After 24 years serving as President and Board Chairman, Dave Goldman has stepped down from the Trust’s leadership and has recently relocated out of state. The Trust community extends a big thank you to Dave for providing his tireless conservation services to the trust and the town. He was appointed as a Director Emeritus for the next three years.
And, congratulations are in order to Morrie Gasser, a current Board member, who has stepped up to accept the President’s position. He brings a great mix of pertinent geographic knowledge and appreciation for the natural environment in general and for Hopkinton in particular.
Morrie joined HALT as soon as it started accepting members, and in 2015 was elected to the Board of Directors, when he became a land steward and took on primary responsibility for mapping properties and preparing baseline documentation for conservation restrictions.
Morrie is a recently retired software engineer who has been a conservationist and outdoor enthusiast all his life, escaping from his desk job to go hiking, camping, skiing and caving at every opportunity. He has summited the 48 Four Thousand Footers of the White Mountains multiple times in summer and winter and tries to get to the mountains at least once a month—not for adventure, but for the love of nature. He and his wife Kate moved to Hopkinton in 1991 because of its rural, small-town feel and proximity to services. Close to home, he walks, skis or snowshoes the trails in town in every season. Over the years he has tried to record and photograph every species of wildflower in town, and maintains a Wildflowers of Hopkinton website to document them. Morrie is a member of many outdoor and conservation organizations: Sudbury Valley Trustees, Appalachian Mountain Club, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, National Speleological Society, Wilderness Society, Earthworks, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and in the past, National Parks Conservation Association and South Utah Wilderness Alliance.