A Land Conservation “Titan” on Working with Northeast Wilderness Trust

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Shelley Harms has been described as “an invaluable titan of land conservation” in northwestern Connecticut. She volunteers on the board of her local land trust, served as executive director of Cornwall Conservation Trust and Salisbury Association Land Trust, and received the Connecticut Land Conservation Council’s Conservation Hero Award in 2022, along with helping other land trusts secure millions of dollars in grant funding for land conservation.

In addition to these wide-ranging contributions to wild places in her corner of the Northeast, Harms has also been a reliable and dedicated partner to Northeast Wilderness Trust (NEWT) through its Wildlands Partnership program. The Partnership, which provides local land trusts with financial and technical assistance to protect more of their lands as forever-wild, has facilitated the conservation of more than 15,000 acres since its creation in 2020—a key part of to NEWT’s recent 100,000-acre milestone. Harms has played a role in the protection of more than 2,000 acres of the nearly 2,900 in Connecticut safeguarded through the Partnership. Last year, she and NEWT President and CEO Jon Leibowitz also teamed up to write an editorial for the Hartford Courant about the benefits of private wilderness conservation.

Given this robust relationship with the organization, Harms was asked to reflect on her years of working NEWT and on what 100,000 forever-wild acres means for land conservation and wild Nature in her verdant neck of the woods.

Harms on a cross-country skiing trip near Norfolk Land Trust and NEWT’s South Norfolk Wildlands conservation easement in Litchfield County, Connecticut.

How did you first start working with Northeast Wilderness Trust?

I first learned about Northeast Wilderness Trust when I attended a presentation your staff gave at the annual Land Trust Alliance Rally. The summary of the landscape-level forever-wild conservation you all are doing was really inspiring, so I started following your work. In 2020, I jumped at the chance to collaborate when the opportunity arose to conserve forever-wild land here in northwestern Connecticut through the Wildlands Partnership.

How has the Wildlands Partnership facilitated more land conservation in your area?

The Wildlands Partnership is a phenomenal program. Land trust ownership of a particular property doesn’t ensure that it won’t be sold or developed in the future. Putting land under a conservation easement enhances its durability by adding a second layer of legal protection. But it’s hard to find other land trusts willing to hold a conservation easement! The Wildlands Partnership program solves that problem, and above and beyond that, ensures forever-wild protection. Plus, the Partnership provides funding that can support additional land acquisitions.

Do you think the Wildlands Partnership addresses some of the challenges of forever-wild conservation in Connecticut and southern New England more broadly?

Yes. Southern New England has few wildlands compared to the northern half of the region, and the story is no different in Connecticut. [Just 0.8 percent of the state’s area qualifies as wildlands, according to Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities.] There’s a rich landscape of small land trusts here working to protect forests in their towns or counties, but parcel sizes tend to be smaller and land values are higher than up north. The Wildlands Partnership helps our land trusts surmount these challenges by offering them a reliable, experienced partner to hold easements and by bringing additional land purchases within budgetary reach with financial assistance.

Why is forever-wild conservation meaningful to you?

I love our state’s forests and wish we had more old-growth ecosystems with really big trees and healthy wildlife communities. I believe forever-wild conservation makes new old growth possible in Connecticut’s beautiful northwestern corner.

Do you have a favorite forever-wild property conserved via the Wildlands Partnership?

Yes. The South Norfolk Wildlands in Norfolk, which Norfolk Land Trust and NEWT teamed up to conserve through the Wildlands Partnership in 2024, is a block of 5 parcels that the Norfolk Land Trust acquired in segments over a 20-year period. The property is home to moose and black bear and wood frogs and warblers. I’m really happy that we and NEWT were able to bring this vibrant block of forest under forever-wild protection.