Connecting Everyone to the Outdoors in New England!
Dear Friends,
With the many challenges facing our nation, communities in New England and beyond are eager for solutions. YOU are part of the solution. Together, we are not just dreaming of a healthier, more equitable, climateresilient future—we are actively building it.
Access to the outdoors is an essential part of vibrant community life across New England. Local parks, trails, forests, and playgrounds are where we spend time with friends and family, let our kids play and explore, and take respite from everyday life. Parks are America’s common ground, serving as collective spaces in which residents among all demographics develop community bonds and cultivate a shared identity around the land and with each other. We see the unity that nature evokes across the region, from a parks and affordable housing collaboration in Massachusetts, to a community forest for folks of all ages in Vermont, a historic land return effort in partnership with Penobscot Nation in Maine, and local ballot measures with momentous turnout in New Hampshire and Maine.
TPL believes that green space can help mend the social fabric. From the polls to our own backyards, advocating for nature brings us together.
NEW ENGLAND 2024 BY THE NUMBERS
Created 4 new public green spaces totaling 1,375 acres
Enhanced access to nature at two schools impacting 352 students and families
4,350 people engaged in green space design, development, and advocacy
WHAT’S NEXT?
Connected over 38,000 people to the outdoors
We are thrilled to welcome TPL’s new President and CEO Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser. She brings a wealth of experience in public policy, philanthropy, the outdoor industry, and community engagement, making her an ideal leader for TPL’s next chapter. Most recently, she served as President and CEO of Colorado Mountain College. Carrie’s leadership will be instrumental as we amplify our efforts to expand outdoor access through our equity, health, climate, and community commitments.
As TPL looks to the future with Carrie at the helm, we remain committed to our vision of a world where everyone can connect with the outdoors. We sincerely appreciate your steadfast support of TPL. Thank you for partnering with us on this journey.
With gratitude,
Shelby Semmes Vice President, New England Region
WOLCOTT COMMUNITY FOREST PHOTO BY CHRIS BENNETT
Protecting Treasured Forestland in Maine
We have worked in Maine for three decades—creating 90 new public spaces totaling over 200,000 acres—to protect land, create close-to-home access to nature, and support the well-being of our communities. TPL’s work in Maine has never been more relevant in the face of climate change and the increasing loss of access to our woods, waters, and trails. With your support, we will achieve our goal of protecting 41,000 acres in the next five years to advance community health, climate resiliency, and outdoor recreation opportunities.
This year, we successfully protected the new 446-acre Rumford Community Forest , opening it to the public for year-round recreation. Formerly permitted for development, this project marks a significant change in course and provides close-to-town public access to beloved local trails.
Community Forests are unique in that community members play an active role in shaping the vision for the land. Thanks to TPL and our partners at Inland Woods + Trails, Northern Forest Center, and the Town of Rumford, residents are creating the shared outdoor space of their dreams. We are so excited to be a part of this transformational project for the town and see the Rumford community’s vision become reality!
RESTORING CULTURAL AND ANCESTRAL LANDS
TPL and Penobscot Nation are partnering to return nearly 30,000 acres of land, known as Wáhseht ek w (pronounced “WAH-seh-teg”), to Penobscot Nation. This historic collaboration is the largest land return effort between a tribal nation and a U.S.-based nonprofit organization. Together, we are advancing Indigenousled conservation and land return projects as part of TPL’s Tribal and Indigenous Lands initiative.
In addition to restoring rightful governance and care of the Wáhseht ek w land to Penobscot Nation, this project will create vital access to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument for communities who rely on the outdoor recreation economy.
By supporting our work in Maine, YOU help to expand outdoor access for all, including:
• South Branch Forest: conserving a 3,840-acre forest home to 7 miles of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, connecting over 240,000 acres of conserved land.
• Moxie Pond: adding 1,845 acres to the National Park Service’s Appalachian National Scenic Trail unit, protecting the viewshed and soundscape of the A.T. from development.
• Southern Maine Public Lands program: supporting the Town of Scarborough as they advance a $6 million land bond referendum to help meet the town’s land conservation goals and working across Southern Maine to identify and protect land in communities most in need of closeto-home access to nature.
