The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report cited a paper co-authored by Highstead Senior Ecologist Ed Faison along with Tufts University Professor Emeritus Bill Moomaw and Trinity College Professor Susan Masino. In the 2019 paper, Moomaw, Masino, and Faison argued that protecting existing forests to grow intact without management was an important and underutilized strategy in the United States for mitigating climate change and helping to combat the biodiversity crisis. The authors coined the term “proforestation” to describe this process of continuous forest growth without management.
The IPCC, which consists of 195 member nations and is the international authority on assessing the science related to climate change, said the following in its report: “It is also the case that protection of existing natural forest ecosystems is the highest priority for reducing GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions (Moomaw et al. 2019).” The report also mentions the complementarity of proforestation with other ‘nature-based solutions’(NbS) when it states: “Protection of existing natural forests and sustainable management of semi-natural forests that continue to provide goods and services are highly effective NbS.”
Moomaw et al. (2019) drew on decades of peer-reviewed science on the carbon and structural benefits that occur in forests protected from management. For instance, a 1990 study from the Pacific Northwest and a 2010 paper from the Northeastern U.S. revealed that unmanaged forests store substantially more carbon than actively managed forests; this was true even when the carbon extracted from these forests and stored in harvested wood products was included in the calculation.
In addition to preserving large amounts of carbon, forests left to grow without management develop greater structural complexity over time and when compared to forests that are periodically managed. Complexity is reflected in attributes such as taller and larger diameter trees, large dead trees and downed logs, and a greater variation in tree height and diameter size classes. Structural complexity has been linked to several important ecological functions, including the ability of forests to sequester more carbon dioxide, provide more habitat for biodiversity, and adapt to increased disturbances from climate change.
Besides the IPCC report, a 2021 article in Global Change Biology that noted the importance of protecting existing forests to optimize carbon sequestration and biodiversity preservation cited the Moomaw et al. (2019) paper and included “proforestation” in a glossary of terms. Additionally, a 2022 article in the journal Science suggested, “Guidelines could more effectively promote biodiversity by recommending the use of the natural climate solutions hierarchy that prioritizes protection of intact ecosystems, and approaches that allow ecosystems to reach their full potential with minimal intervention (i.e. through ‘pro-forestation,’ (Moomaw et al. 2019).”
In short, the international scientific community recognizes that protecting more forests to grow naturally is an essential piece of the solution to mitigating climate change and promoting biodiversity, while complementing other natural or nature-based solutions.
Hundreds of volunteers have helped the Norwalk River Watershed Association (NRWA) and several partner organizations plant dozens of native trees, shrubs, and perennials to help restore 10 acres of urban watershed habitat in Norwalk and along the Norwalk River Valley Trail in Wilton. Along the way, they’ve learned about the benefits of plants and improved the quality of life and environment for urban neighborhoods.
Volunteers are working to remove invasives at the park and restore the native plantings as shown in the original park design. Photo Credit: Louise Washer
The NRWA worked with community and corporate volunteer groups to plant 30 native trees, as well as native shrubs and perennials, at each of two Norwalk parks, Woodward Avenue Park and Oyster Shell Park, says Louise Washer, president of the NRWA. A nearly $50,000 National Fish and Wildlife (NFWF) Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration program grant funded those 60 trees, as well as 18 trees that the city of Norwalk crews simultaneously planted along Woodward Avenue.
Volunteers from Melissa & Doug plant native fothergilla along the Norwalk River Valley Trail in Wilton. Photo Credit: Louise Washer
The Hudson to Housatonic (H2H) Regional Conservation Partnership (RCP) put together the collaborative grant proposal to NFWF on behalf of partners. Partners identified the areas of highest conservation value in the region through a strategic planning process several years earlier. They learned they needed to develop a plan that considered the value of conservation activities in human-dominated landscapes, which the former strategic planning was unable to capture. Partners from NRWA and the Norwalk Land Trust (NLT) stepped forward as interested stakeholders in piloting the process for the City of Norwalk. A year in development, the Norwalk Urban Conservation Mapping tool and guide were born. NRWA and NLT used this tool in applying for the NFWF grant to identify the areas in the city that would most benefit from restoration and tree planting.
