The Conservation Fund works to shelter Vermont’s most ecologically sensitive and diverse natural areas – protecting more than 190,000 acres since 1985. The Fund’s efforts to preserve the state’s working forests reflect its dedication to maintaining environmental and economic balance.
The forested mountains, fast-running rivers, and clear lakes of Brighton State Park offer a striking mix of conservation and recreation benefits. Working with The Nature Conservancy, Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, and Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, weacquired more than 450 acres to expand the park’s camping area and safeguard habitat for moose, deer, and bear.
The final piece in the 20,000-acre, 28-parcel Green Mountain Corridor was secured in 2006, with a 400-acre easement, thus completing a 12-year initiative led by the Fund with assistance from Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Freeman Foundation, Mt. Holly Conservation Trust, National Park Appalachian Trail Project, Ninevah Foundation, the State of Vermont, USDA Forest Service, Vermont Land Trust and many others.
Bears need an extensive, uninterrupted range for access to varied food sources, mates, and territories that young bears can claim as their own when they leave their mothers. The Green Mountain Bear Corridor project was citizen-initiated in 1993. With the challenges and complexities of protecting a checkerboard mix of state and private lands, we helped the initiative succeed by leading the partnership to secure safer passage for black bears through the Green Mountain range. Click here to learn more.
With support from Dorset Citizens for Responsible Growth and local community members, we secured 16 acres of forestland along the Green Mountain Corridor, which links the Green Mountain National Forest with Emerald Lake State Park. One of only two national forests in the Northeast, Green Mountain encompasses an impressive 375,000 acres of forested wilderness critical to the black bear.
In 1998 we worked with private, public and nonprofit partners to protect 300,000 acres of critical forestland in New York, New Hampshire and Vermont through a series of acquisitions, completing the largest multi-state conservation project in U.S. history.
As part of this project, with our partners we purchased approximately 133,000 acres from Champion International Corporation. Some 26,000 acres of the acquisition were used to create the Nulhegan Unit of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Located in Essex County, in the heart of the famed Northeast Kingdom, these lands contain the largest deer wintering areas in the state, miles of river frontage in the Nulhegan Basin and Paul Stream watersheds and many ecologically sensitive areas containing a variety of rare and threatened species of wildlife and plants.
Prior to this acquisition, the Nulhegan Basin was one of the most significant unprotected wetlands in northern New England. The refuge supports healthy populations of moose and provides an economic base to local communities that rely on tourists seeking recreation opportunities. The remainder of the larger 300,000 acres of forestlands were conserved for sustainable forestry or protected as wildlife habitat in refuges and state wildlife management areas.
At the Fund we help save wild havens: large, natural spaces for wildlife to be exactly that—wild. Your gift ensures that wildlife, like this bear cub, has the habitat it needs to thrive.
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We need green infrastructure to balance the gray. The term "green infrastructure" has been used to refer to everything from green roofs to more ecologically friendly stormwater management systems. But what is it really?
Powered by: Phase2 TechnologyThe Conservation Fund National Office
1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300
Arlington, Virginia 22209-2156
Phone: 703-525-6300
Fax: 703-525-4610
Email: postmaster@conservationfund.org
