The forests of the eastern United States cover 926,000 square miles: an area far greater than those of the American West. Scientists consider this the most intact temperate deciduous and mixed forest region on Earth.
In the middle of this world-renown resource, Follow the Forest seeks to protect and connect core forests, the largest intact woodland areas in a region of increasing development. Core forests filter air and water while also providing important habitat for wildlife, linking Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills to the Green Mountains of Vermont. However, the threat of forests being disconnected through fragmentation and changing land use persists even as we recognize the global importance of this resource. The loss of forested land is not linear. Without strategic vision and protection, individual core forests will dwindle and ultimately erode the ecological integrity of eastern New York and New England.
SRA is proud to participate in the “Follow the Forest” initiative, an effort to protect and connect at least 50% of core forest habitats (>250 acres) from the lower Hudson Valley to the Canada border to decrease the impacts of the climate crisis, reduce habitat fragmentation, and enable a wide variety of plant and animal species the capacity to move between areas. To learn more about our collaborative efforts, watch the below video “Follow the Forest.”
