to the base Buckner nature preserve alone. “It’s part, pitted loggers against
of a towering cliff more than 300 multilayered, a web,” Klein says. “It’s pro-conservation forces.
feet high. Soon he and a visitor are just so rich.” But even groups that might
stroke of a pen. clambering up the jumbled rocks at
the base of the cliff. He looks upward
And that makes it a near-perfect
natural area for the Conservancy to
seem like natural allies
can split over land use, as happened
toward the cliff itself. protect, because the overarching mis- with the Conservancy’s most recent
“Parcels in Vermont are “They’re up there now, probably sion of the global nonprofit organiza- acquisition, Raven Ridge.
sunning themselves on those higher-
up rocks near their dens,” he says,
tion is to protect the diversity of life
on planet Earth — not just particular
Located in the Champlain Valley,
the ridge is an undeveloped 362-acre While he
small, you have to have adding, with a touch of regret, “It’s natural areas, not even landscape- highland near the point where the
too chilly for them to be down this sized areas, but special areas that towns of Monkton, Charlotte and obviously loves
continuity of purpose far today.”
He turns back and works his way
support life itself in all its richness
and diversity. It is that mission and
Hinesburg intersect. It is the home of
bobcat dens, the endangered Indiana
around the cliff to a point where he his love for Vermont that have kept bat and several rare plants. But when wild Vermont
and a and his companion can ascend the Bob Klein on the job for decades. the Conservancy moved to protect
mountain itself — Bald Mountain,
part of a huge landscape on the
Klein is a calm, affable man with
a pleasant smile and a shock of gray-
the area, local horseback riders pro-
tested because they wanted to contin- and is devoted
certain southern end of Lake Champlain ing black hair. His personality is well ue to ride through the area. The Con-
protected by The Nature Conser-
vancy. The organization owns more
suited to his job. He is low-key, patient,
intelligent and determined. He’s so
servancy argued that horseback rid-
ing can cause disruptions of natural
to preserving
focus.” than 10,000 acres on and around Bald soft-spoken that it’s sometimes hard habitat — less intensive forms of use
Mountain — a sizable portion of the
town of West Haven.
to hear him and he ponders his words
carefully before he speaks.
such as hunting, fishing, hiking and
birdwatching are usually welcomed
it, Klein is
Although the “mountain” is only But there’s a part of him that clear- on Conservancy property — and ulti-
1,080 feet in height, the view from ly enjoys a little risk. His hobby for a mately Klein and his team prevailed. no simplistic
the top is sensational. Cliffs drop time was skydiving. And he obvious- “There was locally divided opinion
away on two sides, and directly to the
west lies the long, riverlike southern
ly wants to find those rattlesnakes.
•••
about what should or shouldn’t be
allowed at Raven Ridge,” Klein says, tree-hugger.
end of Lake Champlain. Most of the Klein’s patience has served him “but the broader consensus was that
landscape consists of folded hills and well because protecting land in Ver- the project offered so much for every-
forests that are part of the Conser- mont is not something that often one in the communities involved
vancy’s holdings, the Helen W. Buck- happens with a single stroke of a pen. that it should go forward and specific
The Conservancy’s ner Memorial Preserve. Buying property outright, or acquir- management decisions be left to us.
work reaches into Although this area is picturesque, ing an easement or the development In other parts of the state, the local
every corner of the it is not much like the rest of Ver- rights, can take years. The Conser- issues might be around dogs, moun-
state. At right, yellow mont. It’s mostly low, rocky hills vancy and Klein have spent more tain bikes or logging, but in the end,
markers indicate interspersed with swampy bottom- than 20 years assembling the huge we usually persuade everyone to let
natural areas the land bounded by the Poultney River West Haven preserve, and protecting us make the call.”
organization has had and Lake Champlain. Nevertheless, even much smaller sites commonly •••
a hand in protecting. it has become the crown jewel of The requires long negotiations over sev- Shelburne Pond was one of the first
Nature Conservancy’s holdings in eral parcels of land. areas Klein worked on after he was
Vermont. Klein explains why: Conservation projects, simply put, hired in 1979 as The Nature Conser-
“There’s a lot of high, rocky land are difficult. In fact, they often pro- vancy’s first Vermont director. It is a
conserved in Vermont,” he says. “But voke opposition — as do most land- mile-long, almost completely unde-
there are not a lot of lowlands con- use matters in Vermont. What is veloped pond just south of Burlington,
served — even though the lowlands Vermont, after all, if not the land and Vermont’s largest city, and for some
are often the most biologically diverse what it is used for: new homes? shop- years it has been a natural outdoor
and important.” ping malls? ATV trails? quarrying? classroom for University of Vermont
The West Haven land is a good All have their advocates, all have botany and biology classes. Lots of dif-
42 • vermont life Autumn 2010 • 43
New guidebook
published ferent and unusual plants, birds and waterfalls, old logging sites, large Mountain.) Most recently, the Ver-
animals live in or near the pond and timber-producing forests — even a mont Chapter published a handsome
The Vermont Chapter of The its wetlands. Native American cemetery. guidebook to the Vermont holdings
Nature Conservancy is cel- Of course, so do people. And 25 of In his time at the helm of the Ver- it helped protect (see box). In a way,
ebrating its 50th anniversary them owned pieces of the land around mont Chapter, Klein has also over- the book is a summary of Klein’s
with a book that invites nature- Shelburne Pond — that’s more than seen its growth. In 1979, he was the contribution to Vermont. Elizabeth
lovers to visit more than 100 two dozen separate negotiations that chapter’s sole employee. Now he has a Courtney, executive director of the
natural areas the Conservancy were started in the 1970s by UVM staff of more than 20, based in Mont- Vermont Natural Resources Council,
botany professor Hubert Vogelmann, pelier with a branch office in West said recently: “The people of Vermont
has helped protect in the state.
