Changing Socio-economic Conditions for Private Woodland Protection

Protecting conservation values on privately owned lands is a significant issue in many parts of the world. Early conservation strategies, which focused on ­setting-aside public lands from largely unpopulated ‘frontier’ regions, are becoming an increasingly limited option as populations grow, settlements spread, ­ownership patterns solidify, and land values rise. Yet as these human-defined boundaries ­proliferate across the globe and divide lands once wild into privately-owned parcels, the lessons of landscape ecology beckon us toward another view – a view where sharp lines and divisions in ownership are blurred to protect the ecological processes that ultimately sustain us all. These processes have been shaping the human face of New England’s landscape for well over 200 years. Here, we recount these changes and pay particular attention to some recent innovations in protecting conservation values on private lands. As we demonstrate, the region’s long conservation tradition has spawned some uncommon approaches for sustaining human and natural systems across a landscape that is largely under private ownership. The approaches taken and lessons learned have much to offer other regions of the world seeking ways to creatively bridge the divide between private property and public values.

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