“Habitat restoration through invasive plant removal and planting natives is the ultimate goal,” of the grant Washer says, but “you have to sugarcoat it with tree planting.” Washer made use of corporate team-building volunteer days that fulfilled multiple objectives. With a captive audience of volunteers drawn in by the chance to plant trees, leaders use the opportunity to educate people about invasive identification and removal, and why it matters, while also capitalizing on the free labor. The experience was so successful that RCP partners converted some of those one-day volunteers into regular helpers.
The ‘Weed Warrior’ volunteer team at Oyster Shell Park shows some student interns how to pull out invasive mugwort. Photo Credit: Louise Washer
“We always start these tree plantings with a workshop,” she says. Leaders show participants how to use the iNaturalist Seek app to identify invasives. At one park, a Norwalk Community College student – there because her environmental science professor offers extra credit – walked around the perimeter using the Seek app to identify the plants, and Washer observed the experience appeared to have lit a spark in the student.
One goal of the NFWF grant was to improve the tree canopy in underserved neighborhoods with little tree cover. Using the Urban Mapping tool, project partners identified a street in South Norwalk to focus their efforts. There was no space to plant trees between the sidewalk and the roads, Washer says, so NRWA volunteers, along with a city council member, walked door-to-door to ask property owners to allow the trees to be planted on their property. The city Public Works Department helped out by having staff dig the holes for the street trees ahead of time.
The grant also helped support ongoing NRWA projects to restore both parks. Teams of volunteers help with invasive removal, watering, and planting. At Oyster Shell Park, the volunteers call themselves the Weed Warriors and meet twice weekly all year. The volunteers work in formerly red-lined coastal neighborhoods that now face floods, urban heat island effects, and the most depleted tree canopy in southwest Connecticut. “Trees can go such a long way in providing habitat, cleaning water, and cooling the air,” Washer says.
Volunteers from FactSet drag away a load of mugwort removed from the gardens at Oyster Shell Park. Photo Credit: Louise Washer
“The grant definitely helped us form lasting relationships with these corporate groups. It was a combination of the end of the pandemic and our having the funding to buy 70 trees that made this all possible,” she says. Since 2017, the NRWA has planted 115 trees and about 400 shrubs combined at Woodward Avenue Park and Oyster Shell Park.
Beginning about five years ago, with a crew of community volunteers, they planted trees on the banks of the Norwalk River in an area formerly overrun by invasive Japanese knotweed, mugwort, and phragmites. Led by a woman who owns a landscaping company, volunteers working Wednesday and Saturday mornings have been chipping away at the invasives in an effort that “completely changed that park,” Washer says. Along the way, the volunteers became a community of people who meet for drinks and to celebrate birthdays.
“It’s making a difference in these two parks that you can see. When you’re there, with the community of people, it gives me the best feeling,” she says.
Volunteers learning how to plant a red cedar at Oyster Shell Park. Photo Credit: Louise Washer
The group included both retired and working people who became devoted in the long-term outcome of the area, she says. By including working people and college students rather than just retirees, the volunteer base was more diverse in terms of age and race than is typical, she says. “They have an investment in the bigger picture there, as opposed to just this one team-building event.”
The active group of volunteers has grown, and the volunteers have become more engaged. While habitat restoration is the primary goal, an added benefit that grows out of the initiative is educating the volunteers, Washer says. They’ve received native plant lists, Pollinator Pathway brochures, and fact sheets about how to bring more butterflies to their yards.
Project partners include the NRWA, Norwalk Land Trust, the City of Norwalk, H2H and Norwalk Pollinator Pathway partners, community volunteers, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, Copps Island Oysters, the Rowayton Library, Norwalk Tree Alliance, and the Norwalk Tree Advisory Committee.
While 81 percent of New England is covered in forest, only 3.3 percent is permanently preserved as wildlands, according to a new study that’s getting a lot of buzz. The report, Wildlands in New England: Past, Present, and Future, co-authored by Ed Faison, Highstead’s senior ecologist, appeared in a recent op-ed piece in The Hartford Courant. Wildlands are forests, wetlands, and other natural areas permanently protected from development and active management, where natural processes unfold with minimal human interference. They’re crucial to combatting climate change and biodiversity loss.
