Please make a gift today. Your donation will help us move forward with land projects in Maine, New Hampshire, and New York and allow us to develop additional wildland protection initiatives across the region. We are always happy to earmark gifts for a specific place or project, so please include any such requests when making your gift. Thank you so much for your support!

Click here to read our fall 2011 letter from Board President Tom Butler.

Alcott Smith explains to the field walk participants some of the ways that wildlife prepare for winter.

On December 10, expert naturalist Alcott Smith led 18 people on an all-day field foray into a wild area in the Split Rock Wildway in eastern New York. The group walked on the Beaver Flow Trail, explored the surrounding forest, and ended on the Black Kettle Trail at Black Kettle Farm. They found sign of beaver and bear, learned about how animals adapt to survive through winter, and gleaned many interesting facts from Alcott’s knowledge of natural history.

The field day was part of Wild and Connected, a series of walks and talks organized by the Northeast Wilderness Trust and co-sponsored by Champlain Area Trails.

The next event, “Wild & Wonderfully Near Us: Bobcat Recovery in the Champlain Valley,” will take place on Thursday, January 26 at 7:00 pm at the Whallonsburg Grange in Whallonsburg, NY. Wildlife expert Susan Morse of Keeping Track will give a slideshow and talk about bobcats. Come learn more about these beautiful spotted wildcats whose populations are reviving across our region.

The theme of this year’s Rally was “Connecting Communities for the Future of Conservation,” and Rose noted that the keynote by Will Allen, founder of Growing Power, was particularly inspiring. She also noted that when one orders a Bloody Mary in Milwaukee, it comes with cheese in it–and according to Rose, this is good.  Well then… thanks for the report, Rose!

We like Sue Morse's bobcat photo so much that not only is it on the cover of the annual report, we’re also printing a poster of this image! Contact us if you'd like to receive a poster.

Our first-ever annual report is hot off the press. The report reviews our conservation accomplishments in 2010 and looks ahead to upcoming projects. Along with stunning photos, the annual report includes a map, descriptions of major projects completed last year, a profile of easement donors David and CC White, letters from the board president and executive director, and more.

We’re pleased to share this retrospective with you and hope you’ll take a look. And please contact us if you’d like us to send you—or a friend—a hard copy.

Download the NWT 2010 Annual Report (PDF)

It is all mossy and moosey. In some of those dense fir and spruce woods there is hardly room for the smoke to go up. The trees are a standing night, and every fir and spruce which you fell is a plume plucked from night's raven wing. —Henry David Thoreau

The Northeast Wilderness Trust has completed its $1.94 million campaign to secure the Piscataquis Preserve, and launched a Piscataquis phase 2 effort to add another 2200 acres to the Trust’s wilderness holdings in the Greater Alder Stream/Piscataquis River watershed.

In December 2010 the Trust took title to some 1200 acres, including three miles of frontage on the Piscataquis River. Executive Director Jim Northup acknowledged with gratitude the many partners and donors behind this success, including the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Sweet Water Trust, the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, Open Space Institute, and American Chestnut Foundation. “The enthusiastic, broad-based support that flowed to this conservation project was heartening,” he noted. “While the the waterfowl, Atlantic salmon, and chestnut trees may not be able to express it in words, I think we can say can that all the members of the land community share in this celebration.”

In February 2010, board president Tom Butler announced that the Wilderness Trust is starting a campaign to raise $1.75 million to acquire approximately 2200 acres centered on Levenseller Brook, contiguous with lands already protected by the Trust. “This is an outstanding opportunity to expand and help connect a growing quilt of public and private conservation lands in the Greater Alder Stream/Piscataquis River watershed,” he said. “These lands offer tremendous wildlife habitat and wilderness recovery potential, and we anticipate a successful effort to protect them.”

The North American Wetlands Conservation Council has recommended that the Northeast Wilderness Trust’s $1 million application for Piscataquis Phase 2 be forwarded to the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission for action at the Commission’s March 9, 2011 meeting. “We hope to have more good news to report soon,” said Butler. “Pending the Commission’s final approval of the application and Congress’s appropriation of the funds through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, the Wilderness Trust will be launching the expanded Piscataquis Preserve conservation project in strong fashion.”