The distinctive landscape of New England is a testament to the resilience of the land and the conservation ethic of its people. This history has made New England the most forested region in the country (33 million forested acres out of 42 million total acres) and, in its southern reaches, one of the most densely populated (Figure 2). Preserving and maintaining farmland is important to achieving the Wildlands and Woodlands vision and a sustainable future for New England.
MODERN THREATS TO THE NEW ENGLAND LANDSCAPE
In northern New England, the changes are both environmental and economic: for example, plant species are moving up in elevation as temperatures rise and the timing and length of the maple syrup season are changing (Beckage et al. 2008). From the point of view of timber production, many small private plots and large forest areas in the south fall well below their productive potential (DAmato et al. 2010). And despite the regulations, there has been much "liquidation" harvesting in which plots are bought, cleared for timber, and divided into poorly planned subdivisions (Lilieholm et al. 2010).
All six New England states are expected to experience dramatic forest loss over the next twenty years. Largely by accident, human actions have introduced pests, pathogens, and plants that transform many forests (Foster and Aber 2004, Ellison et al. 2005, Orwig et al. 2008). Invasive species have wiped out the chestnut as a well-known tree, decimated beech and elm populations, and now threaten hemlock, ash, and other hardwoods throughout their range (Dukes et al. 2009).
GOAL: Permanently preserve 70% of the New England landscape in forests that will benefit present and future generations. The specific values of New England forests are many and depend on their geography, context, and use.
THE VALUE OF MANAGED WOODLANDS
DESIGNING A WOODLANDS NETWORK IN NEW ENGLAND
The Woodlands vision recognizes that this can be achieved through careful and sustainable approaches across the spectrum of management intensity. Allowing for a wide variety of management approaches underscores the need for active forest management throughout the New England forest. This should be the goal of all New England cities to create vibrant communities and reduce development pressure on surrounding forests.
The future of forest management in New England will not follow past or current trends (Ireland 2004). It is also likely that the contribution of forests to society's water needs will become a priority in the future; as the planet copes with climate change, New England may become increasingly important as an area of abundant water supplies (NHDES 2000, MDEH 2006). Careful management of the region's forests, informed by new science (North and Keeton 2008), will aid efforts to maintain ecosystem and regional resilience, along with economic opportunity, in the face of these large-scale changes.
These lands will make up 10% of protected forests, or 7% of the New England landscape under the Wildlands and Woodlands vision. Today, that figure is reversed: among the many young and mature forests, approximately 53,000 acres of old-growth forests are spread over perhaps 100 sites—comprising less than 0.2% of New England's forests (Davis 2008).
THE VALUE OF WILDLANDS RESERVES
Data can be contributed to the W&W Stewardship Science website, which will archive and share the results. Highstead, Redding Land Trust, Town of Redding, The Nature Conservancy and private landowners in a heavily wooded but highly suburbanized landscape of woods, fields and golf courses. Harvard University, The Trustees of Reservations, Massachusetts Audubon Society, Town of Petersham, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and private landowners adjacent to Quabbin Reservoir.
Smithsonian Institution, Polly Hill Arboretum, The Nature Conservancy, the Francis Newhall Woods Nature and Wildlife Preserve and private landowners. In a heavily forested part of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, the Vermont Land Trust, the State of Vermont, and a private landowner border the Groton State Forest. The Northeast Wilderness Trust with private landowners in a heavily forested landscape of Woodlands and Wildlands.
The Maine Forest Society, the State of Maine, and private forest owners in a landscape of extensive forests and few wilderness areas. A growing number of organizations, agencies and landowners are part of the Wildlands and Woodlands Stewardship Science Network, which documents forest dynamics across a wide range of stand types, management regimes and ownership.
DESIGNING A WILDLANDS NETWORK IN NEW ENGLAND
Management of existing infrastructure and use will need to be carefully evaluated in the context of current recreational access (eg, foot, motorized and non-motorized boats, horseback riding, bicycles, ATVs, snowmobiles, and automobiles). New England has a long history of supporting wild forests in its humanized landscape and allowing natural and cultural features. Henry David Thoreau is perhaps best known for such a view, as he enjoyed pastoral life in Concord, Massachusetts, while also seeing in it a native beauty that led to his declaration that "in wilderness the preservation of the world is." Thoreau's fascination with the ability of trees and forests to reclaim the agrarian landscape led him to document the initial stages in the nineteenth-century reforestation of New England in "The Succession of Forest Trees" (Foster 1999).
