Connecticut Land Conservation Conference

Wilderness and wild nature conservation are essential yet underutilized tools to respond to the existential threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. Wild forests store and sequester immense amounts of carbon, scrub the air clean of pollutants, filter water, offer refugia for our wild relations and all of us to connect with nature and reflect and rejuvenate our bodies and our minds. Yet only 3% of the Northeast and only 1% of Connecticut is prioritized for natural processes, thereby putting our ecological support systems at risk. Dr. Susan Masino and the Northeast Wilderness Trust (NEWT) are presenting on the importance of wild places across the landscape and what it means to protect some land as “Forever Wild.”