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Newsletter
Fall & Winter 2023
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Above: Field trip participants traverse the Wolcott site's "wildlife shelf" - a dirt path designed to enhance connectivity for hooved animals and other terrestrial wildlife under the busy Route 15 roadway.
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Above: Attendees at the 2023 SCI Partners Retreat went on a field trip to the site of the Wild Branch project in Wolcott, Vermont led by Jens Hilke of Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department (foreground) and Gus Goodwin from The Nature Conservancy in Vermont. | |
Above: Partners spent the remainder of the Retreat back at the lodge learning about each other's work and discussing opportunities to collaborate towards shared connectivity goals.
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Decades in the making, Bowman Divide wildlife crossing project launches in New Hampshire | The Bowman Alternative site indicated on the above map is an existing culvert (below photo) that would need to be re-sized to accommodate moose, a target species for the Bowman Divide wildlife crossing project. Photo credit: Northeast Conservation Services. |  | |
Transportation and conservation partners are collaborating to improve wildlife passage and motorist safety along a stretch of U.S. Route 2 in Randolph, New Hampshire known as Bowman Divide. The road segment is situated between two large protected areas — the White Mountains to the south and the Randolph Community Forest and Kilkenny Unit of the White Mountain National Forest to the north. This location is within the vast SCI linkage area connecting the “Northeast Kingdom” of Vermont with northern New Hampshire and the Mountains of western Maine. Studies completed over the last 20 years have identified Bowman Divide as a priority for wildlife passage because of concentrated wildlife use and high incidents of wildlife-vehicle collisions, including many moose collisions.
New Hampshire (NH) Audubon is leading the project in close partnership with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT). Supported by private funding, NH Audubon hired McFarland Johnson, Inc., a civil engineering firm qualified to design projects focused on safety and wildlife connectivity. McFarland Johnson will evaluate culvert and/or bridge structure alternatives for improved passage by moose and other wildlife species at two potential sites along U.S. Route 2. Non-structural alternatives will also be evaluated, such as an alert system that notifies motorists when an animal is crossing the road. Additional design and engineering will commence once a preferred approach is agreed upon by project partners and stakeholders, including the Town of Randolph which owns property abutting the potential crossing site locations.
Additional partners participating in and supporting the project include the Town of Randolph Conservation Commission, the Town of Randolph Forest Commission, The Conservation Fund, U.S. Forest Service, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Northeast Wilderness Trust and Northeast Conservation Services, LLC.
Click here to view the original press release.
| Appalachian Corridor receives $2.19M to protect and recover at-risk species in the Northern Greens | Above: The location of the Northern Green Mountains relative to the rest of the Northern Appalachian-Acadian ecoregion. Below: The Northern Greens are home to multiple at-risk species, including the wood turtle. Photo credit: Appalachian Corridor | |
In September, the Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change announced that Staying Connected Initiative (SCI) partner Appalachian Corridor will receive an investment of 2.19 million CAD$ over the next three years to help protect and recover species at risk in the Northern Green Mountains region of southern Quebec.
The funding through the Community-Nominated Priority Places program almost doubles the initial $2.4 million granted between 2019 and 2023 for the first phase of this project. The Community-Nominated Priority Places program invests in areas of high biodiversity across Canada where conservation actions have the potential to benefit a high number of species at risk.
An SCI linkage that connects wildlife habitat across the Vermont-Quebec border, the Northern Green Mountains are a large tract of relatively undisturbed temperate forest home to 26 Canadian species at risk, including Bicknell’s thrush, wood turtle, spring salamander, monarch butterfly, and the butternut tree. Appalachian Corridor will use the awarded funds to protect and conserve habitat, reduce threats to at risk species and other wildlife and increase collaboration with stakeholders in the field.
Click here to view the original press release from Environment and Climate Change Canada.
| New York grant awards partners with funds to protect forest lands | |
The locations of projects awarded funding in 2023 through the New York State Forest Conservation Easement for Land Trusts Program.
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Two partner projects in New York (SCI) linkage areas were among those awarded funding through the Forest Conservation Easements for Land Trusts (FCELT) Grant Program, managed by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation in partnership with the Land Trust Alliance. The funding will be used to acquire new forest conservation easements, safeguarding the ecosystem services that intact forests provide including stormwater mitigation, temperature regulation, carbon sequestration, climate resiliency and of course, ecological connectivity.
Dutchess Land Conservancy, Dutchess County: Awarded $189,605 to purchase a conservation easement on the 71-acre Johnston Forest property, adjacent to the Appalachian Trail and West Mountain State Forest. This land is within the SCI Hudson Highlands to Green Mountains linkage, which connects the northern and central Appalachians.
Mohawk-Hudson Land Conservancy, Montgomery County: Awarded $104,609 to purchase a conservation easement in the town of Esperance that will protect 102 acres of mostly forested land within a “pinch point” of the Catskills to Adirondacks linkage.
Click here to view the original press release.
| The Nature Conservancy launches new grant program in Northern Appalachian states | A view from Burnt Mountain in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Photo Credit: © Eamon Mac Mahon | |
In an effort to support land trusts and conservation partners, The Nature Conservancy has launched a new grant program, starting with a first round of funding available in six Northern Appalachian states in early 2024. The Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program is part of the larger Connectivity, Climate and Communities Fund, which also includes the New York Climate Resilience Grant Program.
