Notes from President & Interim Executive Director of the Greater Lovell Land Trust, Jill Rundle
Walking to the Pittsburgh Convention Center along the Allegheny River in early October, I crossed the span of the Rachel Carson Bridge. Alone on the quiet riverfront, I heard the distinctive honking of geese in flight and turned to see a small flock in v-formation glide under the bridge and head up-river.
The symbolism of the moment— walking in a cityscape to attend the annual Land Trust Alliance conference, then being buzzed by a migrating flock drawn into flight by the change in the weather while crossing a city bridge named for the pioneer of the environmental movement— was inescapable.
Fifty-five years ago Rachel Carson, in her landmark 1962 book, Silent Spring, warned the world that DDT, then widely used as an agricultural pesticide, posed a profound risk to humans and animals. It was a watershed for the environmental movement, and it provoked a decade of public outcry that led to the 1972 ban on DDT, rescuing many species from certain extinction including the Bald Eagle.
In the years that followed, public action accelerated. The Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970 and the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973. The dramatic expansion of the land trust movement in the seventies and eighties was a direct result of the alarm and concern that had been triggered by Carson’s seminal work. But at the same time, corporate interests most threatened by restricting the use of chemicals and reducing reliance on fossil fuels mounted a deeply funded campaign of obfuscation and manipulated information that was widely spread by political interests and lobbyists.
The dramatic expansion of the land trust movement in the seventies and eighties was a direct result of the alarm and concern that had been triggered by Carson’s seminal work.
As the clock ticked into the nineties— when governments and environmentalists could have been developing solutions— well-funded corporate interests managed to spin the conversation. Stock prices soared, drilling expanded, and development spread—and the atmospheric temperature steadily climbed while corporate information machines assured us that climate change was not a problem that needed solving.
The new report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—in which 91 authors representing over 40 countries cite a staggering 6,000 studies—is an SOS for the future of the planet. The report reveals that we are on track for 3-4°C or higher warming caused primarily by greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Climate Agreement of 2016—the result of 25 years of climate diplomacy, and the first one that the US has failed to support—called for efforts to limit the increase to an ambitious 1.5°C. But two years later, the Arctic is rapidly unraveling and accelerating the release of methane that has been frozen beneath the ice, and large areas of the Middle East and India have become uninhabitable in the summer months. As the planet becomes increasingly hot and crowded, the IPCC report predicts that 2040—just 21 years from now—will see coastal cities swallowed, as many as 10 million people displaced, food shortages that will affect hundreds of millions, substantial spread of tropical diseases, and as much as $54 trillion in climate-associated costs including increases in storm damage and wildfire.
Refugees, human and wild, plant and animal, are already on the move around the globe, and the numbers will grow; driven inland and toward cooler latitudes as their geographic range is lost to heat waves and drought. It’s an enormous challenge, but the social reaction that banned the use of DDT could yet save our planet and our way of life. High-tech innovations for energy creation, manufacturing, and agricultural practices lead the headlines, but the so- called “forgotten solution” of conservation and forest management offers a critical component for the future.
The forests are natural machines for reducing CO2 in our atmosphere. Trees sequester carbon in large and lasting amounts in the visible plant above the ground and in the underground root and microbial systems in the soil. Forest understory and cleared lands provide varied habitat for the species that balance our ecosystems. The land trust movement that promotes land conservation and wildlife protection, discourages unplanned development, and connects wild corridors for wildlife movement and for human communities, is an important part of a climate solution that is already underway.
As drought threatens the lower latitudes in the not-too-distant future, the undeveloped forests and wetlands that hold and filter the water in our watersheds become increasingly important. The water sources and water quality that we value in our lakes and streams, and in our wells and aquifer, can’t be taken for granted. Maintaining conserved land in the watershed and planning low impact development will help sustain water quality and a clean drinking water supply in a challenging future.
The conference in Pittsburgh featured conservation organizations that are working on management of northern forests for carbon “sequestration”—the capture and permanent storage of carbon. The strategic thinning and planting of forests, combined with careful planning for harvests of timber resources, is a strategy for both prosperity and environmental health. As the risk of disease in the forests looms—balsam, hemlock and ash are threatened by invasive pests and diseases, that have left large tracts of dead and dying woodlands—forest managers are focused on encouraging species that are at least risk for the current threats in order to maintain the forest systems in our region.
The benefits of conservation are already in place locally as existing easements protect the open lands for the future. The growth of the acreage in these easements creates connected corridors for wildlife and water movement, sustaining the health of the landscape and the quality of the water in our lakes and our drinking water. The foresight of the land trust movement’s use of conservation easements, and the owners who have taken advantage of the financial incentives, create a benefit for the entire region.
The foresight of the land trust movement’s use of conservation easements, and the owners who have taken advantage of the financial incentives, create a benefit for the entire region.
At the end of my day in Pittsburgh, I crossed the bridge again. The trees along the river carried their full load of leaves, but the foliage was strangely still green. Fifty years ago a brilliant show of autumn colors would have been fading in mid October as winter closed in. On this day, the leaves were still on the trees. Some were drying and dropping without displaying their autumn colors. The most spectacular show that nature produces was failing in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains.
To easement holders in the GLLT service area, thank you for your vision. To our members and donors, thank you for your continued support. The GLLT will be working with our communities to do our part toward maintaining the quality of life that we treasure, and working with our partners and regional neighbors in planning for the future.
The best time to take action was thirty-five years ago…but the second best time is now.
Notes from President & Interim Executive Director of the Greater Lovell Land Trust, Jill Rundle