This seminar will explore the Northern Forest Alliance’s (NFA) approach to conservation in the Northern Forest of New York and New England. We will address how NFA’s vision integrates wildland protection, sustainable forestry, and strong local communities as working components of a healthy and sustainable Northern Forest.

The 26-million-acre Northern Forest of New York and New England is the largest remaining wild forest in the East. It is also a region at a cross-roads. Huge swaths of forestland—more than 5 million acres since 1998—are changing ownership, and the region’s communities are grappling with massive dislocation in the face of mill closures, layoffs, and an increasingly global economy. The NFA is working to promote an ecologically and socially sustainable vision for this nationally significant region. This seminar will explore the NFA’s approach to conservation, focusing on three major goals: 1. conserving large wildland areas that integrate wilderness and sustainably managed timberland, 2. promoting sustainable forest management practices, and 3. working with local communities to enhance economic opportunities.

As one of the first regions settled by Europeans, the Northern Forest has a rich cultural tradition, as well as a long history of resource exploitation. Long remote and isolated, the region is now facing many of the same challenges confronting rural resource-dependent regions in an increasingly integrated global economy. Among these are: Mill closures and an uncertain future for the region’s paper industry. Unstable land ownership patterns. Economic competition from other regions and nations. Widely varying quality of forest management. Lack of reserve lands outside of a few major large public ownerships. Subdivision and development. Need for ecological restoration

The region has been the subject of both a USFS study (1990) and a congressionally-funded multi-stakeholder advisory group, the Northern Forest Lands Council (1990-1994). Since the mid-1990s, the changes that led to these efforts have accelerated. The region is facing a period of considerable economic uncertainty, but also a period of unprecedented opportunity to craft a more sustainable future.

The NFA, a coalition of 43 national, regional and state-based organizations, was formed to help the conservation community develop and advocate for a unified and consistent vision for the region. The work done by the NFA and its member organizations has included: Identification of conservation priority areas. Development of specific conservation proposals in cooperation with local citizens, land trusts and public agencies. Advocacy for increased conservation funding. Promotion of the development of ecological reserve networks. Participation in state-based efforts to develop voluntary sustainable forest management guidelines. Development of principles for large-scale conservation easements. Support of forest certification programs. Creating a network of local forest-based business to develop and promote innovative solutions that blend environmental protection with economic development. Helping to establish regional cooperatives of local wood-using businesses to enhance opportunities for value-added manufacturing. .

The seminar will focus on educating the audience about the region, the issues and challenges facing it, the NFA’s vision, recent successes in land conservation and improved forest management, and areas of both broad agreement and continued controversy.