5 questions

The speaker has five questions about a property maintained by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The first question is about the costs associated with upkeeping the property. The second question is whether there is a long-term plan for the site. The third question is whether the property is free for the general public or if there is an entrance fee. The fourth question is whether the property is open year-round. The fifth question is about the availability of information online regarding the property, particularly about the flora and fauna. The speaker suggests that the website lacks information about the property and recommends adding more details such as tree names and information about stone formations. They also suggest including information about migrating animals and birds. I have five questions. Number one is, what are the costs associated with the upkeeping of the property? I think this is a nonprofit organization, so the money has to come from somewhere, being the Massachusetts Audubon Society. There are membership fees that members pay. But other than that, I don't think that there's any other sort of income coming in, maybe from grants, but I don't know that. Second question is, is that a long-term plan for the site? I do recall that the site has been in operation for several decades. It has seen a lot of visitors over the years. The highest number of visitors was most likely during the 80s, and eventually has been quite a bit of drop in the visitors' numbers. Now, that has a lot to do with the change in the facilities, in which some of the teaching facilities that were done in the site have decreased. One has to think about, since that's no longer the case, what actually are the long-term plans for the site? Question that I have is, is it free to the general public? And I say that because there are many places now, including state parks and even federal national parks, that do charge for entrance or entrance fees. So this is one of those instances where it could be. It could be charged. A fee could be charged, but I don't know the answer to that at this point. Fourth question is, is it open to the public year-round? The reason for that is, it is a site that is off the beaten path. It is in a somewhat isolated area, and the access to it is limited to people that have transportation. It's not near a urban site with easy access or even public transportation. So it is a question that crossed my mind in the fact that it might not be available for anyone to bring some of the harsher winter months in this area of New England. So the question that stands, is it open all year round? And that is something that I would need to know up front for this site. In regards, if there is an information online about that property, I didn't see anything on it when I first talked about it. But it does have to, one does find some information online, especially if you check with the Massachusetts Urban Society website. They will have a page on the Laughing Brook. What I did find on that page is that it has some general information, has directions how to get there, and also about the prohibition of pets and bikes on the trails. But what I did find that was lacking in there was information about the flora and the fauna that survives within the property. The once-owned location, I have found that on-site there, there is no, basically, any kind of information within the trail. So you're sort of blind when you go in there. If you don't know already about the area and what's expected in nature in the area, you won't have any idea what's in there. So lacking that additional information, tagging of trees with names, or pointing out different stone outcroppings, how those stones were formed, how they get there. Are they the result of glacial movement? Or are they just outcrops of a much deeper vein of stone? So those are things that could have been added on the site. Also, the website itself doesn't have any of this information. So one is blind as to what exactly is inside of the site just by reading on the website. So that could be some information in there, a compilation of data that could even later be upgraded as time goes with information regarding migrating animals, migrating birds that go through the property. Those would be very enriching to the practical knowledge of the users that want to go there and find that out right up front and then add on to it as they go by and learn more about the place.