A version of this press release first appeared as “Orwell land to remain forever wild” in The Addison Independent on March 12, 2026.

MONTPELIER—Northeast Wilderness Trust, a Montpelier-based regional land trust that focuses on wilderness conservation, announced today that the organization has conserved 135 acres in Orwell in Vermont’s Champlain Valley. The landowner, Pat Stevenson, donated her property to Northeast Wilderness Trust to achieve her long-held goal of ensuring the land is never developed and remains a refuge for the species and uncommon natural communities close to her heart.

“It is always a privilege to work with individuals like Pat who care so deeply for their land and its wild future,” said Jon Leibowitz, President and CEO of Northeast Wilderness Trust. “Willing landowners like her are an indispensable part of private land conservation, and land trusts are particularly well positioned to help them fulfill their aspirations. We are honored to help Pat permanently protect this special place as forever-wild for the plants and animals she loves so dearly.”

The Sanctuary’s soils and proximity to Lake Champlain have given rise to natural communities uncommon in Vermont. Along ridges running north to south over the property are forests where oak and hickory predominate. These ecosystems produce a bounty of food for wildlife in the form of nuts, or “mast.” Dotting the forest floor are vernal pools and wetlands that have earned the property multiple “Highest Priority” conservation designations from the state.

But perhaps the most notable landscape element of the future Sanctuary is the trees from which it gets its name. The property was mostly pastureland as recently as the early twentieth century. Old field trees, which today dwarf the younger trees that surround them, likely seeded the property’s forests. These were formerly referred to as “wolf trees” because they were believed to devour sunlight and nutrients at the expense of the saplings around them. Forest ecology, however, has disproven this predatory conception of tree interactions and interrelationships, and the Sanctuary’s name highlights as a positive what was once considered a negative.

These magnificent trees are Stevenson’s favorite part of the property. She and hiking buddies have even named a handful of the giants—“Thor” and “Alice” are familiar leafy friends—during their walks on the Sanctuary. Their majesty summons the sense of wonder and fondness for the natural world Stevenson has had since her youth, when observing wild Nature eased her nerves.

In those early years of Stevenson’s life, one teaching from her father stuck with her. During stays at a family lakeside cabin, Stevenson spent days on end studying everything from amphibians to birds. “Everything I saw I’d say, ‘Look at that!’ and want to interact with it. But my father would say, ‘Don’t touch it. It’s just trying to live its own life,’” she recalled. “Since then, I’ve always wanted to donate land for the animals and birds and all the life that lives on it.”

With forever-wild protection, Stevenson’s hopes have become reality. The combination of ownership by Northeast Wilderness Trust and a conservation easement to be held by another organization ensure that Wolf Tree Wilderness Sanctuary will always be a place where natural processes reign—giving a small-but-mighty boost to the just 3.7 percent of Vermont that qualifies as “wildlands.” Projects such as this push the state closer to its Vermont Conservation Design target of 9 percent of forests managed for old-growth conditions, with forever-wild conservation a proven way to get there.

For Stevenson, this outcome is the legacy of which she has always dreamed. “It’s something I have to do in my life. To just give the land a chance.”