Tamarack Hollow Nature & Cultural Center

Greetings Community,

My name is Aimée Gelinas M.Ed and I am the Director and Co-founder of the Tamarack Hollow Nature and Cultural Center in Windsor, MA, a 501c3 tax exempt non-profit organization dedicated to "Inspiring cultural and environmental awareness, appreciation & stewardship". With the support of co-founder and trails coordinator Daniel Cohen (pictured above with Director Aimée Gelinas), 5 board members plus interns and volunteers, we are conserving 88 acres of rare, high elevation spruce-fir boreal forest, fields, watershed and a waterfall and have created 2+ miles of trails and bridges for our guided nature programs. We provide year round environmental and cultural education/drum programs for all ages offsite throughout Western MA and also offer limited onsite outdoor, weather dependent programming. Our goal is to expand our on site, year round educational program offerings for our community by completing our nature and cultural center building project by 2027.

Building Project Timeline:

~In 2021, we received a $50,000 matching grant from the Mass Cultural Council & Mass Development

~In 2022 & 2023, we purchased & conserved 56 additional acres of pristine forest & wetlands (+ a waterfall!) adjacent to the nature center

~In 2023 we matched the $50,000 building grant funds

~In 2024 we held a ground breaking ceremony and began the building project completing the site excavation and building foundation

~In 2025 we completed the architectural plans thanks to William J. Cook R.A. and are currently working with Mountain View Contractors and have completed the sub floor, roof trusses, weather proof siding and roof sheathing and our doors and windows are being installed soon! Our Sun-Mar composting toilet has arrived from Canada.

~Currently, we have 1/3 remaining of the original funds to: insulate and pour the basement floor, install windows and doors, shingle the roof, install electricity and install the stairs.

~We Need Your Support! The accessible wheelchair ramp and parking, accessible decks for wildlife viewing from the building, insulation, heat, toilet build out + installation and all ducts and wiring will require additional funds to complete the building by our 2027 goal

We are asking YOU, our beloved community, to join us in matching the $100,000 we have already raised to complete this project. It takes a village to support environmental and cultural education and land conservation. We hope you will join in supporting our nature and cultural center building project. Please share this campaign with your village!

*A private donor will match the first $5000 of this GoFundMe campaign if raised by January 2026! Please DONATE today!

All donations of $5000 or more (past and present!) will have the option of showcasing their name, their foundation or “In memory of…” on our Tamarack Giving Tree featured prominently on a wall in the building.(*We will connect with all donors for permission before being included on the tree)

For more information about donating or to mail a check, please visit the DONATION page on our website below...

Visit www.tamarackhollow.org for more info about the project~

*The foundation photo above was taken in May 2025 before we completed the sub floor, roof and sheathing this summer and fall

*Photos and Video thanks to the Tamarack Hollow Nature and Cultural Center & Matt Gelinas

Watch the GoFundMe cover video on YouTube too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOsjs7MQ_mc

Campaign Update...

WOW! We are humbled and grateful for the outpouring of support from our community! THANK YOU ALL for your donations - WE DID IT! We made the match and have some extra funds that will go toward project planning. We are now entering the next phase of the project with Mass Cultural Council and Mass Development to receive our matching funds. We will be in touch with our progress and will also update our website with info as we go. Once again THANK YOU for being a part of this campaign and for helping make it a reality. If you would like a receipt directly from Tamarack Hollow on letterhead for tax purposes please visit www.tamarackhollow.org for more info.

With gratitude and thanks,

Aimee Gelinas

Executive Director

Tamarack Hollow Nature and Cultural Center

Greetings Community!

My name is Aimee Gelinas and I am the Director and Co-Founder of the Tamarack Hollow Nature and Cultural Center in Windsor, MA. We are conserving 62 acres of rare boreal forest, we offer nature and cultural programs year-round for all ages and we need a sustainable and accessible nature and cultural building on site for programming that can take place regardless of the weather that can accommodate programs such as school groups, teacher training, environmental research, internships, master artist residencies and much more!

We received a 1:1 $50,000 matching grant from the Mass Cultural Council and need $10,000 to complete the $50,000 match by May 1st - we currently have $40,000 of the match raised. The Tamarack Hollow Nature and Cultural Center is dedicated to “Inspiring cultural and environmental awareness, appreciation and stewardship” and land conservation. We recently conserved an additional 30 acres of rare, high-elevation boreal (spruce-fir) forest adjacent to the nature and cultural center building site. This crucial land conservation project required the non-profit to redirect funds to conserve this important forest resource.

We are asking YOU, our community, to join us in completing this match! It takes a village to support environmental and cultural education and land conservation. We hope you will join in “raising the roof”. Please share this campaign with your village!

All donors (past and present!) will have the option of showcasing their name, their foundation or “In memory of…” on a specially curated page on our website to honor your contribution. This list will also be featured in the nature and cultural center once it is built! (*We will connect with all donors for permission before being included in the lists)

Visit www.tamarackhollow.org for more info about the project~

Greetings Community,

My name is Aimee Gelinas M.Ed and I am the Director and Co-founder of the Tamarack Hollow Nature and Cultural Center in Windsor, MA, a 501c3 tax exempt non-profit organization dedicated to "Inspiring cultural and environmental awareness, appreciation & stewardship". We are conserving 62 acres of rare, high elevation spruce-fir boreal forest, planning to build a sustainable nature and cultural education center on site and we provide year round environmental and cultural education programs for all ages.

We have the rare, very time sensitive opportunity to preserve an additional 26 acres directly adjacent to Tamarack Hollow and this is why it is crucial we conserve it:

*We would protect an additional 26 acres of the watershed and downstream stream corridor called the Drowned Lands that our current 62 acres protects up stream as well as preserving a sizeable waterfall

*We would protect an additional 26 acres of high elevation boreal forest, which is considered rare forest ecology in the state of MA

*We would expand The Trustees Notchview land conservation efforts by preserving additional acreage on their northern border by creating a sizeable, conserved buffer to the wetlands and forest

*We would expand our nature trail system to include miles of additional access for the public to experience

We have secured 1/3 of the needed funds from recent donations, 1/3 of the funds through micro-loans and need the remaining 1/3 of the funds (ideally via donation) by the last week of September!

We hope you will consider supporting this important and time sensitive land conservation project with us today! Please share this campaign!

Visit www.tamarackhollow.org for more information about this project~