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"Nature teaches more than she preaches."
—John Burroughs
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FLOOD UPDATE FROM THE MOTHER TREE
Thank you for the outpouring of concern and kind wishes as Northeast Wilderness Trust’s hometown of Montpelier, Vermont, deals with the effects of historic flooding. We are reaching out to let the NEWT community know that our staff and office (affectionately coined ‘The Mother Tree’) are safe and sound. We are heartbroken to witness the devastation in Vermont and New York. We send our heartfelt thanks to the emergency workers, city staff, reporters, volunteers, and all who are making a difference during this difficult time. We will be volunteering and supporting our community in recovery.
In order to focus community support on immediate recovery, we have elected to postpone the Walk for Wilderness. Shelby will be walking to fundraise for Bear's Nest Wilderness Preserve in October (rather than August)...more details to come!
We also send deep gratitude to the forests, floodplains, wetlands, and soils for absorbing as much water as they possibly could, protecting us from further damage. Without wild and natural places, the destruction we witnessed this past week would have been even worse. Natural disasters such as the one our Vermont staff are experiencing firsthand are a reminder that Northeast Wilderness Trust’s work is essential to the resiliency of our planet. We will continue to work tirelessly to accelerate wildlands conservation. When human communities make the choice to set land aside as wilderness—alongside other important land uses—the benefits are paid forward for generations. For more on this, check out our 2021 blog post When Water Meets Wilderness.
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Dear Sophi,
My name is Liz Thompson. I am an ecologist based in Vermont and a new board member of Northeast Wilderness Trust. I’m thrilled to be a part of this wonderful organization.
In this edition of The Wild Times, we have some great news to share. Just two weeks ago, we protected an additional 1,775 acres as forever-wild with the creation of the Moriah Wilderness Preserve in Moriah, New York.
The new Wildlands Ecology Program is now fully launched, allowing us to gather scientific data from our preserves. We are studying among other questions: Who lives there? What grows there? Are trees dying and falling naturally and creating habitat for fungi, mosses, and nematodes? For black bears, woodpeckers, and winter wrens?
You can get involved with the Ecology Program by participating in our Woodbury Mountain BioBlitz, where anyone can track the species they are seeing at Woodbury Mountain Wilderness Preserve in Vermont. During the next year Northeast Wilderness Trust will host walks led by naturalists at the Preserve. In a walk I’m leading on August 25, we will look at plants, their soils and habitats, and the ecological processes that support them. I hope you can join me or one of the other fantastic naturalists on the land during the BioBlitz.
Read on for featured stories from Massachusetts, plus some exciting upcoming events in New Hampshire.
For the Wild,
Liz Thompson, Northeast Wilderness Trust board member
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Great Oaks Wilderness Sanctuary
From the summit of Dearborn Mountain to the shoreline of West Pond, these 533 acres are home to several rare and uncommon plant species and towering red oaks and eastern hemlocks.
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Bear's Nest Wilderness Preserve
Watch our new video to experience the magic of these 2,830 acres. The Wilderness Trust is hard at work to protect this land as much-needed wild core habitat in far northern Vermont.
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Moriah Wilderness Preserve protects 1,775 acres in New York | Northeast Wilderness Trust celebrated the creation of Moriah Wilderness Preserve on June 30. These 1,775 acres in New York’s Champlain Valley support wildlife movement between Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains. We invite you to watch the new video showcasing the beauty and peace of this forest. | |
Learning from Nature with NEWT's ecology program | Not only is the Wildlands Ecology team conducting extensive research projects on NEWT Preserves and Sanctuaries, they are also working hard to share the knowledge that wilderness offers us with conservation professionals, academics, students, and amateur naturalists. | |
Experience Muddy Pond Wilderness Preserve through poetry | Written by Kathleen Kremins through the Writing the Land project, “Syncopations” explores the sounds and sights of Muddy Pond Wilderness Preserve through lyrical verse. | |
NatureCulture joins NEWT Business Alliance | |
NEWT is delighted to welcome NatureCulture to our Business Alliance.
Business Alliance members recognize that as small business owners they can make a difference by saving wild places for future generations.
