Loring foundation hires renowned naturalist
E. Vernon Laux to be resident naturalist
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
During her first two weeks on the job as executive director of the Linda Loring Nature Foundation, Kitty Pochman did what many islanders will see as a stroke of genius: she hired E. Vernon Laux to be the Foundation's resident naturalist and land manager.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent file

Laux, who writes a weekly bird column for the Martha's Vineyard Times, another for the Cape Cod Times' Sunday edition and is heard the first Thursday of every month on "The Point" with Mindy Todd on WCIA 90.1 and WNAN 91.1., is the author of "Bird News, Vagrants and Visitors on a Peculiar Island" published in 1999. Having lived on Martha's Vineyard for more than two decades and several years on Cape Cod, and birding extensively on both islands, including Nantucket's Christmas bird count for 35 years, Laux was the natural choice for the Linda Loring Nature Center.

"We are looking to develop an educational program, and as we did that and looked at people we felt that [would work best for us]," said Pochman. "Vernon had the right mix of experience and qualifications that will help us get our nature programs and the nature center up and running. We're a fledgling organization and we are building from the ground up and we're anxious to get things going quickly and we're hoping Vernon will help us to do that."

The Linda Loring Nature Center is the dream of Nantucketer Linda Loring who, eschewing the temptation to sell her 270 acres off the southern side of Eel Point Road, wanted to build an environmental educational center for the island's youth. Her plan - facilitated by the creation of a foundation in 1999 and the sale of her development rights to the Nantucket Land Council for $14 million - is to build a barn for classes and programs geared toward islanders and visitors, young and old alike, about the wildlife, vegetation and birds on the property.

Loring wants to cut nature trails throughout the open space and build bird observation blinds around the shores of the north head of Long Pond. Pochman said Friday that the nature center will be modeled after the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown that is open to the public on a limited, program-oriented basis.

With a start date of Sept. 4 looming, Laux, who will be moving to Nantucket and living in the Foundation's house at 110 Eel Point Road, could not be more excited about coming to the island and getting paid to bird and share his avian and general wildlife knowledge with Nantucket.

"I want to live on Nantucket and I'm very excited about being on the ground floor of this new foundation," he said. "It's basically a dream job for me because it comes with housing and I'm hoping to do some cool stuff in the community."

Pochman said that early on in the Foundation's beginnings, well before the paths are cut on the property and the educational barn building is erected, she and her board want to create some programs for neighbors and those who donated toward the purchase of the conservation restriction so they can see the creatures, plants and habitat that their money is preserving.

She added that Laux is going to be a big part of that and future programs as well. Laux is more than ready for the challenge.

"It's the perfect opportunity for me," he said. "It's the perfect time to make the change because my kids have graduated from college and I'm really looking forward to living on the Rock. I have a unique perspective of having lived on the Vineyard for 26 years

and living on the Cape." I