KATAHDIN REGION PHOTO BY CHRIS BENNETT
Growing Community Spaces in Massachusetts
Access to nature strengthens social connectedness among neighbors, enhances physical and mental health, and improves climate resilience. In Massachusetts, we work hand-in-hand with communities to achieve these benefits. Our park-creation process is not just about the park itself. It is about becoming a part of the community: joining celebrations, listening to concerns, and understanding that members of the community know their needs better than anyone else. We are proud of the relationships we have built, resulting in communities who feel empowered to advocate for themselves and to make lasting change.
Last spring, we broke ground on the Chittick Elementary Community Schoolyard in Hyde Park. At the celebratory groundbreaking event, recent Chittick graduate Italy Pimentel spoke to the importance of planning for future generations, knowing that the park she and other students helped design would impact students, like her kindergartener sister, for years to come. Through TPL’s participatory design process, the Chittick students created a quality local playground to play and explore— that also offers climate benefits to the surrounding area. The playground is open for play as of fall 2024.
We are also celebrating the permanent protection of 194 acres of the viewshed of the iconic Appalachian Trail Landscape in Tyringham . Through this effort we have safeguarded the farm and forests of the Tyringham Shaker Settlement Historic District, an important vestige of the town’s history.
CONNECTING PARKS AND HOUSING
In a first-of-its-kind partnership, TPL, Boston Housing Authority (BHA), and local partners are creating Archdale Community Park in Roslindale. This new climate-smart green space will provide 700 residents and families in the Archdale Village public housing complex and over 3,000 surrounding neighbors with a safe, local gathering place to connect with the outdoors.
We are building relationships within the Archdale community to ensure that the park meets local needs, including hosting community design sessions and collaborating on events to elevate Archdale’s voice. The City of Boston’s readiness to explore and adopt new approaches to improve park access earned it a spot in TPL’s Park Equity Accelerator program, where we are helping BHA bring park and climate resilience benefits to more people across all of its properties.
Your support of our efforts in Massachusetts will bring more community driven projects to life in 2025:
• WOW Family Park: a community park in Dorchester’s West of Washington neighborhood
• Edgewater Riverfront: a trail expanding Mattapan residents’ access to the Neponset River
• Radcliffe Street Park and Food Forest: an edible forest space in Dorchester
CHITTICK ELEMENTARY COMMUNITY SCHOOLYARD
PHOTO BY JUSTIN BARTELS
Conserving Iconic Landscapes in Vermont
TPL and Vermont communities are setting out to create a better world in the face of a changing climate—looking to conservation and outdoor recreation for solutions. By passing Vermont’s Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act in 2023 and advancing a new statewide outdoor recreation plan, Vermont is uniting around conservation as a climate solution. The state has set the goal of conserving 30 percent of its land and waters by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050, while advancing universal access to the outdoors. TPL is a key partner in achieving these goals, having conserved 71,728 acres across the state and working to protect an additional 15,000 acres of high impact lands in the next six years. And we are just getting started.
TPL is energetically pursuing new opportunities to safeguard strategic forestland in Vermont. Guided by our core commitments to health, equity, climate, and community, we are advancing exciting partnerships across the state to ensure Vermonters can access the benefits of the outdoors for generations to come.
Together with the Town of Wolcott and the Northern Rivers Land Trust, our work to create the Wolcott Community Forest added 734 acres of new public land, including a five-mile multi-use trail network, within
walking distance of the village center. The land lies adjacent to the Wolcott Elementary School, Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, and proposed statewide Velomont Trail, providing close-to-home recreation opportunities for residents and visitors alike. Conserving and creating green spaces is especially vital in communities like Wolcott who are employing nature-based solutions to rebuild after devastating floods in 2023.
Our Roaring Branch project will add 2,104 acres to the Green Mountain National Forest in the towns of Stamford and Pownal—a major advancement toward the State’s 30x30 ambitions. Protection of this property will expand the buffer around the beloved Appalachian and Long Trails nearby, protect vital headwater streams, and conserve habitat for state-endangered American marten.
The U.S. Forest Service has identified the Green Mountain National Forest as one of the nation’s most developmentthreatened national forests, with an average of 10,000 acres of forestland lost annually in the State. With this project and others, TPL is working to protect wildlife habitat, water quality, and climate resiliency, and improve access for people who visit the National Forest and its iconic trails.
