Overview
The Wildlands and Woodlands Vision proposes that one half of Massachusetts, 2.5 million acres, be in forest permanently protected from development.
Of this, 250,000 acres of mostly publicly-owned forestland would be set aside as Wildland reserves and would be embedded within 2.25 million acres of mostly privately-owned Woodlands managed for multiple goods and services.
Learn more about Wildlands
Learn more about Woodlands
Question: How much forestland needs to be protected in Massachusetts to achieve the Wildlands and Woodlands vision?
Answer: 1.5 million acres
Figure 11 - W and W
Why 1.5 Million Acres?
There are roughly 5 million acres of land in Massachusetts:
- 1 million acres are developed
- 1 million acres are protected from development already
- Roughly 3 million acres remain to be either developed or protected from development
- To reach 2.5 million acres of protected forest, we need to protect 1.5 million more acres. The Wildlands and Woodlands Partnership encourages people and organizations to collaborate more to encourage management of more privately-owned forestland and to increase the pace of land protection in their region.
Learn more about the Wildlands and Woodlands Partnership
Learn more about Regional Conservation Partnerships
