The 2024 RCP Network Gathering features two dozen sessions led by nearly 60 presenters along five integrated health themes: Physical and Mental Well-being, Listening and Connecting, Resilient Ecosystems, Integrated Land Use, and Diverse Partnerships.
* Sessions with Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice themes
# Sessions that are led by or elevate the work of Regional Conservation Partnerships
Session A – 10:30 AM – 12 PM
This presentation will begin with a discussion of the scientific literature on the relationship between exposure to greenspace and improved health, with a particular focus on mental health. Problems with how greenspace and mental health are measured will be reviewed. Examples of recent studies that have done a better job with these issues will be discussed in detail. Participants will then learn about an area of blue space research exploring the impact of nature on well-being with New England island residents. A specific focus will be on how this population utilized spending time in nature as a coping strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the important role that nature plays in our lives strengthens appreciation of the human-nature relationship, but also ignites more questions that need to be explored to guide further understanding of the multiple benefits associated with green and blue spaces.
Speakers: Robert Feder, New Hampshire Healthcare Workers for Climate Action, Climate Psychiatry Alliance; Nicole Kras, City University New York
Track: Physical and Mental Well-Being
Scenario planning is a tool for communities and organizations to explore different possible futures and the actions they might take in those futures. Scenario planning prompts conversations before crises hit and challenges the idea that the future will look like the past. Participants will first learn the basics of scenario planning, why and how it is used, and what the outcomes are. Participants will then work through a reality-based exercise that will (1) include stressors like demographic trends, climate and environmental changes, and financial challenges, (2) explore possible futures driven by these stressors, and (3) identify resilient actions to prepare for those futures. Closeout discussion will include how to engage the public in scenario planning, useful resources, and general Q&A. Participants will leave with a new planning tool and a new approach to community and organization resilience.
Speaker: Larissa Read, Common Ground Consulting, LLC
Track: Listening and Connecting
The Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts (established in 2018 state law as the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership) is a public body representing 21 mostly rural towns in the heavily forested Northwest corner of the Commonwealth. The Board is led by municipal representatives and includes members appointed by land trusts, watershed associations, regional planning agencies, and community/economic development corporations and nonprofits, among others. This unique and inclusive model, while providing the opportunity for landscape-level impact and connection, brings to the forefront systemic issues between municipal needs, Indigenous stewardship, natural resource-based job creation, and land conservation. Stakeholders will discuss persistent challenges, and lessons learned as this evolving partnership seeks to improve the health of both human and natural communities in this special place.
Speakers: Lisa Hayden, Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts, New England Forestry Foundation (facilitator); Thomas Matuszko, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission; Robert O’Connor, Previous Director of the Division of Conservation Services at EEA; Art Schwenger, Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts
Track: Listening and Connecting
Anyone who talks about conserving land, addressing climate change, or advancing environmental justice has encountered difficult conversations, whether with the public or conservation partners. Challenging discussions can sometimes feel so uncomfortable that we avoid them. However, to conserve more land and inspire more action on climate and justice, we must talk with people with diverse perspectives and life experiences. Effective communication is not just about what you say but also how you listen and respond to others. This highly interactive workshop uses experiential learning to build the interpersonal communication skills needed to engage anyone in thoughtful and respectful dialogue. Participants will practice through exercises that emphasize listening, curiosity, and empathy. Developing these skills will help you create more authentic connections, engage people more effectively, and ultimately make conservation, climate action, and justice more relevant to more people.
Speaker: Karen Strong, Strong Outcomes, LLC
Track: Listening and Connecting
Regional collaboration and local actions are critical to the long-term viability and well-being of communities, as well as resilient habitats, ecosystems, and landscapes. The new Massachusetts BioMap, released in the fall of 2022, enhances statewide habitat priorities with the addition of climate resilience and local data. Many regional partnerships apply BioMap and integrate it with a wide range of data representing multiple values to achieve meaningful and lasting outcomes. We will provide a quick overview of BioMap then present case studies of collaborative, science-based planning and action at regional and local scales. The session will also include an interactive opportunity to access and navigate conservation data, following the presentation and/or on your own device. The presenters love sharing their deep experience with data development, application, and technical support. Practitioners will come away with frameworks to incorporate essential biodiversity and climate resilience information into their plans and actions.