In this era of climate change, we often hear two terms related to the management of forests – mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation refers to increasing carbon sequestration in forests in order to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Adaptation refers to managing forests for structural complexity and species diversity in order to increase resistance to or resilience from disturbances (i.e., native and non-native insect outbreaks, fire, drought, and windstorms) that are becoming more frequent and intense with climate change. While the focus has been on promoting active management approaches for meeting these objectives, there are few empirical assessments of the outcome of managing less.
Wilderness area in the Adirondack Forest Preserve (New York)
In a new paper published in Forest Ecology and Management in July, Highstead senior ecologist Ed Faison and collaborators from Harvard Forest examined the mitigation and adaptation qualities of forests protected from cutting and shaped by natural processes (“wildlands”) in the Northeastern United States. Carbon storage was 20% higher in wildlands compared to environmentally similar forests in which harvesting and management were permitted, the authors found. Differences in carbon storage were especially high in the wildlands of New York (+32%) and Maine, (+34%) where the length of time as wildlands was long and where recent harvesting intensity was high in the surrounding unprotected forests.
Interestingly, the rate of carbon uptake did not differ between wildlands and unprotected forests overall; however, it was 37% higher in wildlands than in forests that had been recently harvested within the past 15-20 years. This result differed from the conventional wisdom that forest management increases the rate of carbon absorption in forests. Although recent harvests promoted the growth of individual trees in this study by increasing growing space, harvests reduced carbon absorption in the forest overall because cutting resulted in fewer trees doing the work of photosynthesis.
Structural complexity was also generally higher in wildlands, with numbers of large live and large dead trees, maximum tree height, and variation of tree sizes greater in wildlands than in unprotected forests. The number of tree species did not differ between the two protection categories. Overall, the results suggest the need for forest managers to reexamine the rush to incorporate more management for climate adaptation and mitigation in northern temperate forests not specifically being managed for wood products. Forest managers may consider instead the multiple benefits of stricter protection and allowing natural processes to do more.
Like other natural forest disturbances such as wind, insect outbreaks, and fire, browsing by white-tailed deer has strong and lasting effects on forest ecosystems. Deer browsing, which operates at varying intensities across the landscape, has long been viewed primarily as “damage” to forest ecosystems. But in our rush to label deer as “devastating” and “a bigger threat than climate change” to eastern forests, are we missing the complex and surprising outcomes that deer herbivory generates in our forests?
In a paper published in Science of the Total Environment in April by Highstead senior ecologist Ed Faison and USDA Forest Service Researcher Brice Hanberry, the authors argue that browsing by a diversity of large mammals shaped eastern North American forests for millions of years and that, as recently as 400 years ago, eastern forests were browsed by three to five large wild mammals compared to only one to two today. Thus, herbivory by deer should be viewed as a fundamental and long-standing ecological interaction rather than an aberration.
For example, intensive deer browsing can reduce woody plants and the height and abundance of taller wildflower species, while simultaneously increasing the abundance of shorter wildflower species and herbaceous plant diversity overall. As browsing thins the forest, the forest floor – often deeply shaded under a thick shrub layer without (or with less) browsing – is exposed to more light. Increased light combined with seeds transported by deer can promote new herbaceous plants at the same time that deer are consuming other plants.
Conventional wisdom states that deer destroy native plants and promote invasives, but the reality is more complex. While deer do consume many native plants and increase the abundance of several invasive species such as Japanese barberry, Japanese stiltgrass, and garlic mustard (by clearing space for them and not eating them), deer also reduce the abundance of many other invasives such as oriental bittersweet, multi-flora rose, honeysuckle, and burning bush by consuming them readily. To what extent deer will promote or reduce invasive plants in a particular forest will depend on which plants are available.
