Upcoming Events
Winter Walks Return!
The VCS Winter Walks series returns this fall with five fun and educational explorations of some of the most beautiful locations on the Island. Get outdoors, take in the Island’s scenic beauty, and learn the conservation history of some of our local ecological treasures.
VCS Winter Walks are free and open to the public, but because we sometimes must limit the total number of attendees, registration is required. Click here to sign up for our next walk!
November 2
Tiasquam & Waskosims
December 14
Island Grown Farm
January 11
Woods Preserve & Ag Society
February 8
Wakeman Center
March 15
Featherstone
All walks begin at 10 am unless otherwise noted and usually last about two hours.
Photos: 2023 Winter Walk at Squibnocket Ridge (top), 2012 Walk at the Frances Newhall Woods Preserve (above). See more photos here.
Beach BeFrienders
Clean-Up Gatherings Now Happening Monthly!
September 28: West Tisbury
Lambert’s Cove • Cedar Tree Neck • Long Point
October 26: Tisbury
Lagoon Landing • Owen Park • Tashmoo Opening
November 30: Oak Bluffs
Steamship Authority • Eastville • State Beach
December 28: Aquinnah
Philbin • Lobsterville
All fall clean-ups are from 8 – 10 am.
BBF – DIY!
You can “BeFriend a Beach” anytime and anywhere you like! Stop by any Island library and pick up one of our special DIY Beach Kits, fill the bag with your collected junk, and the transfer stations will take it free of charge.
Tally the Trash with Clean Swell
How many bottle caps have we collected from beaches this year? Bottles and cans? Cigarette butts? We wish we knew! As the Beach BeFrienders head into our second year, let’s tally our trash and get some real answers. The well-designed Clean Swell app makes it fun and easy. Just download and set up with your login credentials. In the “Group Name” section enter “Beach BeFrienders” and start tallying!
More info:
In collaboration with our town Libraries and DPWs, and brought to fruition by dozens of volunteers, VCS has launched an exciting new beach cleanup initiative – Beach BeFrienders!
There are two ways to participate:
1) During our scheduled clean-up outings, a volunteer will be at a pre-selected location with bags and gloves. They will also handle disposal of the trash collected.
2) Or, “BeFriend a Beach” anytime and anywhere you like! Stop by any Island library and pick up one of our special VCS trash stickers (available mid-May), put that on your collected junk, and the transfer stations will take it free of charge.
For more info please email us and sign up today to let us know you’re interested in joining the crew. Since launching the program in May 2023, dozens of beaches have been “BeFriended” with at least one gathering, including Philbin, Squibnocket, Inkwell, South Beach, Lambert’s Cove, Eastville, State Beach, Lobsterville, and many more. Thank you to everyone who has pitched in!
Check out the Beach BeFrienders profile in Bluedot Living magazine!
Previous / Annual Events
Great Ponds: Finding a Better Balance
Directed by: Ollie Becker
Produced by: Circuit Films & Vineyard Conservation Society
October 24th, 7:00 pm @ The Grange Hall
See Circuit Arts for details and tickets
Please join us this summer for one of our special screenings of Finding a Better Balance. In this second episode of a three-part series, filmmaker Ollie Becker digs deeper into the challenges facing the Island’s Great Ponds. Through compelling storytelling and beautiful cinematography, Finding a Better Balance highlights the inspirational work now underway to help them recover. Screenings will be followed by a Q&A session with the director and other guests, including staff from VCS, Great Pond Foundation, and other local environmental organizations – don’t miss it!
Stream Episode 1, On Our Watch Here!
On Our Watch: Almost three years ago, Ollie Becker and Circuit Arts began a collaboration with VCS to co-produce a series telling the story of the Island’s coastal ponds: their ecological and cultural importance, the threats they face, and what we as a community must do to save them. On Our Watch, the first in what would become a three-part series, premiered at the 2022 VCS Annual Meeting, but if you missed it, or just want to enjoy Ollie’s stunning cinematography one more time, watch it online now!
VCS Annual Meeting
Monday, June 24th at the Grange
Join us this Monday (June 24th) from 5:30-7:30 pm at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury for the Annual Meeting of the VCS Membership & Board of Directors. We encourage everyone interested in building a more sustainable future for the Island to come out and hear Executive Director Samantha Look share how VCS is responding to the growing issues our Island is facing.
Afterward, we will move upstairs to Circuit Arts’ wonderful theater space for a special screening of Finding a Better Balance, the second episode in filmmaker Ollie Becker’s series about the Vineyard’s Great Ponds. Through compelling storytelling and beautiful cinematography, Finding a Better Balance digs deeper into the challenges facing the ponds, highlighting the inspirational work already underway to help them recover. We expect to have time after the film for a Q&A session with Ollie, so come with questions!
The event is free for VCS Members, $10 for non-members.
Nature as Inspiration
an environmental film festival
10th Anniversary!
May 23 – 26 @ the MV Film Center
Our annual film festival collaboration with the MV Film Society returns this Memorial Day weekend with a whole new collection of thought-provoking films, conversations, audience Q&As and more. Check out the Film Society website for the full list of films and events, purchase tickets, or an All Access Pass — it’s going to be a good one!