Speakers: Andy Finton, The Nature Conservancy, MA Chapter, Berkshire Wildlife Linkage; Lee Halasz, Kestrel Land Trust, Forever Farmland Initiative; Abby Hardy-Moss, Greenbelt Essex County’s Land Trust, Merrimack Conservation Partnership
Track: Resilient Ecosystems
Constructing a land conservation project to be financially feasible, supported by the local neighbors, and beneficial to the broader community can be challenging. Beyond protecting habitat values, land conservation can serve goals for water quality protection, open space, equity, environmental justice and clean-up, and recreation. Including these broader goals can build support and funding outside of the usual partners. Conservation paired with floodplain restoration can provide significant benefits to downstream communities by reducing flood levels and adding to the support and funding options for protection. We will highlight land conservation and flood mitigation measures taken to provide flood storage upstream of vulnerable business and residential areas where available open space is limited. Thanks to a 15-year collaboration by conservation, municipal, state, and federal partners, a conserved and restored 12-acre parcel has restored upstream flood storage, improved habitat value, and reduced local flood elevations by one-to-two feet.
Speakers: Brian Bannon, Town of Brattleboro; Marie Levesque Caduto, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation; Erin De Vries, Vermont River Conservancy; Hayley Kolding, Vermont River Conservancy
Track: Integrated Land Use
This presentation will contain two elements: First, a lecture about the history of racially restrictive covenants, their influence on contemporary expressions of segregation, and how conservation and environmental groups concerned with diversity and equity manage working in rural areas that are 98% homogenous or have a history of anti-Blackness; Second, a workshop that will involve group discussions, problem-solving exercises, the exchange of best practices, and the creation of a living document that we will use as a directed reference. The workshop will contain statistical data, historical information, philosophical explorations, and significant participation from the audience. People should expect energy, engagement, and explorative questions rather than conclusive answers.
Speaker: Chris Carr, Black Land Ownership
Track: Integrated Land Use
Explore how four regional collaboratives are helping support organizations and communities improve climate resilience, protect and restore habitat, and improve water quality from Maine to Rhode Island through the Southeast New England Program Network, and the Saco, Taunton, and Blackstone Watershed Collaboratives. Presenters will discuss organizational development and partnership strategies with diverse organizations, communities, and tribes, touching on each of their strategic planning work, providing technical assistance, supporting implementation, and providing capacity building and funding support. Explore how these collaboratives have been successful in using innovative approaches to catalyze positive community impacts by developing and implementing regional action plans, tools, and financing to tackle complex issues that no one agency or organization could solve on their own.
Speakers: Stefanie Covino, Blackstone Watershed Collaborative, Southeast New England Program Network; Kelsey Johnson, Saco Watershed Collaborative; Heidi Ricci, Mass Audubon, Resilient Taunton Watershed Network; Robyn Saunders, Saco Watershed Collaborative; Martha Sheils, New England Environmental Finance Center, Southeast New England Program Network (facilitator)
Track: Diverse Partnerships
Session B – 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Healthy people make healthy communities, and healthy communities make healthy land. At the forefront of the eco-conscious movement is the practice of forest therapy, reconnecting humans to nature for personal and planetary well-being. Come discover the practice of forest therapy (or forest bathing). Explore its history and health benefits, framework, and why it matters now. Learn how conservation and community organizations are uniquely positioned to promote this practice and the benefits you can receive in return. We’ll discuss how you can partner with a certified Forest Therapy Guide to foster wellness and community engagement through a variety of models. Research shows that those more connected to nature are more likely to support activities that conserve and enhance the environment. By offering programs that encourage the appreciation of the healthful benefits of the forest, conservation and community organizations can create a stronger human and Earth community.
Speakers: Regan Stacey, Lyme Land Trust, The Forest Therapy School; Kristina White, Lyme Land Trust
Track: Physical and Mental Well-Being
The Outdoor Industry Association releases its annual report detailing “The Adventure Gap,” which shows that many ethnic groups are underrepresented in outdoor recreation. In fact, 45% of Americans are not recreating outside at all, diminishing the impact of the current $1.1 trillion outdoor economy and the personal connection to climate change’s impact on our planet. The goal of Great Malden Outdoors is to reduce the adventure gap by enabling residents of the fourth most diverse city in Massachusetts to become aware of the outdoor recreation in the city, provide outdoor recreation programs within the city, and deliver a step-by-step multilingual guide for adventures in Malden and a career seminar for residents to join the outdoor and green tech industries. This workshop will show participants why a holistic approach is needed, how a community-centered campaign should be your starting point, and how to make this work truly sustainable long-term.
Speaker: Darren Josey, First Seed Sown Sales & Marketing
Track: Listening and Connecting
Conflict is an inevitable part of our lives, and our workplace is no exception. In this engaging and interactive workshop, we will delve into the concept of conflict transformation, distinguishing it from conflict resolution and management. We will reflect on its relevance and application in our professional (and personal) lives. Participants will develop an understanding of the four dimensions of change that can arise from conflict, as well as the five conflict styles, including your own. We will explore three practical conflict analysis tools, working collaboratively in small groups on a case study proposed by YOU (the participants). Please note that to maximize the benefit from this session, there will be some modest preparation including a brief reading and reflection exercise and sharing of a case study for potential use in small group work.