The long-term legacy of deer browsing on tree seedlings and saplings often results in sparse or delayed forest regeneration that may eventually reduce the number and diversity of canopy trees. Yet, paradoxically, delayed tree regeneration can also accelerate the development of structural diversity in young forests by creating canopy gaps and uneven height growth of trees. In other words, plant declines from deer browsing are only part of the story; browsing often has unexpected benefits if we are open to viewing deer-forest interactions more holistically.
To address concerns about declining native bee populations, the Metrowest Conservation Alliance’s Native Pollinator Task Force launched The Bumble Bee Project to promote the conservation of at-risk native bumble bees in central Massachusetts. Based on research by a UMass Dartmouth biology professor, leaders from groups within the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers (SuAsCo) watershed began a public education campaign to encourage home gardeners, municipalities, local land trusts, and schools to plant bee-specific native trees, shrubs, and perennials.
“We’re creating habitat for specific at-risk pollinator species,” says Samantha Corbin, conservation coordinator at Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT.) The European honeybee colony collapses have been widely reported, but fewer people realize native wildlife relies on native bees and other pollinators, says Laura Mattei, stewardship director at SVT, host, and coordinator for the Metrowest Conservation Alliance (MCA,) a Regional Conservation Partnership which serves the 36 communities within the SuAsCo watershed.
From early spring to late fall, native bees need nectar and pollen, but the threatened bees are plant-host specific so not all native plants will do. Based on five years of study, UMass Biology Professor Robert Gegear created a plant list identifying which plants provide nectar for fuel and pollen for reproduction for each of the three species he has identified as ‘at risk’ bees because their populations are declining: Bombus fervidus, Bombus vagans, and Bombus terricola. Only the b. terricola, (yellow-banded bumble bee,) is classified as threatened by the state of Massachusetts.
Gegear identified the at-risk bees when he looked at some data from 2010 and 2019 and noticed some had declined and some increased. A few species had declined significantly.
Beginning in 2018, SVT and its partners agreed they wanted to do something to help the pollinators, Mattei says. Someone within the group had heard of Gegear’s research and his push for planting native plants to provide food and shelter for at-risk bees. “The plants need those pollinators, and the pollinators need those plants to survive. They’ve evolved together over hundreds of thousands of years. It’s that system we’re focusing on,” Mattei says.
“The bees are our ambassadors. You plant the plants; these bees show up.” – Samantha Corbin, conservation coordinator at Sudbury Valley Trustees
Though targeting a few species of bees, this project will also help birds and other pollinators: native bees, butterflies, moths, birds, and wasps, Corbin says. “I see The Bumble Bee Project as a piece of the broader pollinator picture,” she adds. When people feel discouraged and hopeless about climate change, she says, planting for pollinators is the conservation antidote to despair. “This is something we can and are doing, and it’s growing over time.”
Half-black bumble bee, Bombus vagans. Photo Credit: David McCorquodale
They’ve faced some challenges relating to how homeowners have been programmed to garden. To counteract the ‘perfect lawn, perfect garden’ mindset, they’ve educated people about the importance of a year-round habitat for bees, which means leaving the leaves and the seedheads and flower stalks in the garden, Corbin says. Some bees overwinter inside the hollow stems and stalks. People can create defined garden beds with clear lines separating them from the lawn and still have an attractive garden, she says.
To spread the word, Corbin has been providing pollinator presentations to garden clubs. Participants in The Bumble Bee Project host site visits so people can see the plan in action.
“The bees are our ambassadors. You plant the plants; these bees show up,” Corbin says. “People really get inspired when they see it work.”
Many existing farmland protection practices create barriers that leave out a variety of farmers, including those who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). In March, farmland conservation allies gathered in Southern Maine for the first time in several years to discuss trends and evolutions in farmland conservation and how the pandemic years’ pressures are shaping new approaches to make our work accessible for a wider variety of farmers. The Northeast Convening for Farmland Access symposium’s goal was for participants to share new tools, stories, and strategies with eachother to promote land access for people who have been left behind by existing farmland protection practices, including young, beginning, low-income, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers.
Batula Ismail harvests amaranth at New Roots Cooperative Farm in Lewiston, Maine. Photo Credit: Molly Haley, courtesy of Maine Farmland Trust.
