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Articles by Robert Perschel
The future of logging and conservation is one and the same
The future of logging and conservation is one and the same by Jonathan Leibowitz and Robert T. Perschel VT Digger August 14, 2026 Category: Forestry The closure of Finch Paper’s pulp mill in Glens Falls, New York, is a blow that will echo across the Northeast for years. For loggers, truckers, foresters and woodlot landowners, this is not some distant threat to worry about in the future. It is — today — lost income, lost markets for wood and the continuing fraying of a way of life.
The future of logging and conservation is one and the same
Commentaries are opinion pieces contributed by readers and newsmakers. VTDigger strives to publish a variety of views from a broad range of Vermonters. Commentaries give voice to community members and do not represent VTDigger’s views. To submit a commentary, follow the instructions here. This commentary is by Jonathan Leibowitz, the president and CEO of Montpelier-based Northeast Wilderness Trust, and Robert T.
An Ode to Last of the Wild Ones, Inside and Out
You are the last: wild humans. You share a kinship with the last remaining wild salmon seeking life in a few rivers in Downeast Maine. The salmon you see on your dinner plate are farmed salmon, their genetic structure altered, their lives played out in pens, the long chain of characteristics that marked them as salmon through the countless eons, now fading. Their beautiful and relentless run to the sea and epic return home to their spawning ground no longer a definer of what they are.
Guest column on how forests can help mitigate climate change Original
Robert Perschel The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report urges all nations and states to move faster on climate change - the life of the planet depends on it. There are two ways for a progressive state like Massachusetts to respond. One is the take goals set for 2050 and move them to 2040. Accelerate the move to solar panels, electric cars and wind. Since Massachusetts just reset these goals in 2021, such a move may be politically fraught if not practically possible in some cases.
Commentary: New England forests can sustain our climate and biodiversity - if we work together
Take a moment to imagine a New England in the not-too-distant future where vast and wondrous wildlands and exemplary managed woodlands together support thriving wildlife populations, sustain rural jobs, provide the raw materials to meet our housing needs and store immense amounts of carbon. Such a future is well within reach, but only if we put aside differences and collaborate on behalf of the forest that sustains us.
We need to work to protect our forests Original
The work between New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) and Northeast Wilderness Trust (NEWT), is a good example. NEWT focuses on rewilding land through forever-wild conservation — places free from logging and allowed to grow old. NEFF protects managed forests, and brings exemplary forestry practices to them and selectively harvests trees that provide renewable forest products. Many assume these conservation goals clash. They do not.
Commentary: Maine’s forests can protect our global climate, grow our local economy
Forest management as a climate-mitigation tool was on top of the discussion list as the world gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for COP27 climate talks. Maine’s vast acres of working forest present significant real-world opportunity, where changes in forestry practices could store a great deal of carbon. Some people think the only way for forests and trees to help mitigate climate is to leave them alone.
Commentary: Maine’s forests can protect our global climate, grow our local economy
Forest management as a climate-mitigation tool was on top of the discussion list as the world gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for COP27 climate talks. Maine’s vast acres of working forest present significant real-world opportunity, where changes in forestry practices could store a great deal of carbon. Some people think the only way for forests and trees to help mitigate climate is to leave them alone.
my turn forest
Chris Matera attacked the foresters and forest landowners of northwestern Massachusetts in a Feb. 17 op-ed piece that criticized the proposed Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership. We think it is time to set the record straight about the role of forestry in New England and voice our support for the Partnership.
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