Forest Health and Integrity are More than Just Words

When you hear the words, Forest Health and Integrity, what do you think of?

Forest health to us at CHC means a place where all our native living creatures can live and thrive within a context where human communities are also thriving. Where biodiversity is strong in the natural world and in our human spaces. Integrity means to say what you mean and mean what you say, to be clear with intentions and honest in interactions. Trust is the outcome of integrity.

These words mean a great deal to the staff and board of Cold Hollow to Canada, and I believe to all of you that read this newsletter. We work hard to gain your trust and protect and steward the natural world in which we live. These words are also very important to our many partners around the state of Vermont. A partnership that has been recognized and supported for many years now by the Vermont Community Foundation through the High Meadows Fund and the Daybreak Fund.

From 2017 to 2021, The High Meadows Fund supported further development of CHC’s successful Woodlots program that was first established in 2013. [Woodlots is a peer-to-peer program across all seven town towns in the CHC region focused on landscape level forest management and shared goals.] In 2022, The Daybreak Fund provided additional support to CHC and Woodlots but with an expanded view to bring together like-minded partners into a Forest Health and Integrity Cohort.

This cohort now includes Audubon Vermont, Cold Hollow to Canada, Merck Forest and Farmland Center, NorthWoods Stewardship Center, Vermont Coverts, Vermont Natural Resources Council, Vermont Woodlands Association, Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, and Women & Our Woods. These impactful organizations are long-time partners to CHC, but this formal coalition spearheaded by the Vermont Community Foundation brings us together several times a year to coordinate and work more closely.

One example is the Wildlife Tracking Learning Series happening this winter with partners from the Merck Forest & Farmland Center, NorthWoods Stewardship Center, Vermont Coverts, and Vermont Woodlands Association. Another is CHC’s ongoing work with our partners at Audubon VT and the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps to assess and improve bird habitat through CHC’s Woodlots program.

We are honored to be part of this cohort and look forward to continued sharing of ideas and collaborative projects. We are also immensely grateful to the Vermont Community Foundation for supporting this collective effort. Together we are truly greater than the sum of our parts!