Keynote Speaker Shirley Sherrod reminded conservation practitioners that today’s land ownership practices stem from colonialism, slavery, redlining, Jim Crow laws, and other forms of oppression against Black people. The co-founder of New Communities in Georgia, one of the country’s first community land trusts, explained how after more than 50 years of struggle against discrimination, New Communities is finally realizing its vision for community empowerment and farming education, welcoming Black, Indigenous, and all community members to join them.
At the convening, land trust leaders shared examples of their work to increase opportunities and farmland access for diverse farmer constituencies. For example, at Maine Farmland Trust (MFT), President & CEO Amy Fisher reflected on how feedback from farmers has spurred the organization to restructure its programs to build stronger, reciprocal partnerships with farmers and meet a broader set of needs. Under its old model, farmers shared they felt as if MFT and other land trusts cared more about protecting the land than about the farmers working it. Others pointed out the “Buy, Protect, Sell” model left farmers who couldn’t quickly access capital out of the picture, while the speed of the transactions left others with land that wasn’t fully suited to their needs. Many farmers preferred leasing the land before buying to determine whether the soil and infrastructure met their needs, which was not part of MFT’s previous offerings.
Seynab Ali harvests amaranth at New Roots Cooperative Farm in Lewiston, Maine. Photo Credit: Molly Haley, courtesy of Maine Farmland Trust.
As a result of learning this, MFT shifted gears and reimagined its easement stewardship program to make its role with farmers more expansive, launching a farmer network to cultivate relationships with and between farmers. By reorganizing its stewardship, farm business planning, climate resilience, and other farmer support programs under one Farm Network umbrella, MFT now approaches stewardship visits as opportunities to learn about the challenges farmers are facing, connect them with resources for support, and build momentum to advocate for policies and programs that address systemic issues. Rather than seeing MFT staff as easement enforcers, farmers have begun to see stewardship staff more like reference librarians there to help them.
Mohamed Abukar washes produce to prepare it for sale at the market the next day, New Roots Cooperative Farm in Lewiston, Maine. Photo Credit: Molly Haley, courtesy of Maine Farmland Trust.
In addition, MFT works to find solutions and create new models to increase farmland access for farmers who have been left behind, including BIPOC farmers. By modifying its “Buy, Protect, Sell” program to include long-term lease-to-purchase options at farmland values, MFT can stay in communication with farmers to understand and support their needs as they establish their farm, while providing them with a less financially-risky onramp to ownership, Fisher says. Since a down payment toward the purchase of farmland creates a barrier to affordable farmland, removing that hurdle gives a broader and deeper pool of farmers access to land – along with support resources to help them succeed. For example, MFT worked with the Somali-Bantu farmers of New Roots Cooperative (pictured) in 2015 to help them find suitable farmland, which the farmers leased from the organization until they were able to complete the purchase in January 2022, receiving technical assistance and business planning support along the way.
Stacy Funderburke, Georgia state director of The Conservation Fund, developed the Working Farms Fund, which offers a three-to-five-year lease to farmers with the option to purchase after The Conservation Fund secures public funding to purchase an agricultural conservation easement. This makes buying farmland more affordable, and therefore, more accessible. The Working Farms Fund also expands market opportunities for farmers in the program, connecting them to local hospitals and universities with goals for sustainability and sourcing local food. A key selling point to institutions was learning that their involvement increased local food and local farmers’ resilience, he said.
Another practice improves access to farming while addressing Vermont Land Trust’s (VLT) goal to help improve the economic viability of farming. In Vermont, more than 65 percent of agricultural sales are for dairy. In response to falling demand for cows’ milk, some dairy farmers are diversifying their operations or converting to other types of farming. VLT’s Farmland Futures Fund enables VLT to buy and hold farmland for three to five years. This approach prevents farmland from being lost, underutilized, or developed when transitioning from one owner to the next. If the land is already conserved for farming, VLT buys the land and leases it to farmers for three to five years at a reduced rate so the farmer can acquire conventional agricultural financing. If the farmland is not protected, VLT buys it, protects it, and then leases it to farmers, again with the goal of transferring ownership within five years.
