Northeast Wilderness Trust Surpasses 100,000 Forever-Wild Acres Conserved

Organization Celebrates Landmark Achievement in Rewilding and Land Conservation Across the Northeast

MONTPELIER, VT —Northeast Wilderness Trust, the only regional land trust dedicated exclusively to wilderness conservation in New England and northern New York, has reached a major milestone: more than 100,000 acres of land permanently protected.

This achievement represents more than two Acadia National Parks’ worth of forests, lakes, and rivers where Nature can thrive in freedom. These “wildlands”—stretching from the Berkshires of northwestern Connecticut to the North Woods of Maine—are now safeguarded as places where ecosystems can flourish, wildlife can roam, and future generations can experience the power and solace of wilderness. The Trust’s more passive management approach, known as “rewilding,” sets the stage for missing species to return and natural processes to guide the ebb and flow of life, as has happened for millions of years. Human visitors can enjoy quiet, non-motorized recreation, witnessing firsthand the community of life in untrammeled beauty.

“This milestone is less a triumph for Northeast Wilderness Trust than it is for the four-legged, the finned, the feathered, and the rooted, whose homes we work to preserve,” said Jon Leibowitz, President and CEO of Northeast Wilderness Trust. “Every single acre—from recovering forests in northern New York to the tidal streams of coastal Maine—is a permanent step toward a healthier, more resilient future. Most hopeful of all, each acre protected as wilderness today is an old-growth forest of tomorrow in a region where such forests are vanishingly rare.”

map of the Northeast showing the Northeast Wilderness Trust protected areas

A Growing Recognition of the Value of Wilderness

Wilderness has long been a neglected conservation element in the Northeast. Whereas approximately 25 percent of the region has been conserved in some form, the lion’s share of that conserved land is managed or farmed, while only about 3.5 percent is protected as wilderness. The consequences of this disparity have become more pronounced in recent years, as a growing body of research has confirmed that wildlands store immense amounts of carbon and boost both biodiversity and human well-being. Luckily, stakeholders in the private and public sectors are now taking initial steps to elevate wilderness and rewilding in conservation strategies. The Wilderness Trust’s own history mirrors this evolution, with remarkable growth over the past seven years: expanding from a staff of three to 24 across four states and increasing its protected land by 75,000 forever-wild acres.

Key projects that brought the Wilderness Trust over the 100,000-acre threshold include College Hill Wilderness Sanctuary in southern Vermont, which conserves hundreds of acres of forest unlogged since the 1940s, and Birch Stream Wilderness Preserve in central Maine, which protects rare aquatic natural communities. These new wilderness areas join iconic ones in the Wilderness Trust’s holdings, such as Woodbury Mountain Wilderness Preserve, the largest nongovernmental wilderness area in the state of Vermont, and Muddy Pond Wilderness Preserve, a remnant of the globally rare Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens ecosystem nestled in the densely populated suburbs of southeastern Massachusetts.

A focus of the Wilderness Trust’s efforts is the buffer zone of the Appalachian Trail. Because the Trail itself is protected from logging and development by the U.S. National Park Service, it is not only a famed recreational fixture of the eastern United States but also a continuous ribbon of wildlands and a crucial wildlife corridor stretching from Georgia to Maine. Over the past seven years, the Wilderness Trust has enhanced the wilderness character of the New England stretch of the Trail by protecting more than 16,000 acres adjacent to it—including its most recent conservation success, the 2,000-acre Spruce Ridge Wilderness Preserve in Orford, New Hampshire, which also brought the Wilderness Trust over the 100,000-acre threshold.

Partnerships with other conservation organizations have been central to the Wilderness Trust’s 100,000-acre milestone. Forever-wild conservation easements held by the Wilderness Trust on major wildlands such as the 10,000-acre Vickie Bunnell Preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire, and on roughly 800 acres in northwestern Connecticut owned by Cornwall Conservation Trust, represent nearly 45 percent of the organization’s protected lands. Building on this legacy of collaboration, the Wilderness Trust in 2021 launched the Wildlands Partnership grant program. The Partnership mainstreams wilderness conservation and rewilding by awarding technical and financial support to partner land trusts that safeguard more of their lands as forever-wild. To date, more than 15,000 of the Wilderness Trust’s 100,000 protected acres have been conserved through the Partnership.

Collectively, more than 100 uncommon, threatened, or endangered species have been documented on Wilderness Trust lands. Many of these species find ample habitat among the 16,000 acres of wetlands and 300 miles of rivers and streams included in the 100,000-acre total. Over 9 million metric tonnes of carbon—and counting—have been removed from the atmosphere by lands under Wilderness Trust ownership.

Applying Time-Honored Methods to Wilderness Conservation

The Wilderness Trust’s success highlights the progress possible when the land-trust model—first pioneered right here in New England over a century ago—is applied to wilderness conservation. Unlike much of the western United States, where the federal government owns and stewards most wilderness, about 80 percent of the Northeast is in private hands. Land trusts, private organizations that buy land and conserve it for public use, are thus key actors in the region’s conservation landscape. A majority of land trusts protect land primarily for human uses, especially recreation, food production, and forest products. These uses are essential, but Northeast Wilderness Trust is demonstrating how land trusts can also effectively advance wilderness protection as a complementary outcome.

Environmental leaders hailed the accomplishment as a leap forward for conservation in the region.

Bill McKibben, Co-Founder of 350.org and Third Act and author of Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization, said:

“100,000 acres! Those of us who love the mountains and forests of the Northeast can’t express our gratitude enough—I’d wager that today there are even moose raising their racks in appreciation, and mighty white pines bowing just a bit in thanks. There’s no better gift you could have given us all”

Kristine Tompkins, Co-Founder and President of Tompkins Conservation, added:

“I am proud to see Northeast Wilderness Trust creating forever-wild forests and setting the stage for the return of native species like wolves and cougars. As we face the dire consequences of a world out of balance, these tangible actions remind each one of us that collective action is the only way forward to a more beautiful and resilient future.”

Looking forward, the Wilderness Trust’s new Strategic Plan sets an ambitious goal: a total of 160,000 forever-wild acres conserved by 2030. Among the organization’s active projects are the 11,200-acre Magalloway Wilderness Preserve in western Maine, part of a 78,000-acre collaborative effort with Forest Society of Maine, Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, and The Nature Conservancy, and Journey’s End Wilderness Preserve abutting the Long Trail in northern Vermont.

What others are saying…

Mark Anderson, Director of Conservation Science, The Nature Conservancy:

“A hundred thousand acres of wild land, managed by the inhabitants. This is what we need! Enough space for ten thousand trees, thousands of thrush and woodpecker families, miles of trout-filled streams, hundreds of pairs of owls and martens, and homes for lynx and fisher. I hope next year’s kits take Northeast Wilderness Trust’s accomplishments for granted—but I sure don’t. Well done!”

Karin Tilberg, author of Loving the North Woods: 25 Years of Historic Conservation in Maine and former President and CEO, Forest Society of Maine:

“I congratulate Northeast Wilderness Trust on the significant milestone of 100,000 acres of wildlands conserved. Wildlands are an essential component of diverse, resilient forest ecosystems and complement managed forests in the region. Their conservation requires a focused effort, Northeast Wilderness Trust has brought that determination to this important goal.”

Photography: Jerry Monkman and Stephen Matter