The Massachusetts Commitment to Forest Reserves
Major Progress and Questions
Editor’s Note: David Foster’s analysis of the new Forest Reserve Grant Program in Massachusetts introduces an initiative that exemplifies how state policy can support the integrated approach to land protection central to our mission at From the Ground Up and outlined in the Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities Vision. These new funding opportunities for wildland conservation, when viewed alongside other State decisions to expand cost-shares for climate-friendly forest stewardship and to selectively lift the moratorium on harvests of State-owned forests, illustrate the Commonwealth’s desire to pursue an expanded and balanced approach to the protection and management of public lands. With sufficient funding, thoughtful planning, and collaboration between public and private stakeholders, programs like this can make a measurable impact in protecting the diversity and resilience of our shared landscape. – Alex Redfield
These days, especially, it is extraordinarily gratifying to witness science and government working with public engagement to conceive, develop, and implement major solutions to address climate change. That is exactly what state government in Massachusetts is accomplishing by forging the Forests as Climate Solutions Initiative in 2022; producing a state-wide decarbonizing roadmap in 2023; tasking a committee of experts to recommend ways to advance climate-informed forestry; and then, based on those recommendations, creating programs to support ecologically sustainable forestry and awarding $5 million in grants to establish 13 new forest reserves. Here, I explore how the state came to adopt the 2005 goal of Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities of establishing reserves across 10 percent of the state’s forests, review state progress on reserves to date, and pose questions concerning the future of these efforts.
In its first days, the Healey-Driscoll administration prioritized addressing climate change, pointedly including nature as a part of the solution in achieving a central statewide goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The critical role of forests in that effort was recognized in the Forests as Climate Solutions Initiative with its land conservation goals of protecting 30 percent of the state by 2030 and 40 percent by 2050.
Then, as reviewed in this magazine, in June 2023 the administration convened a 12-person Climate Forestry Committee (CFC) and engaged with stakeholders and the public to recommend climate-oriented management guidelines that increase carbon storage and resilience to climate change. Among its recommendations the CFC report highlighted the importance of forest reserves (also known as Wildlands) in climate mitigation, asserting that passive management sequesters carbon faster than active management and that Massachusetts forests will continue to accumulate additional carbon for many decades if left undisturbed.
“Achieving a robust statewide reserve program will require forging coherency, collaboration, integration, and an embrace of wildland conservation across multiple public and private sectors of land ownership.”
A year after forming the CFC, the administration announced a comprehensive work plan that made a remarkable commitment to forest reserves and climate science, adopting all of the committee’s associated recommendations. These included the central goal of nearly tripling the extent of forest reserves (currently 111,244 acres according to Wildlands in New England [WiNE]) to more than 300,000 acres (10 percent of forests) across public and private ownerships. Toward this goal, the administration also committed to:
file legislation to codify existing state reserves in the next legislative session;
expand the number and size of forest reserves by designating more state land as reserves; acquiring land to expand or create new reserves; and engaging with federal, municipal, and private landowners to protect reserves;
tap $8 million in federal funding to acquire new reserves and seek ongoing funding;
issue a solicitation in 2024 for grants to fund new reserves;
begin agency acquisitions in 2025;
expand membership and clarify the charge of the Forest Reserve Science Advisory Committee (FRSAC) by 2024 to advise all three state land management divisions (Parks and Recreation, Water Supply, and Fisheries and Wildlife);
develop a clear definition of forest reserves by the fall of 2024; and
establish a forest reserve monitoring protocol in 2025.
Progress is most notable in the funding of forest reserves on private and municipal lands.
State Forest Reserves. The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Forest Reserve program embraces 36 tracts that just meet the Wildlands in New England criteria applied regionally (blue) and two tracts managed intensively that do not (red). The Division of Fish and Game has just three reserves (brown), and the Division of Water Supply has none. Projects funded in 2025 by the new Forest Reserve Grant Program (green) are shown as circles proportionate to the parcel acreage centered in the town in which they are located. Map by Brian Hall and David Foster
The state’s Land Acquisition for Forest Reserves Grant Program was established shortly after the work plan was released, and the program announced $5 million in awards in December 2024. The program seeks to advance the 10 percent goal by funding conservation organizations and municipalities to protect forest reserves through fee acquisition or conservation easement, and to make this commitment permanent through a conservation easement or recorded project agreement.
Review criteria for proposed parcels included size and configuration (20 percent), ecological condition (10 percent), and public access for passive recreation (10 percent). Two qualities were emphasized. The first was landscape considerations (30 percent), such as water quality protection, connection to protected landscapes, and proximity to State Forest Reserves. The second was ecological contributions (30 percent), such as sensitive wildlife or their habitats; unique natural communities; or biodiversity associated with intact, structurally complex, or late seral forests. There was no minimum size for parcels.
