Walden Woods Project

CONTACT:

44 Baker Farm
Lincoln, MA 01773
781-259-4700
www.walden.org

Kathi Anderson, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

The Walden Woods Project was started in 1990 by the recording artist Don Henley, who heard on CNN one evening that 43 acres of the Woods adjoining Walden Pond was about to be developed into an office park and condominiums. Henley’s high school teacher in Texas had so impressed him with the mystique of Thoreau and Walden that he was immediately moved to action—he raised millions of dollars, mainly through benefit concerts of his group, The Eagles, and stopped not only that development but several others. Since its inception, the WWP has protected over 150 acres within Walden Woods’ 2,680-acre ecosystem, and has promoted the legacy of Henry David Thoreau as the defining influence on the future of Walden Pond and Woods. Today WWP administers the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods, a research and education center, a research and education center offering environmental and humanities programs, which opened in 1998 with a ceremony attended by President Clinton who awarded Don Henley a National Humanities Medal. “Private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life.” “If you see something that needs doing, do it!” Catalogue readers, your help is needed.

(2003: NATURE: Environment: Land, Air, Water, Climate)