Highstead Regional Conservation - What's New

Conservation > What's New

Would establishing a "wildlands and woodlands" vision like the one instituted in Massachusetts be beneficial for Connecticut?

Bill Labich, Highstead's Regional Conservationist, helped attendees of a one-day symposium, "The Future of Connecticut's Forests," consider just this question. The forest-focused event was sponsored by the Yale Chapter of the Society of American Foresters, in collaboration with the Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry and the Yale School Forests. Bill provided a summary of the Wildlands and Woodlands vision and provided examples of how it is being implemented in and outside of Massachusetts. Bill also engaged the audience in an exercise that helped participants recognize the role that awaits them as the stewards of Connecticut's forests.

View Bill Labich's presentation "The Future of Connecticut's Forest"

Highstead's Regional Conservation Program

Highstead's Regional Conservation Program strengthens the capacity of emerging and developing conservation collaborations to better sustain woodlands across southern New England and in ways that are applicable to the Northeast as a whole. What we do changes year to year based on the needs of an expanding network of partners and collaborators. Come here regularly to learn about Highstead's new and exciting conservation initiatives.

Highstead's Conservation Research Assistants Aid Regional Partnerships

Eva Weyers and Emily Silver, recent graduates from Allegheny College and Brandeis University, respectively, are working in collaboration with our partners to support regional partnerships and other conservation efforts throughout southern New England. Learn more about the projects they have been working on:

Updating Protected Lands Maps for the Mass-Conn Sustainable Forest Partnership

Working with local conservation groups and town governments, as well as other staff from Highstead and Harvard Forest, Eva Weyers and Emily Silver are updating protected open space information for towns along the Massachusetts-Connecticut border. The towns were identified by members of the Mass-Conn Sustainable Forest Partnership as being most in need of attention. Using digital photographs of town assessor's maps and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software, they are able to add newly protected parcels of land to the existing protected open space data layer. This provides a more complete view of protected land in the region, allowing local conservation groups and land trusts to make informed decisions for future conservation efforts. Having already mapped the towns of Stafford, Ellington, and Somers, Connecticut, and Holland and Wales, Massachusetts, Eva and Emily have begun working on updating the map for Brookfield, Massachusetts.

Mapping Intact Forest Blocks for the Western Fairfield County (WFC) Regional Conservation Partnership

Highstead is a member of an emerging regional conservation partnership in Western Fairfield County (Redding, Ridgefield, Bethel, Newtown, and Danbury). In collaboration with other members, Highstead is conducting a study of woodland and associated recreational resources in the region. The goals of this study are to provide support materials to the WFC Partnership and to gather information about the woodland resources surrounding Highstead. The WFC Partnership wants to understand what forestland resources we have and assess their value. In order to display this information, Highstead's interns, Emily and Eva, collected data on forest cover and used ArcGIS to render a map showing intact forest blocks. In addition, they will be looking at hiking trail connectivity, specific forest types, and other indices of woodland value.

Comparing Conventional Subdivisions with Natural Resource Protection Zoning development for the North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership

The North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership wants to promote the use of zoning measures in combination with land conservation to its 26 member communities. The North Quabbin region is rich in forest resources and due to its particular land use and conservation history still contains a large number of intact (not fragmented by roads or development)forest blocks (see map at right). One of the towns, Shutesbury, recently adopted a natural resource protection zoning measure that would help to protect from development 70% - 80% of the original parcel while allowing dwellings to be clustered on smaller lots.

Before moving forward with outreach efforts, the Partnership wants to better understand the ecological values associated with natural resource protection zoning. This project will assess the ecological values of two build-out scenarios using 1) the aforementioned bylaw and 2) large lot zoning and conventional subdivision design. The methodology for the study is still being developed but may include using landscapes that are already built-out with conventional subdivisions and then re-imaging the areas using the natural resource protection zoning. An assessment of each scenario's ecological values will be made based on a set of metrics including the size and distribution of intact forest blocks, relative proximity to other forest blocks, and the ratio of edge length to core forest area.

Discovering ways to engage young adults in land conservation activities in support of the Wildlands and Woodlands Partnership

Conservationists have long recognized a lack of participation in natural resource management and land conservation initiatives by young adults (e.g. 20-34 year olds). This project will research the involvement of this cohort in environmental initiatives. In particular, it will seek to identify best practices for reaching and engaging young adults. Common hurdles to participation will also be addressed. Emily Silver and Eva Weyers will be inviting recent college graduates to participate in an on-line survey on this topic. The overall objective of the study is to develop a strategy for engaging this demographic in land conservation initiatives like Wildlands and Woodlands (W&W) and to provide a framework for other organizations to take similar action. The final product will be a report covering past literature on the topic, areas of future study, and strategies for youth engagement in land conservation issues.

Creating a database of regional conservation partnerships in the Northeast: attributes of success and lessons learned

In an effort to promote cooperation and collaboration between conservation groups, Highstead is working on creating a searchable database of regional conservation partnerships in the Northeast. These partnerships are often long-term, informal collaborations of conservation groups, towns, and landowners that work together to protect land and encourage more private lands stewardship within a region. Through contact with conservation groups in every state, as well as internet research, Highstead is working to identify those partnerships already in existence. Partnership contacts will be invited to take an on-line survey linked to a database. The database will include the organizations' goals, achievements, areas they are working to protect, how they are reaching out to landowners, etc. It is hoped that by accurately documenting and describing these types of partnerships, Highstead will be able to foster future cooperation amongst other conservation groups.

It is hoped that by accurately documenting and describing these types of partnerships, we can foster future cooperation amongst other conservation groups. Either by providing examples of the successes involved with collaboration, or by exposing groups to partnerships they could become involved in, the database has the potential to further teamwork in the region. The long-term goal is to expand the database to a national scale, to provide a more complete view of the opportunities afforded by collaboration.

Highstead Contributes to Expanding the Wildlands and Woodlands Vision

Highstead's Board Chair, David R. Foster, who is also the Director of Harvard Forest and co-author of the Wildlands and Woodlands Vision report, and Highstead's Regional Conservationist, Bill Labich, together authored the chapter, A Wildland and Woodland Vision for the New England Landscape: Local Conservation, Biodiversity and the Global Environment in, Saving Biological Diversity Balancing Protection of Endangered Species and Ecosystems, 2008, editors Robert A. Askins et. al. The chapter expands the Wildlands and Woodlands vision geographically to beyond Massachusetts' boundaries. It also establishes Wildlands and Woodlands as both a context and a set of strategies for local community preservation. The chapter outlines the role temperate forests play in carbon sequestration and demonstrates that the implementation of bold forest conservation visions like Wildlands and Woodlands is of global environmental importance.

Western Fairfield County Regional Conservation Partnership

Highstead is a member of an emerging regional conservation partnership that is located in Western Fairfield County, CT. The partnership has met twice so far. Out of these two meetings has come a greater understanding of the members' activities, interests, issues, and goals. The members of the Western Fairfield County Regional Conservation Partnership include the following organizations:

CT Forest Symposium

Highstead Interns

Eva Weyers and Emily Silvers, Highstead's Regional Conservation Research Assistants (Fall 2008)

Updated map of Open Space in Somers Connecticut

Updated Protected Lands Map for Somers, Connecticut
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Western Fairfield county map

A Woodland Study Map of Intact Forest Blocks for the Western Fairfield County Regional Conservation Partnership
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Intact open space

Intact Forest Blocks by Size Class in the Region of the North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership by Brian Hall, Harvard Forest
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Interns giving tour