People left the convening with a long list of ideas that are working, people to contact for guidance, and a deeper understanding of some of the barriers and strategies to promote access for a broader diversity of farmers. At Highstead, here are some of our takeaways on how conservation allies can support BIPOC farmers specifically:
Change decision-making bodies to include BIPOC.
Advance “land back,” a decentralized campaign by Native Americans in the United States and Indigenous peoples in Canada that seeks to reestablish Indigenous sovereignty, with political and economic control of their unceded traditional lands.
Cede power to BIPOC groups and individuals.
Identify which tangible resources to pass on to BIPOC groups based on their needs.
Advance easement policies that extinguish easements for “land back.”
Margaret Bowman Principal Bowman Environmental Consulting
With over 30 years of conservation experience, Margaret Bowman helps foundations and NGOs promote sustainable and equitable water solutions through better policy, strategy, and investment. Margaret ran sustainable water investing and grantmaking programs at Spring Point Partners, advanced water supply solutions in the Colorado River Basin at the Walton Family Foundation, and supported policy-relevant scientific research at the Pew Charitable Trusts. She has also advocated for river restoration at American Rivers and supported environmental law drafting in Central Europe at the Environmental Law Institute.
Jessamine Fitzpatrick Managing Director Alder Point Capital Management
Jessamine Fitzpatrick is Managing Director, and co-founder of Alder Point Capital Management, an investment firm focused on sustainable farmland and timberland investments in the U.S. Prior to Alder Point, Jessamine led the Alignment Insights team at RMI’s Center for Climate-Aligned Finance. Past roles include serving as Principal, Real Assets at New Island Capital Management, CFO/COO for Electric Vine Industries, and External Relations Manager for The Nature Conservancy. Jessamine holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management, a MEM from the Yale School of the Environment, and a BS from Georgetown University.
Shaun O’Rourke Director Quantified Ventures
Shaun O’Rourke is a Director on the Water Climate and Finance Team at Quantified Ventures. He has more than 15 years of climate leadership in the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors. Prior to joining QV, Shaun was the Managing Director at Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and was appointed by Governor Raimondo as the state’s first Chief Resilience Officer.
Jill Ozarski Program Officer Walton Family Foundation
Jill is a land and water conservation expert and joined the Walton Family Foundation in 2016. In that role, she works with grantee partners across the Colorado River region to conserve water, restore watersheds, and leverage public funding. Prior, she served as the Senior Natural Resources Policy Advisor to U.S. Senator Mark Udall and held other leadership and policy positions with NGOs. She is a 2015 Fulbright-Ian Axford Fellow in Public Policy, where she worked in New Zealand to advance public-private partnerships. Her passion is finding community-driven collaborative solutions to the increasingly complex demands facing people and nature.
If you’ve wanted to raise more conservation funds and engage with a more diverse group of people but your staff is already stretched thin, consider working with your Northern Appalachian Trail Landscape Partnership (NATLP) peers.
Highstead and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy recently hired a coordinator to lead collaborations between Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCPs) and their partners to meet common goals within the Northern Appalachian region from the Hudson River to Katahdin in Maine. The coordinator, Max Olsen, is working with a new steering committee to boost three areas identified as priorities by NATLP members: conservation; justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion; and communications.
Image courtesy of the NATLP
“Whether you’re looking for more funding, partners, and expertise for your projects, or to contribute what you can while having a greater impact on shared objectives like biodiversity, climate change, and land justice, joining the Northern A.T. Landscape Partnership may prove to be a force multiplier for you, your organization, and your RCP,” says Bill Labich, RCP Network coordinator.
When RCPs work together and share expertise, connections, and ideas, they see their capacity and reach grow. There’s more federal funding available now than in recent years, such as through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
The LWCF is now permanently financed and, along with two recently passed bills that bring “billions more dollars than the conservation community had access to before,” Olsen says. “We’re faced with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We have the tools and the will.” Network partners, from land trusts to large environmental nonprofits, can look to the NATLP as one avenue to leverage and access this funding.