Across New England, many organizations, including the New England Forestry Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, actively protect managed forests adjacent to reserves. Meanwhile, New England's vast federal wilderness areas, covering more than 100,000 acres in the White and Green Mountains alone, bear many reminders of their intense human use and abuse, including the high rating. Across New England lie countless ancient woodlands that have been cut, burned, and grazed by their colonial past, but today show little evidence of these impacts to even the careful eye (Foster et al. 1996).
In creating new wild places in today's landscape, we seek to incorporate, understand and embrace, rather than deny, this history of the land. Seen in the context of large civil works projects, the accompanying investment in green forest infrastructure has many benefits.
WOODLAND COUNCILS AND REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
The Wildlands and Woodlands Partnership is a growing network of over 60 organizations sharing information, coordinating activities and collaborating where interests overlap to advance the Wildlands and Woodlands vision. The partnership's membership has doubled over the past two years as the group moves from discussing a vision to implementing it. It serves as a network and catalytic coalition with flexible leadership, member-led activities, and a horizontal structure in which all partners have equal standing.
THINKING BIG: CONSERVATION MODELS FOR WILDLANDS AND WOODLANDS
New England's conservation landscape is marked by many significant areas that demonstrate the important role that large-scale conservation has played in the region and may continue to play in the future. In recent decades, large-scale forest conservation has continued—particularly in the northern region of New England. The significant holdings in the north have provided great opportunities for large-scale conservation, such as the 750,000-acre Pingree project promoted by the New England Forestry Foundation.
These include the Blue Ribbon Commission of the New England Conference of Governors (Barringer et al. 2009) and a special statutory study commission on forest conservation funding. The ideas outlined here and the examples provided in Table 1 are intended to build on and contribute to these efforts by highlighting some of the emerging opportunities in conservation financing in New England. While many federal funding programs exist, there remains a backlog of several hundred million dollars in unmet conservation funding needs in the six New England states alone (McClntosh 2009).
The institution of soft banking rules in all six New England states could provide valuable sources of potential income for landowners. Continued attention must be paid to evaluating and refining conservation easements to ensure that they meet growing public expectations and demands and that they remain a vital tool for preserving New England's forests and farmland.
POLICY AND PLANNING APPROACHES TO WILDLANDS AND WOODLANDS
A New England that remains four-fifths covered by forests, farms, and nested aquatic ecosystems is an achievable vision that resonates with the region's history of bold conservation thinking. Declaring that such a future is desirable and taking deliberate steps to achieve it will make New England a national leader in conservation. Support improved current-use property tax programs that provide annual tax breaks to private owners in exchange for maintaining land in forests, farms, and open spaces.
Expand existing large-scale, cross-border efforts to collaborate on Wildlands and Woodlands pilot projects. FROM VISION TO ACTION The historic regreening of New England offers the opportunity to retain much of the landscape in forest, while simultaneously ensuring the protection and long-term viability of the region's remaining farmland, achieving more carefully planned, sustainable development, and regeneration of cities and towns. Today and in the future, these actions will provide vital economic, human and environmental benefits for the region.
Even with a doubling in development and 70% of the land in forests and wetlands, 10% may remain as farms and other open spaces. With Wildlands and Woodlands, we seek to honor and promote the efforts of the individuals, organizations and agencies whose legacies define our existing conservation landscape, and whose continued energy is crucial to the conservation of the natural infrastructure upon which our future and all human endeavor depend depend.
History and importance of land use and conservation in the North Quabbin region of Massachusetts. A research publication of the Program on Conservation Innovation at Harvard Forest, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Forest carbon storage in the northeastern United States: net effects of harvest frequency, postharvest retention, and wood products.
34;percent forest" is based on the natural land classification of the NLCD and includes: deciduous forest, mixed forest, evergreen forest, woody wetlands, open water, shrub/shrub, emergent herbaceous, wetland, grassland/herbaceous, arid land, shrubland , and estuarine wetland. Data from the Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Program, courtesy of William Munger and Steven Wofsy of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University. In addition, we acknowledge the remarkable support for the initial efforts of the W&W project provided by Elisabeth Dudley, Henry Dudley, Henry Foster, Carolyn Fine Friedman, Dick Goodwin, Perry Hagenstein, Ruskin Hartley, Wayne Klockner, Bill Labich, Kathy Fallon Lambert, Jim Levitt, Bill Libby George Lovejoy, Merloyd Ludington, Linda Mirabile, Glenn Motzkin, Keith Ross, Nancy Smith, Jim Sterba, Bob Sullivan, the Save the Redwood League.
Funding for this publication was provided by the Fine Family Foundation, Highstead, the Fields Pond Foundation, and many friends of Harvard Forest. The scientific background of the report is based largely on studies by the National Science Foundation-funded Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Program.
