Nantucket Town, Nantucket, Massachusetts ---

"They should call this place 'Eco-tucket,'" the man says. He is unloading cans, bottles and plastic bags into receptacles outside the Light Generation Market, and he probably isn't the first person to say it. A few feet away a volunteer from The Angry Plover Society is showing a sample plover nest to two little girls. The store itself has a "Nantucket Green Fund" card in the window.

Nantucket, a 14-mile long 3-1/2 mile wide island lying 30 miles off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is a retreat for the rich and famous; a weekend and summer getaway for thousands of mainlanders. In the spirit of New England understatement, it may be lovingly referred to as "our sandspit," but it is an environmental treasure. The Island has one-third of all the moors in the Western Hemisphere and a greater variety of vegetation than any space of similar size in North America. It is the only place on the continent where true Scotch heather grows wild and its contiguous cranberry bog may well be the world's largest. Nantucket is both home to and on the flyway of marvelous birds. In what appears to be inhospitable soil, rare plants thrive and endangered species hang on.

Most visitors know more about the 33 beaches, wide bike paths paralleling every main road, rose-covered gray shingle cottages, windswept dunes, and romantic sunsets. The climate is maritime: warmer in winter and cooler in summer than the mainland.

A prime place for high-end development? You bet. Will it happen? No way, say the Islanders. Nearly 40 percent of the land is permanently protected by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation Inc. and the Nantucket Land Trust. More than a dozen organizations are actively engaged in saving the flora and fauna of the fragile island from human carelessness and exploitation. A militant Historical Association runs museums and keeps preserved structures in prime condition. The outstanding Maria Mitchell Association (named for America's first woman astronomer, a Nantucket native) has an aquarium, two observatories, and a science library. Its Bird Walks and Nature Walks go all summer long on alternate days.

While the prime focus is saving Nantucket for present and future Nantucketers, the present and future tourist also benefits, of course. Russ Cleveland, manager of the top-rated Wauwinet Inn and Green Fund advocate, argues that keeping the Island's beauty and integrity is good for business. Then he adds "It's also the right thing to do." The logo of the Nantucket Green Fund in a shop window signifies membership in a Chamber of Commerce sponsored group of business owners who contribute a portion of their profits for further acquisition of open land through the already-established trusts.

At times it may seem like a strange coalition---the traditional do-gooders and the business community---but the bottom line on Nantucket is the quality of life, and there is no apparent disagreement either in the goal or the best method to achieve it.

The island's registered voters may number only 5,273, but they have agreed to a second Land Bank bond. This one is for $25 million and will raise the average residential property tax bill by at least $170. Incidentally, the Land Bank idea which has spread across the United States, originated here on Nantucket.

The first settlers were twenty angry men from Massachusetts Bay Colony who purchased the Island in 1659 both from its colonial owner and the Wampanoag tribe. Necessary craftsmen were enticed with free land and a readymade market for their services. Houses were built and families moved over from the mainland. Sheep farming and cod fishing soon gave way to whaling, and by the early 19th century Nantucket had a new identity as the Whaling Capital of the World.

Prosperity built neat ship's captains' houses as well as ship's owners' mansions. Churches rose where once a Quaker meeting house had been sufficient. A demand for culture built a fine library and hall called The Atheneum where Emerson, Greeley, Thoreau and Douglass lectured. A roster of the writers associated with Nantucket looks like the reading list for a course in American Literature.

Today the entire Island is a historic district with more registered propeties than anyplace else in New England. Nantucket Town has 800 houses built before the Civil War. During the high season (mid-June through Labor Day) the population swells to 40,000 on a given day, and even the most eco-dedicated Islander stops talking about the environment long enough to curse the automobiles brought over from the mainland. To be sure, bringing your own car is probably unnecessary. Bicycles are the popular mode of transportation, and small buses shuttle around the island on frequent schedules and with reasonable fares. Rental cars and taxis are available too.

Annual special events include The Daffodil Festival the last weekend in April; the sea-oriented Harborfest in early June; Cranberry Harvest Weekend in October; and the Nantucket Noel in December with its highlight "Christmas Stroll." With the possible exception of the latter (and even then you can buy environmentally-engendered gifts), all are eco-centered.

For all the shops, museums, historic walks, antique-filled inns and restaurants, it is the natural island itself that is the greatest attraction. Etched by the sea and blown by the winds, it is ever-changing yet reassuringly the same.

Nantucket is part of the Ronkonkoma Moraine, the southernmost advance of the continental ice sheet that also created Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island and the southern rim of Long Island during the Late Pleistocene Age. It has been inhabited for at least 8000 years and its name is a sounds-like word taken from the Algonquian that means "land far out to sea."

Strict rules are laid out to protect the fragile island. No driving on the beaches without a permit. No camping or overnighting on the sand. No tromping or uprooting the plants or disturbing the animals. No uncontrolled dogs. The web of intertwining grass roots that hold the dunes is sacred.

"In 2000 years it will all be gone anyway," my friend outside the supermarket says morosely. "We just do what we can do."

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