According to Vermont’s surveys for their new statewide outdoor recreation plan, improving mental health is the #1 reason Vermonters seek time in the outdoors
WOLCOTT COMMUNITY FOREST PHOTOS BY CHRIS BENNETT
Uniting Around Outdoor Access in New Hampshire
In New Hampshire, TPL has conserved over 262,000 acres in 76 communities since 1987. That’s 13 percent of preserved land in the state. We are proud to work with communities to build trails, protect waterways, and create community forests ensuring all residents have equitable access to nature.
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE’S SEACOAST
It may seem unusual to report on the triumphs of a stalled conservation effort, but at TPL, we know the process and people behind the creation of parks and public land can be just as important as acreage outcomes.
Over the last two years, we have been working in close partnership with Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire and a vibrant network of volunteers, partners, trail stewards, donors, and voters of Newfields and Exeter, on a proposed Newfields-Exeter Community Forest— over 148-acres of beloved forest and wetlands, home to over 12 miles of the regional Fort Rock Trail system. Unfortunately, the effort stalled this summer due to unresolvable boundary conflicts between the Town and private landowners. With over $3.4 million secured toward the $6 million campaign, this was profoundly disappointing to many local supporters. While we hope that some form of land and trail conservation may still take shape down the line, we are taking heart that the citizen engagement in the effort will have positive ripple effects for years to come.
We saw it in the numbers: 300 signatures on a citizens’ petition for Newfields and Exeter Warrant Articles in spring of 2024; hundreds of community members attending public meetings; over 1,200 northeast residents from New York to Maine signing an open public letter of support; 583 (67%) of Newfields voters supporting a $2.5 million Town funding measure for the land purchase in March town meetings and 2,222 (88%) of Exeter voters supporting an advisory measure amidst record voter turnout.
This volume of engagement serves as a reminder of the power of the outdoors in building and maintaining trust in our community and institutions. Despite the frustration shared by so many at the unexpected stalemate on the project, TPL stands proud to step into high-impact, high-risk public land opportunities like these, where outcomes are uncertain.
Thank you for investing in this work and helping us give voice to New Hampshire’s seacoast residents in an effort to save a beloved forest.
NEWFIELDS-EXETER FOREST PHOTO BY JERRY AND MARCY MONKMAN
THANK YOU
for helping improve the health, equity, and climate outcomes for communities in New England and beyond.
NEW ENGLAND ADVISORY BOARD
We are so grateful for our New England Advisory Board members, whose support and guidance keep us moving towards our goal of connecting everyone to the outdoors. And we are recruiting! Please contact us to learn more about volunteer opportunities with TPL.
Laquisa Burke , Manager of Rental and Homeownership Services, Madison Park Development Corporation
Carolyn Mansfield duPont , Chief Operating Officer, Upstream Tech
Amanda Garvey, Vice President, Sustainability and Resilience Practice at Thornton Tomasetti
Will Hewes , Global Lead for Water Sustainability, Amazon Web Services
Wendy Holding , Trustee, Loring, Wolcott & Coolidge
Helen Kellogg , Principal, Brook Road Advisors and TPL New England Advisory Board Chair
Will Lintilhac , Trustee, Lintilhac Foundation and Board Chair, Vermont Natural Resources Council
Drew McConville , Senior Fellow for Conservation, Center for American Progress
Victor Morrison , Principal, Morrison Management Consulting and Executive Coaching
Help ensure everyone has access to the outdoors. Every park we create, schoolyard we transform, trail we extend, and landscape we protect is thanks to supporters like you. tpl.org/donate
Richard Oetheimer, Of Counsel, Goodwin Procter LLP, and Board Member, Needham Land Trust
Roland Price , Vice President & Treasurer, Point32Health (Retired)
Micah Roberge , Senior Vice President & Financial Advisor, UBS
Ann Taylor, Physician, consultant, and Co-Chair, Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine
Dano Weisbord , Chief Sustainability Officer, Tufts University
Ally McDougal
New England Director of Philanthropy 781.856.5564 ally.mcdougal@tpl.org
Shelby Semmes Vice President, New England Region 917.658.2582
shelby.semmes@tpl.org
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