Forester and teacher Alvin G. Whitney questioned President John Martin Thomas in 1917 about the fate of the Battell wilderness. The board was doubtful that Bread Loaf was an asset to the college, but Whitney assured Thomas “that splendid forest” was immeasurably valuable – for the sentimental, aesthetic, and educational benefits it had and would continue to provide to the public and its inheritors.
Though Bread Loaf’s historic campus, athletic venues, and innovative summer programs distinguished Middlebury as a destination for adventure and learning, they perennially operated at a significant deficit. To meet expenses and eliminate the pressure to sell or develop the land, the College had to make Bread Loaf economically sustainable.
To ensure that Battell’s forests can evolve and be conserved in perpetuity, Middlebury established the Bread Loaf Preservation Fund in 2014, which supports Bread Loaf’s educational mission and makes a definitive step toward preserving it as a cultural and ecological treasure.