Library Tour: A Love Song for the Vineyard Lawn
Edgartown, January 30th, 4:30pm
West Tisbury, Feb 10th, 3pm
Chilmark, Mar 13th, 4pm
Vineyard Haven, April 9th, 5:30pm
Oak Bluffs, May (date TBD)
This winter and spring, VCS will be taking our “Love Song for the Vineyard Lawn” presentation on tour across the Island Libraries. Each month from January until May you will have an opportunity to catch this wonderful talk and Q&A. Find out how the simple act of lawn care choices affects everything from our personal health to our community’s water quality to the global climate, along with tips and resources for how to apply the Vineyard Lawn approach in your own backyard.
The Earth Day Beach Clean-Up
Saturday, April 27th, 2024
Celebrate Earth Day by joining together to protect our Island environment – one beach at a time! If you’re a first timer, don’t worry, it couldn’t be easier to participate in this Island tradition. Just come out to your favorite beach from 10 to noon and helpful volunteers will be there with bags and gloves for collecting (or just BYOB and get down to it!). When you’re done, drop off the trash with the volunteer group leader and let them know the strangest things you found – you might win a prize!
Join us at one of these beaches:
Aquinnah: Lobsterville, Philbin, Tribal Beaches
Chilmark: Lucy Vincent, Menemsha, Squibnocket
Edgartown: Felix Neck, Fuller Street, Lighthouse Beach, Norton Point, South Beach (Left and Right fork), State Beach (Bend in the Road), Wasque Point
Oak Bluffs: Eastville Point, Jetty Beach, North Bluff (Pier) Beach, Shellfish Hatchery, State Beach (Little Bridge), Town Beach (SSA to Pay Beach and Inkwell)
Tisbury: Lagoon Pond Landing, Lake St. (Tashmoo) Landing, Owen Little Way, Owen Park, Tashmoo Beach, VH harbor (waterfront from SSA all the way to Shell Station),
West Tisbury: Cedar Tree Neck, Lambert’s Cove, Long Point
EARTH DAY Conservation FESTIVAL
Afterward, join your fellow beach cleaners at the MV Museum for the second annual Earth Day Conservation Festival. The event will be from 12-3 and will replace our traditional Beach Clean-up after party. Thanks to donations from generous local businesses, all Beach clean-up participants will be served a free lunch, with free entry to the Museum! Over 15 local conservation organizations will be there with fun and educational activities, prizes, games, music and, new this year – TRIVIA at 2pm! Watch for answers to trivia questions on social media and at the tables on Earth Day.
TRASH CONTEST
Save the coolest, grossest, most unusual things you find on the beach and bring them to share at the after party at the MV Museum. If you can’t make it, post on Facebook or Instagram and tag @vineyardconservation, or just email us your pics at info@vineyardconservation.org. Fun prizes!
THANK YOU TO:
The haulers: A huge part of pulling off this event every year is moving thousands of pounds of beach trash to its final destination. We are so grateful to the good folks at Bruno’s, the MV Refuse District, and all the Towns’ staff (including DPWs in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, and Tisbury) who over many years have donated so much of their time, as well as collection and hauling fees to the cause. In addition, this year the VTA is again offering free rides to anyone going to the beach cleanup – hauling our most valuable resource of all!
Beach leaders: Local organizations returning this year to work at designated beaches include the MV Bank, Lagoon Pond Association, Friends of Sengekontacket, Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, Tisbury Waterways Inc., MV Surfcasters Association, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, MV Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby Committee, MV Shellfish Group, MV Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, Felix Neck, Harborview Hotel, and The Trustees.
Event sponsors: Thank you to sponsors MV Bank Charitable Foundation and Mad Martha’s, and to Scottish Bakehouse, Waterside, Mo’s, Great Harbor Market, Back Door Donuts, Cash & Carry, Bobby B’s, and Morning Glory Farm for feeding all our hard-working volunteers!
Thank you all for your participation in this year’s Clean-up!
Beach Kit Making
Oct. 26th 4-5pm @ the Oak Bluffs Library
Help support the burgeoning Beach BeFrienders movement by joining us for an hour of volunteer work at the Oak Bluffs Library. All ages are welcome and snacks will be provided!
The project will helping to assemble beach clean-up kits to be distributed at Town Libraries. These free kits help make it easy for anyone to “befriend a beach” in between organized BBF outings (see below). Just grab a kit, head to your favorite beach, and drop off the trash at your local transfer station – or save it for the next monthly clean-up!
Harvest Festival
Oct. 21st 10am – 3pm @ the Ag Hall
This fall, the Island community gathers once again at the Ag Hall in West Tisbury for music, pumpkin carving, wagon rides, a hay maze, fiber demos, apple cider pressing, a local wild food challenge, the farmers market, and more. Local nonprofits, including VCS, will be there with all sorts of educational activities for people of all ages. Many details are still TBD, but mark your calendars for the Harvest Festival!
No Mow May
Tuesday, May 9 @ the Oak Bluffs Library
Did you ever consider doing less yard work to help the environment? If we let them, our yards can act as extensions of natural ecosystems. On May 9th at 5:30 pm, the Oak Bluffs Library hosts Samantha Look (VCS Director of Advocacy and Education) for a discussion on how home lawn and garden choices impact the protection of native biodiversity. Join us to learn more about the Vineyard Conservation Society’s “Vineyard Lawns” initiative, and how you can apply the Vineyard Lawn approach to your own backyard. For event info email the OB Library.