Forest Conservation: A Reality

Local Efforts

In recent years , Harvard Forest has undertaken more active conservation planning by working with local organizations, regional entities, state agencies and national organizations to promote forest protection. Just in the past year , with help from friends of the Harvard Forest, we invested effort to protect land bordering the Harvard Forest from development and have partnered with local organizations to submit a $3.82 million proposal to the US Forest SErvice to protect over 2000 acres of land in central MA. Read More about Wilson Project.

State wide Efforts

In 2004, we initiated a project calling for new, broad-scale thinking and action in the conservation of forest landscapes. This vision will be articulated in the next Harvard Forest Paper: Wildlands and Woodlands - A Thirty Year Vision for the Forests of Massachusetts. It will be published in March 2005 and we are seeking assistance in funding the publication, distribution and application of this vision.

"We propose a regional program of forest conservation that is based on a simple design from conservation biology, but that extends this thinking in important new ways. This design features a series of large forest reserves in which natural processes dominate and human impact is minimized (Wildlands), embedded within expansive forestland that is protected from development but managed in an ecologically sustainable manner for diverse values and products (Woodlands)."

From: Wildlands and Woodlands, the next Harvard Forest Paper

Read More about Wildlands and Woodlands.

Martha's Vineyard Efforts

We have already demonstrated measurable success influencing conservation and management policy, albeit on a much smaller scale, through our 1999 paper "Historical Influences on the Landscape of Martha's Vineyard: Perspectives on the Management of the Manuel F. Correllus Sate Forest." Tom Dunlop of the Vineyard Gazette has written several articles referring to the above effort. Read more about Martha's Vineyard Conservation.