This opinion piece by Jon Leibowitz, President and CEO of Northeast Wilderness Trust, first appeared as “Jonathan Leibowitz: The gift of freedom” in the New Hampshire Union Leader on March 16, 2026.

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Wallace Stegner wrote that wilderness doesn’t need to be visited to do its work — that simply knowing it exists “out there” offers a kind of spiritual reassurance, a reminder that the natural world operates beyond our daily concerns. But those who venture into wilderness can feel that reassurance up close and get the chance to carry back out another comfort: the knowledge that when land is granted the rare gift of freedom, wonders unfold for people and nature alike. A new wilderness area tucked into the hills of Orford offers exactly that chance.

Spruce Ridge Wilderness Preserve, purchased last year by Northeast Wilderness Trust, a regional land trust focused on wilderness conservation, is 2,000 acres in the Upper Valley. The property features vast forests, cold, clear streams, and a high-elevation pond all within a state-designated Prioritized Habitat Block. The preserve borders the Appalachian Trail to the east, other conservation land, and is not far from White Mountain National Forest.

Spruce Ridge is a “wildland,” a place where logging is permanently prohibited, and natural processes guide the ebb and flow of life. In other words, the land is free. Wildlands store and sequester abundant carbon and create niche habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. Wild, unlogged forests mature naturally, reducing flooding in nearby communities and likewise serving as important baselines for land managers. Yet, despite these many benefits, such places are exceedingly rare in New Hampshire. They make up just about 4% of the Granite State, with three-quarters of that clustered in the White Mountain National Forest. Wildlands are an essential complement to managed forests and farms.

Northeast Wilderness Trust purchased Spruce Ridge last year. We acquired the land from a willing seller and were mindful to consult extensively with the Orford Conservation Commission, neighbors, and other groups like the local snowmobile club. These collaborations were meant to ensure that management of the preserve would strike a balance between honoring traditional uses and prioritizing the needs of its four-legged, feathered, finned, and rooted residents.

The preserve’s preexisting network of hiking trails that connect to the Appalachian Trail, as well as a beloved snowmobile trail, remain open to the public, while a proposed loop footpath will create new opportunities to witness a recovering landscape and learn about wilderness.
At Spruce Ridge, visitors can take a break from the hustle and bustle and be reminded of our connection to something much larger than ourselves — the dynamic interplay of timeless forces that produce the clean air, clean water, and livable climate on which we and our nonhuman neighbors depend.

Spruce Ridge Wilderness Preserve will provide this shared bounty forever. When Northeast Wilderness Trust buys land, we make a “forever-wild” promise. We add a second layer of permanent legal protection in the form of a conservation easement to be held by another local organization, ensuring our commitment to freedom is durable. Another way of putting it: Spruce Ridge is a future old-growth forest in the heart of the Upper Valley. That is the awesome power of legally protected wilderness.

Places like Spruce Ridge illuminate what is possible when conservation is guided by a commitment to freedom and grounded in local relationships. Wilderness safeguarded this way secures more than ecological resilience, wildlife habitat, and recreation. It offers what Stegner described: the quiet, confident knowledge that something enduring remains “out there.”