then chairman of the chapter. Con- Haven. Education, habitat restoration, owe an enormous debt of gratitude to
The handsome, four-color
tinuing Vogelmann’s work, Klein coordination with environmental Bob Klein.”
book — “Places to Walk, Pad-
dle and Explore in Vermont” —
began buying important tracts in the
early 1980s, adding more later, as they
organizations and other activities are
now part of the Conservancy’s work
•••
Timber rattlesnakes, it turns out,
Nowadays,
includes suggestions for pad- became available. Today the H. Lau- in Vermont. And Klein has done just are hardly the villainous monsters
dling trips to ponds and rivers, rence Achilles Natural Area, named about every job in the organization of popular imagination. Like most Klein can
hikes to scenic mountain- for the man who helped finance the himself, from closing land deals to wild creatures, they are shy, intel-
tops, nature walks to places
where wildflowers blossom in
project, nearly surrounds the pond.
The preserve is almost — but not
licking stamps for the newsletter.
For 20 years before hiring Klein,
ligent and seek to avoid contact with
people. Because they are predators — drive almost
the spring or unique completely — done. It has the Conservancy in Vermont was of rodents and other small animals —
plants or animals
the nature Conservancy
taken four decades to bring
it close to completion, a dis-
a volunteer organization. In 1975,
Klein, who was born in New York
they are actually beneficial to humans.
More to the point, they are an interest-
anywhere in
may be seen, and a
Places to Walk, Paddle tinctly long haul. But that is a and grew up in south Florida, came ing, necessary part of nature’s beauti-
variety of wetlands,
caves and beaches.
and explore in vermont
50 th AnniversAry edition
typical pattern for The Nature
Conservancy in Vermont.
to Vermont with a master’s degree
in environmental management from
ful and complex web of life.
The Bald Mountain dens are located
Vermont
There are 105 The organization now owns Duke University. He worked closely at the extreme northern edge of the
natural areas listed, more than 50 natural areas with Vogelmann on recording natural rattlesnakes’ range. They are fascinat- and see at
some owned by The in the state, and many have areas. When the Conservancy decid- ing creatures that are barely hanging
Nature Conservancy,
others that the Con-
outstanding tracts of land on
the margins that could still
ed it needed a full-time state director,
Klein was the obvious choice. Klein
on to a piece of habitat in Vermont
that seems to favor them. All of which least one
servancy helped to be acquired, though they are and his wife, Jean Vissering, settled is why Klein hoped to find some to
protect and are now not a priority.
“Parcels in Vermont are
in East Montpelier, just four miles
from work, where they raised their
show his companion. “They’re the
signature animal of this area,” he said.
conservation
part of state or local
small,” Klein explained. “You children, Nathan and Zanny, now in “So it would be nice to see one.”
parks, or managed
by some other entity.
have to have continuity of
purpose and a certain focus.”
their 20s.
How has he lasted 30 years in such
It’s a bit of living science that he
would like to share. Since his earliest
project the
The unifying factor is that in
every case, The Nature Con-
It is obvious that Klein possesses
both. The organization had five offi-
a demanding job? “Well, you have to
have patience,” he said recently. “And
days in Vermont, scientific inquiry
has been both a primary motivation Conservancy
servancy was instrumental in cial natural areas when he was hired; celebrate small successes.” for Klein and one of his primary meth-
acquiring and protecting the
land. “It’s a comprehensive
today there are 54. And instead of
about 500 acres, the Conservancy
But small successes add up.
Under his leadership, the Vermont
ods. While he obviously loves wild
Vermont and is devoted to preserv- has had a
look at the conservation work now owns or helps to protect — if you Chapter has helped protect more than ing it, he is no simplistic tree-hugger.
we’ve done over the years,” count the Atlas Timberlands, a large
timber-producing forest conservation
30 miles of wild shoreline on Lake
Champlain, some 40 miles of Green
He has consistently employed demon-
strable facts and empirical research in
hand in.
said Emily Boedecker, market-
ing director for the organiza- project done jointly with the Vermont Mountain skyline, important tracts selecting the most important areas of
Land Trust — more than 183,000 of forest land on Mount Equinox, the state to preserve and plan the best
tion. “The focus is to get people
acres. That’s a rate of more than 6,000 10-plus miles of the top of the Worces- way to manage and care for them.
outside, to get them involved
acres a year, on average, added during ter Range, and more. Klein can drive He is, in short, a scientist with heart.
with nature.” Klein’s tenure. almost anywhere in Vermont and see Which is, basically, what you’d hope
The book is available free ••• at least one conservation project the all scientists would be.
at the Conservancy’s office From Black Mountain’s granite Conservancy has had a hand in. He didn’t find any rattlesnakes that
in Montpelier and at all Con- dome in Dummerston to Victory He’s a firm believer that people are early spring day on Bald Mountain. It
servancy events this year. To Bog in the Northeast Kingdom, and a part of nature too, and so the Con- was just too cold.
receive a copy by mail, send beyond, the Conservancy has helped servancy welcomes visitors to most But he has seen them before, and
a check for $5.95, to cover protect an array of natural areas of its sites. It builds trails and boat thanks to his work and the work of
postage and handling, to The that includes sand beaches, quaking access areas so visitors can explore others at The Nature Conservancy, he
Nature Conservancy, Vermont bogs, mountaintops, ponds, islands the locations. (One of the few excep- knows he — and those who follow him
in Lake Champlain, deep forests, tions is the rattlesnake dens on Bald — will see them again. A
Chapter, 27 State St., Suite 4,
Montpelier, VT 05602.
44 • vermont life Autumn 2010 • 45