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December 2012 eNewsletter
 

10 Years, 10,000 Acres. Yes, we are celebrating two milestones this year--our ten-year anniversary, and 10,000 acres protected as forever wild since our founding in 2002. From the Adirondacks to Maine, these wild places allow nature to thrive, wildlife to wander, and people to find beauty and quiet. Our sincere thanks to the hundreds of individuals and organizations that helped us conserve these scarce and precious wildlands. Please consider making a special year-end gift to help us launch our second decade aimed at protecting another 20,000 acres across the Northeast.

Lynx � Susan C. Morse
Lynx in the North Woods (� Susan C. Morse)

 

View our new 10-year retrospective brochure. 

 

Make a gift now.

Your support means a wilder future for the Northeast! 

First Project in Connecticut

 

Thanks to the generosity of Alison Orr-Andrawes, the Wilderness Trust now owns 85 acres in Falls Village in northwestern Connecticut. Alison's donation of land (and the stewardship funds necessary to care for it) protects a beautiful landscape with an outstanding mix of forest habitats including a mountain stream, rocky outcrops, quiet glades, and majestic oak and hemlock stands.

 

The property is located on Canaan Mountain, perched above Under Mountain Road, and represents a significant advance in the effort to protect the largest roadless area in Connecticut. The land is adjacent to Housatonic State Forest and the Canaan Mountain Natural Area Preserve (a state-designated forever-wild sanctuary) and fills a key gap in the protected areas mosaic on Canaan Mountain.

 

Ecologist Harry White of Colebrook, CT, Northeast Wilderness Trust's project director for the transaction, said, "Because old-growth forest was the most common pre-settlement habitat type and is now among the rarest, the only route to restoration is to create permanently protected forest refuges that will allow native trees to reach their age potential of 300 to 800 years. Thanks to Alison, this land will one day harbor many of these forest monarchs."

 

Alison and hersnow-covered firs husband Fikry Andrawes had always hoped that the land would eventually become part of the Canaan Mountain Natural Area Preserve, and asked Northeast Wilderness Trust last year to help them achieve this goal. The Trust hopes to transfer ownership of the preserve to the State of Connecticut while retaining a conservation easement guaranteeing the forever-wild status of the property.  

 

According to NWT Executive Director Jim Northup, "This is an exceptional land donation that has protected a critical part of Canaan Mountain for the benefit of both wildlife and people within and beyond Falls Village. Alison's and Fikry's deep love of nature and commitment to restoring wildness on the land made working on this project a real and meaningful pleasure."

 

"We were delighted to work with Northeast Wilderness Trust on such an important initiative," said Alison. "I love the idea that the land is now protected forever."

Many thanks to everyone who received our recent letter and made a gift to support our work. We are a lean nonprofit (with just three people on staff) and the only organization that is dedicated solely to preserving land as forever wild across the Northeast--and we rely greatly on individual support to do this work. Please help if you can. 

 

Wishing you a peaceful and joyous holiday season,

Jennifer Esser, Communications Director

Jim Northup, Executive Director

Marisa Riggi, Conservation Coordinator 

 

Make a donation to Northeast Wilderness Trust. 

New Leadership  

in 2013

 

Northeast Wilderness Trust is extremely pleased to announce that Daryl Burtnett will become the organization's new Executive Director in February 2013. A respected leader in the conservation community, Daryl has been the State Director of the New Hampshire Chapter of The Nature Conservancy for the past 13 years. He brings extensive leadership skills, passion for wilderness, and a wealth of experience to the Trust.  As a longtime Wilderness Trust board member, Daryl knows the organization well. An avid outdoorsman, Daryl previously worked for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) as Director of the Southwest Region. Prior to becoming the regional director in Tucson, Arizona, he was a senior field instructor, teaching mountaineering, climbing, leadership, group dynamics, and first aid and wilderness skills. He led many expeditions in the Rocky Mountains, Southwest, Colorado Plateau, and Pacific Northwest. Daryl will be moving from Concord, NH, to Vermont to direct Northeast Wilderness Trust. We are thrilled to welcome him on board!

Daryl Burtnett

Current Executive Director Jim Northup will remain an important part of Northeast Wilderness Trust's work to conserve wild places across the region. Jim's creative leadership has served the organization extraordinarily well over the past three years and has solidified the Trust's role in regional conservation. Jim's broad vision and passion for wilderness protection have been huge assets to the organization, but the need for him to strike a better balance among work, health, and play requires that he step down from his current role. Jim will continue to work on conservation projects for Northeast Wilderness Trust. We can't thank him enough for his years of service and dedication.



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