Twenty Years of Gratitude

In her poem “Camas Lilies,” Lynn Ungar writes:

Make no mistake. Of course your work will always matter.

The thought is welcome encouragement but not always easy to hold in one’s heart. What individual does not wonder, when surveying a broken world, have I made a difference? What organization, formed to heal some facet of the world’s brokenness, does not wrestle with how to work harder, do more, extend its reach? At Northeast Wilderness Trust, we constantly consider these questions.

Still, like Thoreau, we have faith in a seed. Planted just 20 years ago, the Wilderness Trust has germinated and grown into a hardy sapling. It is an auspicious start, even as we understand that the work of rewilding is the work of centuries, with Nature doing the heavy lifting.

To be part of this great, joyful struggle in service of life’s buzzing, blossoming diversity makes us wildly grateful. That gratitude begins with the community of donors, supporters, and colleagues to the Wilderness Trust’s singular mission and extends to the ecological systems that make life possible. We give thanks to the sun and soil, to the rain, to the pollinators who perform wonders, and to all our wild relations in the community of life. Our deepest desire is to be worthy cousins to the bears and bobcats, salmon and spleenworts with whom we share the land.

Northeast Wilderness Trust’s land protection success over the past 20 years is due to thousands of individual contributors, philanthropists, foundations—and you. Your support comes to life on this map of completed, forever-wild projects. This is your wild legacy.

VERMONT

MAINE

NEW HAMPSHIRE

FOREVER-WILD PLACES

Ambassador Preserves

2022 Closings

WILDLANDS PARTNERSHIP

PROJECTS

MASSACHUSETTS

2022 Closings

Other Protected Wilderness

CONNECTICUT

SINCE FOUNDING IN 2002