Welcome to the Winter 2025 issue of From the Ground Up!

The days are shorter. The nights are longer. Snow blankets the mountaintops.

The winter of 2023–2024 was the warmest on record worldwide. As we enter another winter, we ask ourselves: Will another record be broken? Will the snow turn to rain? Will the woods be too muddy to work in? Will flowers bloom in January?

Change is here, that much is certain. Temperatures are trending steadily warmer. It is wetter at times, and drier at other times. With these new extremes come devastating storms and even occasional wildfires, creating new challenges for our communities.

We also must acknowledge the new federal administration coming on board, and new policy leaders in each New England state. The New Yorker comments: “The fight against climate change has taken a body blow with the election.” Bill McKibben writes: “we can [now] expect the oil industry to have carte blanche.”

Yet, there is hope. In this season of reflection, we look for inspiration as we learn to adapt to new realities. We look to the light of community, of conservation, of rewilding, of the possible return of wolves, of regenerative farming, and of just food systems. And we see how all these things intersect and work together.

We’re excited to share with you a variety of voices on conservation at all scales, from the very local to the global.

At the local level, Nadine Canter takes us to the small city of Montpelier, Vermont, in Uncharted Floodwaters, where she talks with Katie Trautz of Montpelier Alive about the power of community and the lessons in adaptation in the face of recurring flooding. 

In Conservation for All, Karen Grey of Wildlands Trust shares the group’s collaborative, innovative work in environmental justice communities in southeastern Massachusetts to make open spaces welcoming and safe for all.

Looking more broadly to the forests of New England, Colby Galliher, in The Paradox of Pestilence, describes the challenges of new forest pests, like beech leaf disease, and wonders what we can learn from the lessons of the past.

And looking internationally: In Wolves are Expanding in Agricultural Denmark. Why Not New England? David Foster is inspired by a recent trip to Denmark, where wolves are, on their own, repopulating the country, even its agricultural areas. Will wolves reappear in New England? In response, Brian Donahue argues that wolves are already here, in the genetic makeup of coyotes. And Walter Medwid counters that wolves are a different creature, that there is nothing like the wildness of the wolf. Susie O’Keeffe steps back to reflect on Deep Ecology and our connections to wolves and other wild creatures.

A year after our first conversation with Amy Sheldon, we talk with her again about Land and Law—how recently passed legislation is and will be playing out in the conservation landscape in Vermont. Alex Redfield offers stories of the latest policy developments in each New England state in this issue’s Policy Chronicle.

We wish you peace as this season of contemplation unfolds. And keep the comments coming. We want to hear from you. 

 With gratitude,
The Editors of From the Ground Up

Brian Donahue, David Foster, Marissa Latshaw (Publisher), Alex Redfield, and Liz Thompson (Managing Editor)