By working collaboratively with groups representing multiple constituencies and regions, Network members can secure larger grants. Large tasks can be broken down into smaller pieces to make the conservation projects and grant applications more manageable for organizations and more appealing to private and federal funders.
Another priority area, increasing diverse involvement and representation, has begun making inroads. “We need to have a much broader vision of what conservation is and can be,” Olsen says. The partnership is growing and, with guidance from the steering committee, it is creating a more welcoming environment for communities typically ignored or excluded from decision-making processes.
The working group focusing on diversity and inclusion has access to grant funding to pursue how the partnership can more effectively engage and serve Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities throughout the region toward achieving shared conservation goals.
An essential first step in forging these relationships is building trust. Trust begins with an acknowledgment of past mistakes and exclusionary practices. “Our partners have established connections and are building relationships,” Olsen says. “We want to be able to pursue conservation efforts that effectively and honestly represent everyone’s values, and we can’t do that unless under-engaged communities are involved.”
Relationship building takes time, especially when the folks involved come from such different backgrounds, but conservation is a common throughline that can bring diverse peoples and perspectives together, he says.
Regardless of your organization’s capacity, whether you want a staff member to serve in a leadership role on a steering committee, as a member of a working group, or as a contributor to a group effort, the NATLP can use your help, Labich says. Raising your hand to join the partnership doesn’t mean falling into a deep hole of commitment. You decide how much or how little time you can give. With three different working groups, Network partners choose where they can best contribute expertise and time.
“There’s new capacity where there wasn’t before,” Labich says. “You’re going to make an impact and access resources you might not otherwise get.”
Plans call for an internal communications committee and the launch this quarter of the conservation and justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion working groups. With the first meetings on the horizon, there is still time to join these working groups, help set an agenda, and contribute ideas about how to advance shared objectives, Olsen says.
“We want to help you succeed in your mission,” Olsen says. “Let’s work together so we can all succeed.”
Reach out to Max Olsen to learn more and see how you can get involved at molsen@appalachiantrail.org. Even if you’re not ready to be a participant in a working group, you can be added to the email list for quarterly updates about partnership work and invitations to bi-annual gatherings.
Chris Adamo is Vice President at Danone North America for public affairs & regenerative agriculture policy, assisting Danone to create social and environmental impact through its business. Chris helps Danone build strategies for implementing regenerative agriculture with farming partners across its supply chain and engages key stakeholders with advocacy and public policy efforts. Prior to joining Danone, Chris spent over a decade at the highest levels of the federal government working on issues related to agriculture, environment and climate change. He served as chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality from 2015.
Alissa Hauser is a former nonprofit and foundation executive working in the Constructive Capital Department at Dr. Bronner’s, a values-driven natural products company. Alissa also is the Managing Director of Circle of Life, an organization that provides fiscal sponsorship support to a handful of projects, primarily in the food and farming space. Alissa advises nonprofit organizations on fund development and constituent and donor engagement strategies.
Lisa Shibata Director, Sustainability Chipotle Mexican Grill
Lisa is the Director of Sustainability at Chipotle Mexican Grill. She leads Chipotle’s sustainability ambitions to cultivate a better world overseeing strategic planning over a wide array of issues, including climate action, sustainable materials, water stewardship, and responsible sourcing. Prior to joining Chipotle, Lisa was at Disney, where she was responsible for investments in nature-based projects and water stewardship. She also led supplier engagement efforts for the paper sourcing policy and assessing value chain impacts to inform Scope 3 ambitions. Lisa has over 20 years of experience developing sustainability programs.
As founder and CEO of Ocelot Co., Jena Thompson has expertise in land conservation, nature-based climate solutions, sustainability, and strategic partnerships. She is a senior fellow with Future 500 and a certified leadership coach for conservation and sustainability teams. Jena has worked with executives from Apple, Dell, Delta, Disney, The North Face, U-Haul, UPS, and more to inspire employees, engage customers, increase visibility, and make a lasting difference for land, water, wildlife, and communities. Jena believes that access to capital and expertise are privileges that must be equalized across the conservation movement.
