![Connecticut needs both wildlands & woodlands — not one or the other](https://lakevillejournal.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=51725979&width=1200&height=994)
Northeast Wilderness Trust
We live in uncertain times. As we face the twin crises of climate change and extinction — and their relationship to human well-being — the importance of forests continues to take center stage in public discourse.
Recent commentaries on the topic across Connecticut point to a wide range of views. Some discuss the irreplicable value of leaving parts of the landscape unmanaged as wildlands. Others explain how important and necessary forestry practices are and the industry that enacts them. Together, these perspectives form a holistic approach to protecting and managing New England forests, which is the approach taken by Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands, & Communities (WWF&C) — an initiative my organization participates in.
To mitigate climate change, reverse the extinction crisis, and chart a resilient path forward for people, when it comes to forests, New Englanders ought to consider an “all of the above the strategy” that includes far more wildlands than exist today and managed woodlands to support local jobs and produce local products. How to balance those complementary uses ought to be the aim of our energies.
Over the past five years, I have co-presented with Bob Perschel, the executive director of New England Forestry Foundation, in an attempt to bridge divides and find common ground. What has emerged from those conversations?
Perschel and I agree that what is needed most across Connecticut and New England is to stop losing forestland to development and that the correct approach in stemming forest loss embraces a meaningful increase in permanently protected wildlands alongside well-managed woodlands. We need both.
Perschel and I also agree that wildlands can’t produce the needed timber products our society depends on and that managed woodlands can’t produce all of the ecological, climatic and spiritual values of wildlands. Again, we need both.
One recent commentary on the topic by Joseph Orefice makes the argument that “Connecticut forests must be centered on advancing multiple-use forest management” but then calls it reckless to permanently protect forests as wild and unmanaged. While I agree with most of what Orefice says in his commentary, in the spirit of advocating for a wildlands and woodlands strategy, two points that he makes require further inspection.
First, Orefice claims that “taking human intervention out of the equation now would be unprecedented and reckless.” Far from unprecedented, there is great precedent across the Northeast for landscape-scale, permanent wildlands protection — just not in Connecticut. As one example, in New York’s Adirondack and Catskill parks, nearly 3 million acres have been constitutionally protected as forever-wild, much of that for over a century.
Far from reckless, the Adirondack Park is a globally notable example of what largescale forever-wild protection actually can do for carbon storage, biodiversity protection, soul-nourishment, and a robust outdoor recreation-based economy. Meanwhile, while lagging far behind New York, in New England, more than 100 organizations and state, federal and municipal agencies have already designated more than 1 million acres of permanently protected wildlands.
Second, Orefice goes on to state, “In fact, this has been termed ‘The Illusion of Preservation’ by scientists.” This misstates the premise of the study by Mary M. Berlik, David B. Kittredge and David R. Foster of Harvard. It actually calls for a multi-pronged strategy that includes permanently protected wildlands and wise management of woodlands. Indeed, Strategy 3 of the report “Increase Protection of Forested Areas” seeks to “provide opportunities for natural ecological patterns and processes that are unimpeded by human influence.” What is more, the scientists referenced by Orefice went on to form the aforementioned WWF&C Initiative that calls for the permanent protection of at least 10% of New England as permanently protected wildlands.
As a complementary strategy to protecting actively managed forests and farmlands, there are many reasons to protect Wildlands. Allowing more forests to grow old, without intervention, is the lowest-cost option for increasing carbon storage and increasing overall biodiversity on the landscape. Wildlands also contribute to a resilient landscape — they offer quiet places for reflection, and they serve as baselines and reference points for foresters and land managers.
Today less than 1% of Connecticut is currently conserved as wildlands. Across all of New England, it’s just 3.3%. Realizing the goal of 10% of New England’s landscape as permanently protected wildland will require at least 2.7 million more acres being set aside from logging. Critically, we must achieve that goal while embracing the benefits that accrue from forest management and working together with the forestry industry.
The discourse surrounding forest management often finds itself entrenched in dichotomies between wildlands and woodlands. The optimal approach lies not in favoring one over the other, but rather in recognizing the intrinsic value of wildlands and the practical value of woodlands — and striving for a far better balance than exists today.
Jon Leibowitz is the executive director of Northeast Wilderness Trust.
The Journal occasionally will offer articles from CTMirror.org, a source of nonprofit journalism and a partner with The Lakeville Journal.
Abstract art display in Wassaic for Upstate Art Weekend, July 18-21.
WASSAIC — Art enthusiasts from all over the country flocked to the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley to participate in Upstate Art Weekend, which ran from July 18 to July 21.
The event, which “celebrates the cultural vibrancy of Upstate New York”, included 145 different locations where visitors could enjoy and interact with art.
On Saturday, July 20, The Wassaic Project hosted numerous community events. Will Hutnick, the director of artistic programming, said “We’ve been a part of it since the beginning, this is the fifth year of UPAW.”
Most of the action was based at Maxon Mills, the seven-floor grain mill located in the heart of Wassaic. On exhibit was work from 30 artists, 18 of whom were past residents of The Wassaic Project. “Artists can come and do a residency here, meaning they live and work with one another for a couple months at a time,” Hutnick stated.
The first floor held work by Petra Szilagyi, who uses dirt and linseed oil to construct images of paranormal concepts, most of which include bats. They reflected that a recent trip to a fifth sense competition in Vietnam was the influence behind the exhibit.