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Panel Discussion: A Natural Approach to Forest Management | |
When: Thursday, July 20, 5 to 7 pm
Where: Howe Library, 13 South Street, Hanover New Hampshire
Or, join virtually via Zoom. Click here to register.
A panel discussion hosted by the Hanover Conservation Commission & Biodiversity Committee will explore a natural way of thinking about forests, detailing why and how letting native trees grow benefits ecosystems. NEWT's Conservation Director, Bob Linck, will share insights.
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Woodbury Mountain BioBlitz
2023-24
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Turtles & More with Kiley Briggs
Friday, August 18, 9 am to 12 pm
Botany with Liz Thompson
Friday, August 25, 10 am to 1 pm
You can become a citizen scientist in our yearlong BioBlitz at Woodbury Mountain Wilderness Preserve in Vermont. Join walks with talented naturalists to discover the diversity of life in this beautiful forest. Or, BioBlitz on your own with family and friends with our how-to guide.
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Eastern Old-Growth Forest Conference | |
When: Weekend of September 21-23, 2023
Where: Geneva Point Center, Moultonborough, New Hampshire
Explore the special role of old-growth forests in talks and field trips to old forests in New Hampshire. Speakers include Dr. Suzanne Simard, Bob Leverett, Bill McKibben, and Florence Williams. Northeast Wilderness Trust will present on a range of topics.
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RESCHEDULED: 5th Anniversary
Walk for Wilderness
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When: First week of October, 2023
More details TBA
Due to the extreme flooding events across Vermont, we have elected to postpone our Walk for Wilderness fundraiser for Bear's Nest Wilderness Preserve so that we, and our community members in Vermont, can focus on immediate support for local needs. Shelby will be walking in October, and supporters will receive an invitation to celebrate with NEWT as she reaches the finish line.
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Study: New England needs to conserve more wildlands (ecoRI News)
Rhode Island has the least amount of wildlands, which enhance resilience to climate change, habitat fragmentation, and biodiversity loss. Since 2011 Rhode Island has lost some 2,000 acres in areas of environmental concern within the state’s forests to development.
Opinion: The case for expanding Massachusetts’ wildlands (Berkshire Eagle)
The new Wildlands in New England: Past, Present and Future report calls for more than tripling Massachusetts’ wildlands to at least seven percent of the state. The Massachusetts goal is part of a push to expand wildlands to at least 10 percent of New England, positioning the region as a national leader in combating the triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and deteriorating human welfare.
Opinion: We need to protect and grow CT Wildlands (Hartford Courant)
Today, what’s missing across Connecticut is a long-term commitment to protecting some of these forests as 'Wildlands' – natural areas that can welcome people but limit human management.
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Adaptation and mitigation capacity of wildland forests in the northeastern United States (ScienceDirect)
The new study shows notable differences in carbon storage and complexity in wildlands when compared to similar types of forests where trees can be cut.
Potential National Wildlife Refuge under consideration for Maine’s High Peaks (Daily Bulldog)
During two community sessions held in Franklin County in June, the USFWS sought feedback from the community on several topics related to land conservation in the High Peaks Region. This included the economic and recreation uses of the land, biological and ecological conservation needs, and the overall concept of a national wildlife refuge.
New trees are no substitute for old trees (Politico)
It turns out the age and composition of forests makes a big difference in what role they play in preventing wildfires and storing carbon. Old growth forest is the best at both, but there is very little old growth left in either the western or eastern United States.
Animals can save us if we let them (TIME)
A recent study estimated that thriving populations of just nine key groups of animals (sharks, grey wolves, sea otters, musk oxen, wildebeest, ocean fish, American bison, African elephants, and whales) could facilitate the additional capture 6.41 gigatons of CO2 each year.
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PHOTOS: Moriah Wilderness Preserve header and story by Stephen Matter | Wood frog at Great Oaks Wilderness Sanctuary by Jerry Monkman/Ecophotography | Bear's Nest Wilderness Preserve by Jerry Monkman/Ecophotography | Nature walk by Sophi Veltrop | Muddy Pond Wilderness Preserve by Natalia Boltukhova | Shelby hugging an old yellow birch by Jon Leibowitz | Lung lichen by Sophi Veltrop | Old-growth white pine and person by David Govatski | | | | |
