Wildlands in New England. Past, Present, and Future
- HF-ID: HF2023-02
- Category: Research Files
- Creator: Foster, D.R., Johnson, E.E., Hall, B.R.
- Date: 1900 to 2023
- Location: New England
- Media: Paper
- Contents:
- Table of properties considered for inclusion in 2023 report, Wildlands in New England. Past, Present, and Future [see Harvard Forest Data Archive, HF435]; HF Paper No. 34; Executive Summary; State Summary Reports (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT); map of 2023 New England Wildlands.
- Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, geographic information systems
- Abstract:
- From the Executive Summary:
- The looming global crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and precarious human welfare call for urgent action. Today, in New England, we can and must act by halting forest and farmland loss, accelerating land protection, increasing the sustainable production of food and wood, and designating more Wildland areas. Wildlands—conservation areas that are preserved to allow natural processes to unfold, with no active management—lie at the heart of this integrated conservation agenda.
- Wildlands in New England is the first regional study to map and describe all known Wildlands. New England, with about 40 million acres of land, is 81 percent forested, but only 3.3 percent of the region (1.32 million acres) are Wildlands. These Wildlands comprise 426 individual municipal, state, federal, and private properties. Although the pace of Wildland conservation has increased in recent decades, the total area protected remains far below the Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities (WWF&C) goal of at least 10 percent of the region.
- This report provides a baseline, and a way forward, for policy makers, conservation organizations, landowners, and every community seeking to conserve more Wildlands.
- Related Items:
- Archives Location: Middle Room, stack 31, drawer 2
- Access: Active