Conservationists urge state, regional steps to protect New England’s oldest forests at Simsbury Center event

At a forum at the Simsbury Center, conservation researchers and advocates warned that only a tiny fraction of southern New England is permanently managed to allow natural processes to prevail and called for coordinated policy steps to increase protections for mature and old-growth forests.

Alex, a policy director who opened the session, framed the problem as one of competing land needs: housing, agriculture and forest-based industries versus the space required for resilient ecosystems. "The cheapest climate strategy that we know of is to let trees keep growing," he said, arguing that protecting mature forests would meaningfully increase carbon stocks while costing far less than many engineered alternatives.

Susan Msino, a professor of applied science at Trinity College and Hartford County coordinator for the Old Growth Forest Network, spent much of the presentation defining "wildlands" as tracts permanently protected from development where management is intended to allow natural processes to prevail.…