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Mark Nelson

Standing Strong

Updated: 5 days ago

Celebrating another year of progress for New England's public forests!

An old-growth area of the White Mountain National Forest proposed for logging.
A massive white pine crowns a stand with magnificent old-growth and old forest habitat along the Great Gulf Trail in the White Mountain National Forest. This stand is one of several illegally approved for logging in the Peabody West logging project, which Standing Trees litigated in 2024 along with the Tarleton logging project.

Dear Fellow Forest Lovers,

 

As I began thinking about a year end letter, the theme of “standing strong” kept coming to mind. I am so grateful for the Standing Trees community that has formed to protect and restore forests on our federal and state lands. From the beginning, you have stood strong and raised your voices to speak for the forests.

 

The last year has been full of enormous successes. In May, Standing Trees launched its first-ever federal lawsuit to protect mature and old-growth forests, Inventoried Roadless Areas, and clean water in the White Mountain National Forest. Meanwhile, in the Green Mountain National Forest, we uncovered for the public that more than 800 acres of old-growth is proposed for cutting in the Telephone Gap logging project, a critical detail that was not disclosed by the Forest Service. A front-page article in the Boston Globe and a high-profile story in the Guardian featured our efforts to protect these federal lands. This fall, we hired a lobbyist for the upcoming Vermont legislative session, and Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic secured a $250,000 grant specifically to expand its work with Standing Trees.

 

The cover of the Boston Globe website on Saturday, October 26th featured a photo and article about Standing Trees.
Standing Trees' efforts to protect the White Mountain National Forest were featured on the cover of the Boston Globe website on October 26th, and on the front cover of the print edition on October 28th.

There have also been challenges and setbacks. Some recent events have reinforced the need to stand strong – the US Forest Service’s resistance to honoring President Biden’s Executive Order concerning Mature and Old Growth Forests, the approval of a backwards-looking Worcester Range Management Plan, the release of the Draft Decision Notice for the Telephone Gap Integrated Resource Project, and most recently the fact that a number of organizations chose to vocally support senseless logging projects on state and federal lands, despite clear violations of federal and state laws.

 

The number of forces working to promote messages and policies that enable the continued cutting down of our public forests are significant and entrenched. Despite all of the recent science that supports the many benefits of mature and older forests, and despite the fact that forests have the ability to heal from years of logging, all on their own, humans still think they can “manage” our forests better than mother nature.

 

An old-growth stand in the Green Mountain National Forest proposed for logging.
Old-growth stand proposed for logging in the Telephone Gap project in the Green Mountain National Forest.

Our forests in the Northeast are slowly recovering from historic aggressive logging. If left alone, they can return to their former grandeur. We only need to look across Lake Champlain to the Adirondack Park in New York to see what can happen if we choose protection over destruction. If left alone, forests will provide us with clean water, reduce the impacts of floods, moderate temperatures, sequester and store carbon, and provide us with oxygen. But most important, they provide a home for those who do not have a seat at the negotiating table – the vast number of plants & animals that depend on us to speak for them in policy debates, courtrooms, and the opinion sections of newspapers.

 

The forests are strong. They have weathered many events and have still persevered. They survive and recover from fire, ice, wind, and torrential rain. But they are no match for bulldozers, skidders, and feller-bunchers, the machinery of modern “forestry.” It’s up to us to be their voice and their strength against these attacks.

 

Here are a few simple things that each of us can do: organize, talk to friends and neighbors, write letters to our federal and state legislators, submit comments to the agencies responsible for our forests, attend meetings, write letters to newspaper editors, let other organizations know how you feel about their support for logging public forests. Together, we will make a difference.

 

I have a specific call to action for those of you who want to speak for the forests. We need to let Vermont’s congressional delegation know that the Telephone Gap Integrated Resource Project is one of the worst US Forest Service plans in recent history and that we need their help to stop it. Please ask them to help cancel the Telephone Gap project and to permanently protect the Green Mountain National Forest from logging.

 

Let them know that the Telephone Gap logging project will:

  1. Release 254,556 metric tonnes of carbon from logging operations based on the Forest Service’s own calculations. This equates to 59,377 gas powered vehicles driven for a year.

  2. Cut 817 acres rare old-growth forest.

  3. Log 1,800 acres of the 16,000-acre Pittenden Inventoried Roadless Area near Rochester, VT, one of the largest blocks of unprotected wild forest in the whole state of Vermont.

 

Here is how to get in touch with the Vermont congressional delegation:

 

Thank you all for your past support - volunteering your time and providing financial resources. We try not to bother you with emails requesting donations. But if you are so moved, please consider a donation before year end.


With our solid financial foundation and stronger-than-ever partnerships, we are entering 2025 with exciting plans to expand our capacity and dramatically improve the policy and legal landscape for public forests. We can't wait to unveil several new campaigns in the months ahead.


In closing, I would like to share a quote from a long-time conservationist and wilderness advocate, Brock Evans. His formula for success was “Endless Pressure, Endlessly Applied.” I will continue to stand and speak for the forests as long as I have a voice or until they have the permanent protection they need. I am grateful to each and every one of you for standing strong alongside me and the entire Standing Trees community.

 

For the Forest,

 

Mark


Mark Nelson

Standing Trees Board Chair

Ripton, VT

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