We write on behalf of the Ninevah Foundation

Dear NewsFlash readers:

We write on behalf of the Ninevah Foundation.  We are  long-time residents of Lake Ninevah, and many of you may know Paul as a former Chair of the Town’s Selectboard.  Many of you know Judy as a former third-grade teacher in the Mount Holly School.  We have been involved with the work of the Ninevah Foundation (and its predecessor, the Wilderness Corporation) for at least 40 years.  We also have known Art and Ida Gage ever since they began visiting their camp on the lake.

We are surprised and saddened that Art and Ida chose the NewsFlash as a forum to air inaccurate complaints about the Ninevah Foundation, which has provided critical leadership for land and lake conservation and use for over thirty years.  The Foundation makes nearly all of its land and trails open to the public for hunting, fishing, hiking and winter sports including snowmobiling.  The only exception is the lands that immediately surround the summer camp programs operated by Farm and Wilderness for children and teens, which are not open to the public only while those programs are in session.  

Among other conservation activities, the Foundation pays for “greeters” at the State fishing access to check boats to prevent Eurasian watermilfoil from entering the lake, and divers to check the lake for milfoil and hand-pull the weed it when it appears.  The Foundation spent over $200,000 to reconstruct the dam on the lake and continues to maintain it without any public funds, contributed $10,000 to help rebuild the dam on Star Lake.  Please take a look at the Foundation’s website (www.ninevahfoundation.org) for more information, including its 2017 Annual Report with Sources and Uses of Funds.  

We also do not understand why the Gages felt it necessary to make accusations against the Foundation’s new partner, the Farm & Wilderness Foundation camps.  The Camps operate experiential outdoor education programs and a day camp for over 800 children and teens each year.  Three of these programs operate on lands owned by the Ninevah Foundation.  The Camps are run on Quaker values, but they are open to campers of all faiths and have never been charged with religious discrimination.  The Camps’ tuition is significantly less than other New England non-profit summer camps, they offer substantial “camperships” to help children of more modest means attend, and they serve many young people from Vermont.  Finally, the Camps are not nudists.  Please take a look at the Farm & Wilderness (www.farmandwilderness.org) website for more information. 

Finally, we believe you should know that it is likely the Gages have raised their “grievances” in this public manner largely out of anger that last year they had to abandon a lawsuit they initiated against the Foundation after it proved to be groundless. 

We and other representatives of the Foundation welcome the opportunity to talk with anyone who has questions, concerns or suggestions about the work the Foundation does, its history, the Gages’ lawsuit, or how the Foundation might better serve the lake and Mount Holly communities.

Paul and Judy Nevin