This commentary is by Jon Leibowitz of Middlesex. He is president and CEO of Northeast Wilderness Trust, a regional land trust based in Montpelier.
Countries are meeting in Colombia this week and next for the 16th United Nations Biodiversity Conference. The convening comes as habitat loss, climate change and other human-induced pressures continue to diminish the planet’s flora and fauna, despite efforts to reach the UN’s “30×30” goal to protect 30% of Earth’s lands and waters by 2030.
Unfortunately, the United States remains the only major nation that has failed to sign on to this worthy effort, so it’s imperative that NGOs and other organizations do what they can now, right here at home. Science tells us there is a proven approach to dramatically cut extinction risk: forever-wild land conservation.
To conserve lands as “forever wild” means to sow the seeds of tomorrow’s old-growth forests by providing lands and waters the freedom to evolve naturally. Logging, motorized vehicles and other extractive and intensive human activities are prohibited on such lands.
This hands-off approach embodies wilderness in its most literal definition: self-willed land. It recognizes that nature has intrinsic value — the right to exist for its own sake, not merely for the benefit of people. The land trust model as deployed by my organization, Northeast Wilderness Trust, is an effective way to create new wildlands.
This long-game conservation strategy helps ensure that protected land stays that way. That stability is critical when one considers that of the approximately 25% of Vermont which is protected in some manner, much remains vulnerable to policy changes and shifts in political administration.
Additionally, most protected lands, whether public or private, are focused on multiple uses, not strictly on biodiversity protection. While multiuse lands are a critical part of the conservation landscape, they are only a part of the story. They must be complemented by a robust forever-wild land protection effort that safeguards biodiversity.
The benefits of this strategy are clear. The evidence tells us that the forever-wild approach can halve biodiversity loss on protected lands while increasing forest carbon storage. From bolstering bird populations to increasing the amount of ecologically valuable dead wood on the forest floor, wildlands foster the conditions for the rich, healthy ecosystems wildlife, plants and fungi need. This is particularly important for Vermont, as a recent report indicated that the state could lose more than 350 of its species by 2100 due to the confluence of habitat loss and climate change.
Despite the documented rewards for biodiversity, climate and people that result from wildlands, only a small amount of our state’s and region’s acreage meets that definition. Less than 4% of Vermont is protected as forever wild. The numbers for New England at large, with more than 80% forest coverage but just over 3% wildlands, tell a similar story. The good news is that we have large tracts of relatively young, regenerating forests ready for land trusts to step in and give them a chance to grow old again, teeming with mushrooms, dragonflies, trout, owls, moose and more.
That’s why we’re not waiting on progress at the Biodiversity Conference in Colombia or, closer to home, on the outcome of this year’s elections. Instead, we’re working now to protect private lands and to mainstream forever-wild conservation as a tried-and-true solution to the climate and biodiversity crises: Northeast Wilderness Trust has permanently preserved over 10,000 wilderness acres in Vermont and more than 80,000 acres across the Northeast. Every one of these acres is the old-growth, carbon-sequestering forest of tomorrow, and another step towards achieving the 30×30 goal.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Jon Leibowitz: The US may be lagging on biodiversity protections, but Vermont doesn’t have to.