Pledge by Northeast Wilderness Trust
25,000 Acres by 2025
Total Trees Pledged: 4,653,636Supporting actions: Environmental Education, Conservation Finance,
Northeast Wilderness Trust's pledge, set forth as a conservation goal in their 2020-25 Strategic Plan, is to protect 25,000 acres of forestland across New England and New York by 2025. These lands will be conserved in perpetuity as wilderness, meaning they will never be logged, mined, farmed, or used for other commercial or extractive purposes. The forests and waters protected by 2025 will not only sequester and store vast amounts of carbon—they will also provide homes for wildlife, clean air and water, and beauty.
This pledge will be supported with the Wildlands Partnership, a program of Northeast Wilderness Trust implemented with support from SweetWater Trust, SIG Carbon, and Wildlands & Woodlands. Each conservation project may have various partners such as: conservation non-profits, state entities, philanthropic funders, local land trusts, and/or private landowners.
Acres: 25,000 / Trees: 4,653,636
Acres: 25,000 / Trees: 4,653,636
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION:
Northeast Wilderness Trust holds events and presentations to educate both public and professional audiences about the wide-ranging and often underrecognized benefits of wilderness. Their Massachusetts Ambassador Preserve, Muddy Pond Wilderness Preserve, welcomes school groups, camp groups, and volunteers to learn about wilderness values, the native ecosystem, and help with stewardship activities. The Wilderness Trust launched an internship program in 2021, geared at providing pathways into conservation careers for youth—specifically those underrepresented in wilderness and conservation fields. More information can be found here..
CONSERVATION FINANCE:
Northeast Wilderness Trust’s Wildlands Partnership and the Wild Carbon program have created a system for carbon credit revenue to support local land trusts in wilderness conservation.
Northeast Wilderness Trust uses a hands-off approach, allowing land to regenerate, rewild, and grow old. Old forests are powerful storehouses of carbon and continue to remove atmospheric carbon well into old age. Related research on these topics can be found here. Our long-term stewardship of these lands is supported by a Stewardship Endowment, and the organization's financial longevity supported by an Operating Endowment. Full financial statements may be viewed here. Our efforts to engage local communities includes our engagement work at Muddy Pond Wilderness Preserve and the implementation in 2021 & 2022 of Ambassador Preserve "Teams" comprised of local citizens who are interested in being caretakers and advocates for these wild places in connection and conversation with community interests and needs.
3,838,036