Speaker: Nicole Gross-Camp, Global Conservation Solutions
Track: Listening and Connecting
Future Forest Reimagined is an international, multi-national initiative with equity among U.S., Canada, and Indigenous partners. The initiative is based on three pillars, including old forest protection, rewilding, and expansion of ecological forestry. The future forest is one of enhanced biodiversity and climate change resilience. This work is grounded in the development of partnerships, building social capital, and working to enhance human health and well-being through a healthy and resilient environment. This includes healthy communities and economic growth for Indigenous populations and rural communities with wise use recreation and forest products.
Speakers: Christine Laporte, Wildlands Network; Nancy Patch, Two Countries-One Forest, Cold Hollow to Canada, and Wildlands Network
Track: Resilient Ecosystems
The Lingering Hemlock Project, a subset of The Nature Conservancy’s “Tree Species in Peril,” aims to locate and selectively breed eastern and Carolina hemlocks with genetic resistance to the invasive insect hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). This insect has already contributed to widespread hemlock mortality and continues to spread through the northeastern U.S. While hemlock protection strategies like chemical control are effective in the short-term, longer-term hemlock protection depends on biocontrol and selective breeding to promote HWA resistance. In this presentation, representatives from the New York State Hemlock Initiative and the Hemlock Restoration Initiative share ways to participate in the Lingering Hemlock Project. In the southeastern U.S., project partners can record data on hemlocks that remain healthy despite HWA infestations. In the Northeast, they can establish hemlock plots and monitor their health and decline annually.
Speakers: Grace Haynes, New York State Hemlock Initiative
Track: Resilient Ecosystems
This workshop explores the why, how, and what we learned from the start-up of a new for-profit timber investment fund by a Regional Conservation Partnership in the five million-acre Maine mountain region. This project emerged from a collaboration of 10 land conservation groups to conserve the core of perhaps the largest intact mixed temperate forest in the world and a highly climate-resilient landscape. The region is predominantly in large private ownerships with heavily harvested forests. With the goal to attract impact investment to achieve climate, habitat, community, and improved forest management outcomes, the fund combined equity investment, loans, philanthropy, and a conservation easement to acquire its first property in 2024. We cover key lessons from investor outreach, roles of partners such as federal agencies and foundations, and discussion of whether this presents a new tool for land conservation.
Speaker: Bryan Wentzell, Maine Mountain Collaborative, Exemplary Forestry Management
Track: Integrated Land Use
Rural communities are frontline stewards of America’s most treasured natural systems. The Conservation Fund’s platform for Activating the Natural Resource Economy (ANRE) works in partnership with rural communities across the nation to align their economic pathways with the needs of nature. In this presentation, we explore the ANRE platforms collaborative approach to conservation-aligned rural development in the Northeast, with case studies that address: real estate developments that fuse affordable housing and conservation in New Hampshire and West Virginia; key investments in the stability and vitality of the forest products industry in New Hampshire; innovative value capture platforms for ecotourism in Pennsylvania; and redevelopment investments in community facilities in Maine used to unlock major federal funding. Participants will leave with adaptable tools for aligning rural well-being and wealth-building with land conservation strategies.
Speaker: Lindsay White, The Conservation Fund
Track: Integrated Land Use
Session C – 2:45 PM – 4:00 PM
Join us for an engaging panel discussion featuring experts from community organizations, education, and healthcare. We’ll explore the critical issues surrounding asthma in our community and discuss effective strategies for addressing this prevalent health concern. Our panelists represent diverse backgrounds and will share valuable insights on various aspects of asthma management including: the impact of climate-related factors such as droughts, wildfires, and air quality on asthma prevalence in our region; how health centers and hospitals are educating patients to prevent unnecessary ER visits related to asthma; the correlations between obesity and asthma; successful collaborations with schools to enhance air quality; the unique challenges faced by immigrants and new arrivals in accessing asthma medications and specialist treatments; local organizations’ efforts to improve air quality in the Pioneer Valley and their impact on asthma management; and interventions in both public and private settings aimed at mitigating asthma triggers within our community.
