Harvard Forest >

Summer Research Project 2018

• Title: Advancing Wildlands and Woodlands through Collaborative Conservation
• Group Project Leader: David Foster
• Mentors: David Foster; Brian Hall
• Collaborators: Jonathan Thompson
• Project Description:

  Wildlands and Woodlands (W&W) is a bold regional vision and a rapidly growing initiative that inspires people across New England to conserve the region’s landscapes to craft a sustainable future. W&W envisions a future where New England is a mosaic of woodlands sustainably managed for timber and other resources, wildlands set aside from active management to allow natural processes to shape the land and waters, and lands devoted to local and sustainable agriculture, all integrated with thriving rural and urban communities. The W&W vision was launched in part to address the fact that suburban sprawl and haphazard development are converting land that provides natural resources and sustains local economies at a rate of 24,000 acres a year. The W&W vision, which developed from and is supported by the work of Harvard Forest scientists collaborating with conservationists at the Highstead Foundation and other partners, calls for the permanent conservation of 70 percent of New England’s land base as forest and 7 percent as farmland, free from development by 2060. Since its inception in 2010, increasing numbers of landowners, conservation organizations, and public agencies across New England have embraced this vision.
  
  In order to achieve the vision, W&W recommends voluntary, landowner and community-based action. With the goal of increasing the pace of local land protection, a number of land trusts and regional conservation partnerships are launching pilot programs to adopt the W&W vision to their specific regions. Harvard Forest scientists and members of the Wildlands and Woodlands initiative plans to work collaboratively with these groups, community members, and other academic institutions in two subregions of central and western Massachusetts. Participation in the pilot program offers a unique opportunity for highly motivated students to inform on and help create a model for the integration of wildlands, woodlands, farmlands, and communities.
  
  The two students selected will be key members of the conservation collaborative and will work closely with scientists and practitioners to help define the project goals and geography, develop and advance conservation priorities, and assist in promoting the permanent protection of forests and farmlands. The projects will be based in the regions surrounding the Harvard Forest and in the adjoining Connecticut Valley and the work will at the Forest and throughout these regions.
  
  The students selected will be responsible for conducting research, helping to identify conservation priorities using GIS and other analyses, supporting outreach and land protection activities, and coordinating among the collaborators. Each student will have primary responsibility within one region, but they will work closely together as part of a team based at the Harvard Forest. Each will be responsible for developing a final report and web page content that summarizes the goals, composition, accomplishments, and future activities of the collaborative and assesses the overall effectiveness of the effort. Each student will present findings from his/her report in the end-of-summer research symposium. There may be opportunities to extend this work through thesis projects or other activities during the academic year.
  
  General requirements
  The students working on this project must have:
  • A strong interest in land protection;
  • Experience with or a strong motivation to learn GIS;
  • Strong writing, editing, and problem solving skills;
  • Strong collaborative inclinations and interpersonal communications skills;
  • A valid driver’s license
  

• Readings:

  2017. Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands and Communities. Broadening the Vision for New England
  
  Reportshttp://www.wildlandsandwoodlands.org/sites/default/files/W%26W%20report%202017.pdf
  
  2014. The Wildlands and Woodlands Initiative of the Harvard Forest, Harvard University. In: Levitt, J. N., Conservation Catalysts: The Academy as Nature's Agent, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, MA.
  
  http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/sites/harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/files/publications/pdfs/Foster_ConservCatalystsCh1_2014.pdf

• Research Category: Regional Studies, Group Projects, Conservation and Management