The maximum allowable award was $2 million, and could reimburse the applicant for up to 50% of the total cost of the project. Recipients included eight conservation groups (Bourne Conservation Trust [BCT], The Trustees of Reservations, Kestrel Land Trust, Native Land Conservancy, Metacomet Land Trust, Berkshire Natural Resource Council, Mass Audubon, and Hilltown Land Trust) and three towns (Ashland, Bourne with BCT, and Easton).
Size distribution of existing and new state-owned or state-funded reserves in Massachusetts that meet the criteria for forest reserves established in Wildlands in New England. The private properties funded in 2025 by the new state Forest Reserve Grant Program fall on the smaller end of the size distribution of forest reserves, which extend up to nearly 12,000 acres at Mount Greylock State Reservation. Graph by Brian Hall and David Foster
The conserved properties range from 15 acres (Town of Easton) to 275 acres (Mass Audubon) with seven less than 100 acres, two between 100 and 200 acres, and four greater than 200 acres, for a total of 1,263 acres. Ten are to be conserved in fee, and three involve the purchase of conservation easements. Assuming a 50 percent reimbursement rate, the project costs average about $7,000 per acre for fee acquisitions.
As intended by the administration, the new forest reserves acquired through the initial round of this program strongly complement the state reserves as they include a range of private land, expand the geography of reserves in the central and eastern regions of the state, provide access to population centers, and occupy the lower end of the size distribution.
Questions Concerning the Future of Massachusetts’ Reserves
Massachusetts stands at a strong but precarious point as it advances its ambitious goals for forest reserves. Achieving a robust statewide reserve program will require forging coherency, collaboration, integration, and an embrace of wildland conservation across multiple public and private sectors of land ownership. These include private landowners, a large land trust community, and perhaps most importantly three separate state divisions of land management with a history of uneven cooperation and acceptance of passive management and forest reserves. Three sources of information help identify areas of action that may bolster the administration’s efforts. These include the state’s work plan and CFC report; stakeholder and public response to current state actions on reserves; and the Wildlands in New England (WiNE) report with its recommendations for strengthening Wildland conservation regionally across public and private sectors. Four areas for attention emerge from these sources.
1. Develop a clear and robust definition of forest reserves. Without a uniform clear definition there is no ability to judge progress, assess grant proposals, or guide management and public recreation on reserves. Vague and unevenly applied definitions currently exist across the agencies for public lands, among land trusts, and for recently funded private lands. For example, while all but two of the forest reserves managed by DCR meet the criteria for wildland reserves outlined in WiNE (see below), almost none managed by the Division of Fish and Game do. It is suggested that stakeholders work in association with FRSAC to develop criteria that can be applied broadly and align with the regional approach adopted in WiNE so that Massachusetts mapping and inventory will integrate seamlessly with the New England webmap.
Wildland = Reserve = Wilderness
Definition and Criteria
Wildlands in New England (2023)
Wildlands are tracts of any size and current condition, permanently protected from development, in which management is explicitly intended to allow natural processes to prevail with “free will” and minimal human interference. Humans have been part of nature for millennia and can coexist within and with Wildlands without intentionally altering their structure, composition, or function.
Wildland criteria include (i) intent, (ii) current and future management, and (iii) level of protection. Wildland is free-willed, being allowed to develop without significant human intervention once designated but may be in any current condition from past human use.
2. Expand the number and size of forest reserves. Given the private lands efforts advanced by the Forest Reserves Grant Program, the Wildlands Partnership of Northeast Wilderness Trust, and organizations such as Kestrel Land Trust and the Trustees of Reservations, the state should proceed with its parallel effort on public lands. This could include redesignating state land to expand existing reserves and establish new ones (at nominal cost), acquiring new lands, and collaborating with municipal and federal landowners.
3. Expand and clarify the charge of the FRSAC. An effort underway to replace FRSAC with a new Forest Reserve Science and Technical Advisory Committee includes inviting existing members to continue. The existing FRSAC was restricted to DCR properties, met infrequently, and seldom engaged in serious review. The new FRSAC could take on a larger role of advising reserve policy and management across all agencies and grant programs.
4. Codify State Forest Reserves. This major recommendation was advanced by WiNE and the CFC report. The commitment by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to advance legislation to make forest reserves permanent should proceed expeditiously in concert with items 1 and 3 above.
David Foster is an ecologist, Director Emeritus of the Harvard Forest, and President Emeritus of the Highstead Foundation. He co-founded the Wildlands and Woodlands Initiative in 2005 and was lead writer of Wildlands in New England: Past, Present, and Future in 2023. David has written and edited books including Thoreau’s Country: Journey Through a Transformed Landscape; Forests in Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1,000 Years of Change in New England; Hemlock: A Forest Giant on the Edge; and A Meeting of Land and Sea: The Nature and Future of Martha’s Vineyard.