Speakers: Cynthia Carbone, Holyoke Public Schools; Jason Comcowich, Nuestras Raices; Sarita Hudson, Public Health Institute of Western Mass; Ana Jaramillo, Holyoke Health Center; Tammi Kozuch, Holyoke Health Center (facilitator)
Track: Physical and Mental Well-Being
Healthy communities are built on the ability of groups to work together across divides. Finding common ground, building trust, and breaking down silos sounds great in a conference room, but what factors enable cross-sector partnerships to succeed in the real world? Since 2022, the Hudson Valley Alliance for Housing and Conservation has brought land conservation and affordable housing groups together around shared goals. These nontraditional allies share the belief that communities need both abundant, affordable housing and protected land that supports clean water, food production, climate resilience, and outdoor access. In two years, these groups have experienced both tangible accomplishments and changes in the way they relate to each other and view their work. This interactive, facilitated session will unpack how they have done it, what they have learned along the way, and how participants can apply these lessons in their own work.
Speakers: Al Bellenchia, Executive Director and CEO, Columbia-Greene Habitat for Humanity; Abby Fullem, Associate, Consensus Building Institute; Steve Rosenberg, Hudson Valley Alliance for Housing and Conservation; Julia Solomon, Shadbush Consulting LLC
Track: Listening and Connecting
Leaders from the land conservation and Wabanaki community in what is now Maine discuss stories of success and lessons learned from an ongoing seven-year effort of relationship-building to re-learn our history, re-center Wabanaki voices and leadership, and return land and resources to Wabanaki Nations and communities. We will share stories of success in land return, evolving efforts to ensure access for Wabanaki People to conservation lands for cultural use, and the creation of the cross-nation organization to carry out this work.
Speakers: Brett Ciccotelli, First Light; Darren Ranco, citizen of the Penobscot Nation, Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine; Shelby Semes, Trust for Public Land; Bryan Wentzell, Maine Mountain Collaborative
Track: Listening and Connecting
A strategic approach to biodiversity conservation requires both regional cooperation and a system for prioritizing land for acquisition and opportunities for protecting and restoring landscape connectivity. The Designing Sustainable Landscapes (DSL) project at UMass Amherst has compiled spatial data and developed landscape models to assess ecological integrity, landscape connectivity, and risk of development for the Northeastern U.S. User-friendly web applications are being created to make it easier to understand, access, and use DSL data for conservation decision-making. We will introduce participants to the DSL modeling approach and data products and demonstrate new web applications. Participants are encouraged to bring tablets or laptops to work with these web applications, explore their capabilities, ask questions, and discuss the utility of both the data and the web tools.
Speakers: Brad Compton, UMass Amherst; Scott Jackson, UMass Amherst; Ethan Plunkett, UMass Amherst
Track: Resilient Ecosystems
The work of Regional Conservation Partnerships is intrinsically connected to decisions made at all levels of governance: federal, state, and local. These policies directly influence how the work to support thriving ecosystems and communities actually gets done. This session invites participants to consider how regional-scale analysis can support local and state-level policy change. We will introduce preliminary findings from the forthcoming Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities regional report on land-use and conservation policy, specifically sharing comparisons of Current Use programs and updates on land-loss data that could inform local efforts. In addition, we dive into recent policy wins in Vermont that impact biodiversity, housing, and conservation policy. What worked? What lessons might support parallel efforts? What regional analyses are transferrable elsewhere? Combining a regional comparison of land-use and conservation policy with state-level experience and analysis, this session seeks to spark new ideas and collaborations toward a balanced and integrated regional conservation paradigm.
Speakers: Jamey Fidel, Vermont Natural Resources Council; David Foster, Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands, & Communities; Brian Hall, Harvard Forest; Alex Redfield, Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands, & Communities
Track: Integrated Land Use
In recent years, several conservation land trusts have developed smart growth partnerships with municipal planners and housing groups that focus on the broad goals of land conservation, equity, climate, and affordable housing. These discussions often also incorporate green building, local, sustainably grown wood products, and the repair and renovation of current housing and historic structures. Such creative partnerships have the potential to support community development, land conservation, and climate action plans, presenting a triple-win opportunity for social, economic, and environmental outcomes. Local Wood Works, Massachusetts Woodlands Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Maine, GrowSmart Maine, and New England Forestry Foundation are collaborating on a white paper exploring the intersection of housing, rural economic development, and conservation. In this workshop, these partners will discuss how land trusts can actively involve themselves with affordable housing initiatives, how smart growth strategies can enhance conservation in local communities, and how states can incentivize the use of local and regional wood in housing as part of their climate action plans.
Speakers: Harald Bredesen, GrowSmart Maine; Brian Donahue, MA Woodlands Institute; Connor Horton, The Nature Conservancy in Maine; Theresa Kerchner, Kennebec Land Trust, Local Wood WORKS
Track: Diverse Partnerships