Grants of up to $50,000 will be awarded to non-profit organizations, local governments and other partners for projects that result in the permanent protection of resilient and connected lands in pivotal landscapes, including the Staying Connected Initiative (SCI) linkages. Our local partners know best how to address community-scale conservation challenges and build a network of connected landscapes for the benefit of wildlife and people. Applications are open through February 2024.
Learn more at the Connectivity, Climate and Communities Fund website [or https://crcs.tnc.org/pages/ccc].
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Connecticut and Vermont awarded funding in first round of new Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program | |
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently announced $110 million in grants for 19 wildlife crossing projects in 17 states.
The funding is made possible by a new program in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to support construction of wildlife crossings over and below busy roads, add fencing, acquire tracking and mapping tools, and more. Overall, BIL makes a total of $350 million available over five years under the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program. The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and the Vermont Department of Transportation were among the applicants awarded funding in the first round of the new program.
CTDOT will receive approximately $360,000 to collaboratively develop a statewide plan identifying critical habitat blocks, wildlife corridors and priority road-segments needing wildlife crossings. CTDOT will evaluate their current public facing roadkill reporting tool and conduct a spatial analysis to assist in this effort to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions in Connecticut. Click here to learn more about this project.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation will receive $1.6 million to design the Sharkeyville Brook wildlife crossing over US-1 and I-89, which will reestablish wildlife connectivity between the northern and southern Green Mountains and reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. The proposed underpass will increase habitat connectivity for large wildlife such as black bears, white-tailed deer and moose, as well as small aquatic wildlife such as salamanders and wood turtles. Click here to learn more about this project.
Click here to learn more about these and other wildlife crossing projects from our partners at Arc Solutions, and here for the FHWA grant award announcement.
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$144M in new funding for biodiversity conservation announced at Quebec connectivity symposium | |
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Above: The ecological corridors, regions and partners of the Quebec Ecological Corridors Initiative.
Below: The Quebec Symposium on Ecological Connectivity this past November.
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The Government of Quebec recently announced an investment of 144.1 million $CAD to strengthen its partnership with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) and accelerate conservation in southern Quebec. This funding comes from the $444 million budget set aside over five years for the implementation of the Nature 2030 Plan, Quebec's plan for achieving its targets under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including the goal of conserving at least 30% of the province by 2030.
Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment, the Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP) made the announcement on November 23, on the sidelines of the Quebec Symposium on Ecological Connectivity in Québec City. Co-hosted by the Quebec Ecological Corridors Initiative, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and MELCCFP among others, the event drew over three hundred participants.
The new grant will be spread out over the next five years, from fiscal years 2023-2024 to 2027-2028. It will support the creation and implementation of a new conservation program, Accelerating Conservation in Southern Quebec. This funding builds on the Government of Quebec's previous partnership with the Nature Conservancy of Canada and other organizations through the Quebec Ecological Corridors Initiative, including Appalachian Corridor in the Northern Green Mountains linkage area and Horizon-Nature Bas-St-Laurent in the Three Borders linkage area.
Click here to read the original press release.
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Housatonic Valley Association works with local partners in Connecticut | |
Above and below: Julia Rogers, Housatonic Valley's Senior Land Protection Manager (standing), with volunteers and staff from the Kent Land Trust, Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy and a local scout troop. | |
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The Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), a Staying Connected Initiative (SCI) partner organization, recently worked with local partners in the Town of Kent to assess connectivity between local intact forest blocks.
Located within the SCI’s Hudson Highlands to Southern Greens/Berkshire wildlife linkage, the Town of Kent straddles the Appalachian Trail and Housatonic River along the border of Connecticut and New York. Julia Rogers, HVA’s Senior Land Protection Manager, spent two days in Kent training volunteers and staff from the Kent Land Trust, Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy and a local scout troop. Since the time of the trainings, these local partners have now assessed more than half of the forest linkages in Kent.
Among the community science data collected by partners was information on the character of the Housatonic River in different parts of the town, and implications for wildlife movement. Below the dam and diversion canal at the southern end of the town is a gorge with whitewater rapids where terrestrial connectivity across the river is likely limited. The river upstream from the dam and for about half its length through the town is deep and wide—meaning terrestrial species must either swim or cross when the river freezes. The northern half of the portion of the river passing through Kent is a shallow stretch with many shoals, likely providing the best opportunities for passage.
HVA will continue to study the river’s influence on local wildlife connectivity and work with the community of Kent to apply these findings to conservation efforts.
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Have a story for the next SCI newsletter?
Events or updates our partners should know about?
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2023 SCI Partners Retreat attendees embark on the field trip to the Wild Branch in Wolcott, Vermont.
Photo credit: Mikael Cejtin
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The Staying Connected Initiative brings together a unique assemblage of government, non-government and academic partners to conserve, restore, and sustain landscape connections across the Northern Appalachian/Acadian Forest region. We envision an ecologically interconnected and resilient landscape across the Northern Appalachian/Acadian Forest region of the eastern U.S. and Canada that sustains healthy lands, waters, wildlife and vibrant human communities. | | | | |