Across the floor was Tiffany Smith’s interactive installation which incorporated plants and wicker chairs, all of which were objects associated with her Carribean upbringing. “The room being filled with plants is symbolic of hurricane prep which often included bringing the plants from outside into the house,” Smith said.
As visitors made their way up the narrow wooden stairs, music could be heard from behind the walls. The echoing music was Daniel Shieh’s installation, entitled Mother’s Anthem, which played a recording of the American Anthem in 30 languages. The languages ranged from Spanish and Italian to Navajo and Bengali.
Each floor was filled with artwork of all mediums, including painting, fibers, collage and photography. Rachel Bussières, who switched her concentration after watching the 2017 solar eclipse, uses varying light sources to produce lumen prints. During the wildfires, she recounted that she “made a new exposure each day to capture the changing air quality”.
Luciana Abait also incorporates the natural world into her pieces, instead using maps. An environmental activist originally from Argentina, Abait’s work highlights “environmental fragility, specifically the impacts it has on immigrants.” Her installation that is currently on display at Maxon Mills, takes the form of a mountain range built solely from maps of the US and Argentina.
Throughout the day, visitors could “Arm Wrestle 4 A Popsicle”. Winners had the choice of 3 playfully flavored trout-inspired popsicles - Nightcrawler, Power Bait, and Salmon Roe. Artist Katie Peck, who spent the day in costume as a rainbow trout, encouraged guests to step up and try their hand at an arm wrestle.
Shibori Indigo dyeing, group meditation, and dance workshops were open for community members of all ages as well.
While the daytime activities fostered appreciation of fixed art, a dance party until midnight at The Lantern Inn offered guests a space for performative art.
When describing the environment of The Wassaic Project, Smith emphasized, “It’s all community, it’s all love.”
A serene scene from the Amenia garden tour.
AMENIA — The much-anticipated annual Amenia Garden Tour drew a steady stream of visitors to admire five local gardens on Saturday, July 13, each one demonstrative of what a green thumb can do. An added advantage was the sense of community as neighbors and friends met along the way.
Each garden selected for the tour presented a different garden vibe. Phantom’s Rock, the garden of Wendy Goidel, offered a rocky terrain and a deep rock pool offering peaceful seclusion and anytime swims. Goidel graciously welcomed visitors and answered questions about the breathtaking setting.
Amenia Finance Director Charlie Miller welcomed visitors to his Bog Hollow Road garden in Wassaic, a manicured expansive yard with well-placed garden beds framing a far-reaching view. He said he plans carefully each winter for the next spring’s improvement.
The organic, environmentally responsible Maitri Farm was next, a lesson in coordinating agriculture with natural balance. The farm stand and a walk among the greenhouses brought visitors together.
Near the center of Amenia was the garden of Polly Pitts-Garvin, offering a chance to visit a robust vegetable garden with raised beds to be envious of and a remarkable absence of any insects or usual vegetable garden problems.
At Chez Cheese, the vast garden acreage surrounding the 1850s historic home of Joan Feeney and Bruce Phillips in Millerton, visitors could begin at refreshment stations where walking tour maps of the 15-acre property were available. There were streams and ponds with docks, and a dozen bridges arranged around the landscape. In the 19th-century, the property had been the home of the Wilson Cheese Factory, inspiring the name of the estate.
The Amenia Garden Tour was supported this year by Paley’s Garden Center in Sharon.
Gary Dodson working a tricky pool on the Schoharie Creek, hoping to lure something other than a rock bass from the depths.
PRATTSVILLE, N.Y. — The Schoharie Creek, a fabled Catskill trout stream, has suffered mightily in recent decades.
Between pressure from human development around the busy and popular Hunter Mountain ski area, serious flooding, and the fact that the stream’s east-west configuration means it gets the maximum amount of sunlight, the cool water required for trout habitat is simply not as available as in the old days.
This is not a new phenomenon. It does seem to be getting worse, though.
Gary Dodson and I convened where the creek makes its final run into the Schoharie reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system, on a semi-broiling Thursday afternoon, July 11.
The goal was simple. Catch smallmouth bass, which abound in the lower section of the river.
This was hot stuff — as in an 80-degree water temperature.
The air temperature was actually slightly less at 77.
After negotiating the intensely slippery rocks, festooned with treacherous algae, the first major pool presented several difficulties, with a back eddy competing with a main flow and several large trees draped about the whole thing.
I hit on the simplest strategy, which was to flip a weighted attractor fly called a Tequilley into the start of the eddy so it would proceed slowly but steadily into the maelstrom, sinking all the while.
This worked. A proper adult smallmouth, with bronze coloring and vertical stripes, took the thing.
The point-and-shoot camera finally died, however, and I was not going to try to fumble my phone out for a nice but routine fish photo.
Why not?
Because I guarantee the fish would have made a sudden, last-moment bolt for freedom, causing me to drop the device into the drink.
Gary moved downstream while I continued trying to annoy the residents of the pool, succeeding a couple of times with different colored Wooly Buggers.
Then we all got bored and I moved off, where Gary was catching rock bass and cussing them out for not being something else.
I have to admit, they are not the most compelling critters. Something about the red eyes.
This latest trip was dominated by extremely tedious and distasteful Harry Homeowner activities, but on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings I prowled Woodland Valley Creek. By “morning” I mean “dawn,” because that was when the water temps were down to a barely acceptable 64.
I made the acquaintance of several stocked browns and of a handful of their wild cousins. The wild fish are smaller and nimbler.
The successful ploy was an Adams wet fly, size 16, drifted behind something big, like a Parachute Adams or Stimulator.