Topic: Wildlands

Pisgah State Park. Situated in part of southwestern New Hampshire known to Henry Thoreau as a region of immense pines and scattered old forests, this rugged region attracted Wildland preservation in the 1920s. Since the 1970s, as the park grew to nearly 14,000 acres managed by the Department of Resources and Economic Development, pressure mounted for timber harvesting and ATV and snowmobile use. An ongoing dispute has ensued over the expansion of the core Wildland, which currently stands at approximately 4,594 acres. Photograph copyright David R. Foster.

Pemigewasset Wilderness—White Mountain National Forest. Totaling approximately 45,000 acres that make it the largest of six federal wilderness areas on the WMNF, the “Pemi” was designated by the U.S. Congress in the 1984 New Hampshire Wilderness Act. Although intensely logged and burned from the 1880s into the 1940s, the area’s forests are recovering and rewilding remarkably across the topographically and ecologically diverse terrain that is accessible by a series of Wilderness trails. Photo copyright by Ken Gallagher.

Muddy Pond Wilderness Preserve lies in the suburbs of Kingston in southeastern Massachusetts about half an hour from Boston, New Bedford, and Cape Cod. Northeast Wilderness Trust is rewilding the landscape of Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens dotted with over two dozen vernal pools while connecting local students, residents, and visitors with wild nature and Wildland conservation. Photo copyright Natalia Boltukhova.

Whetstone Wood Wildlife Sanctuary, the product of the vision and Wildland conservation effort of Mason and Ina Phelps, is a nearly 3,000-acre area in north-central Massachusetts protected by Mass Audubon. The Sanctuary connects with Wildlands on adjoining Wendell and Orange State Forests to form a nearly 11,000-acre block of forever wild landscape. Photo copyright Mass Audubon.

Mount Greylock State Reservation was the first public land designated for forest preservation in 1898 and the largest Wildland in Massachusetts at 10,342 acres. Incorporating the state’s tallest mountain, the reservation also supports an 11-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail. Like other state reserves, Greylock is the focus for calls for permanent protection through state legislative designation. Photo copyright John Burk.

Monhegan Associates Inc. was founded in 1954 “to preserve for posterity the natural wild beauty, biotic communities, and desirable natural, artificial, and historic features of the so-called ‘wild-lands’ portion of Monhegan Island, Maine.” The Wildlands comprise about 375 acres, slightly more than half of the island and the approach to land management is strictly minimalist, though challenges include a post-agricultural history of invasive plants and the impacts of tourists to this popular destination for art, history, and scenic beauty. Photo copyright David R. Foster.

The diversity of public and private entities advancing Wildland conservation is exemplified by this northern landscape, embracing Baxter State Park (State of Maine), Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument (National Park Service), Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area (The Nature Conservancy), and Nahmakanta Ecological Reserve (State of Maine). Southward it extends along the Appalachian Trail to the Roach Ponds, Katahdin Iron Works, Baker Mountain and Silver Lakes Reserves owned by the Maine Woods Initiative LLC of the Appalachian Mountain Club. Photo copyright by David R. Foster.