Four State Forest - The Conservation Fund

The Northern Forest rises from the Tug Hill Plateau in central New York and stretches across Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and into Canada. This expanse of forest provides timber and forest products, open space, critical habitat and connectivity for free-ranging mammals such as the threatened Canada lynx, and public access for diverse recreational activities. The Northern Forest is in transition. During the last 20 years, large industrial ownerships have divested, and lands have been subdivided and sold off into increasingly smaller parcels—many for development. To address this trend, in 2014, The Conservation Fund implemented our Working Forest Fund model to acquire 30,000 acres in multiple parcels in all four states. A majority of the lands complement conserved areas. This will provide the time and opportunity for permanent conservation outcomes. We need your help: The Conservation Fund is actively fundraising to raise private dollars as vital match to public dollars to permanently protect these lands.

FOUR STATES, ONE GOAL

Protecting the Montague Tract in New York has helped complete a 15,000-acre core of conserved lands owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy. This 707-acre property builds connectivity to secure this large, interior forest block for wildlife, water quality and the local economy. Further east near Adirondack Park, the 1,400-acre Fort Ann tract is a piece in the mosaic of conserved forests in the Southern Lake Champlain Valley at the New York-to-Vermont habitat “bridge” of the Northern Forest. Combining opportunities for sustainable forestry and public recreation, we’re ensuring its long-term economic and ecological integrity.

In Vermont, we’ve acquired 7,800 acres of the Northfield Ridge in central Vermont, critical headwaters for the Connecticut River. Further south, building on the Windham Region Working Forest Project, the Fund added 1,170 acres, joining with other private landowners protecting 8,250 acres of well managed woodlands that provide critical habitat for many rare and endangered species. Following a strategic plan to protect the most threatened lands first, the initial phases of the project will strengthen connections from the Green Mountain National Forest to the Connecticut River Valley in a conserved landscape.

In New Hampshire, the Fund purchased land within the Beebe River watershed adjacent to over 700,000 acres of protected land in the White Mountain National Forest. The Beebe River’s exceptional water quality is spawning wild Brook trout in its tributaries. The Fund is working with Trout Unlimited to enhance the aquatic habitat. This ecologically-unique mix of boreal and northern hardwood forests hosts black bear and the State threatened American marten. In partnership with the Squam Lakes Conservation Society, the Fund will seek funding to place the Beebe River land and adjoining properties under conservation easement. The Fund will sustainably manage the property until it can be permanently protected as working forest.

The Fund acquired the largest unprotected parcel around Maine’s Umbagog Lake and the Trout Unlimited. This 4,091-acre expanse of wetlands and uplands provides important nesting and brood-rearing habitat for waterfowl and migratory birds. It also expands the buffer along the popular Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Camping, hiking, paddling, fishing, wildlife viewing and snowmobiling are key economic drivers in a region diversifying its resource-based economy with recreational tourism.

WHY THIS PROJECT MATTERS

We are working to protect these forestlands from further fragmentation and conversion for development. Keeping these forests intact, sustainably managed, and publicly accessible will provide economic stability for the region’s forest, tourism and nature-based industries. Our goal is to secure funding to purchase these tracts, place them under permanent conservation easements that support continued management and protect the natural resources.

Lake Umbagog. Photo by Brian Dangler, The Conservation Fund.

AT A GLANCE

Four State Forest contributes to the local economy by supporting 116 jobs annually
Protects 30,230 acres of land open for public recreation
Conserves habitat for moose, black bear, brook trout and migratory birds
Protects 1.9 miles of shoreline, 82 miles of streams and 525 acres of wetlands

PROJECT EXPERTS

Brian Dangler
Senior Vice President, Working Forest Fund

PROJECT PROGRAMS

Working Forest Fund