The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Studying dolomite at Hawk Hill, part of Staying Connected. © Stephen Belcher

Getting Involved

Read about Hawk Hill

Making Connections

Vermont lies at the crossroads of an extensive wildlife habitat network reaching from the Tug Hill plateau in New York, across the Adirondacks and the northern reaches of New England, and on to the Canadian Maritime provinces.

Today wide-ranging species like bear, bobcat, fisher and moose can still move relatively uninhibited through the region, to locate sufficient food, cover and over-wintering sites, and to find a mate. Under the umbrella of the Conservancy-led four-state, 21-partner Staying Connected Initiative (SCI), a group of Vermont organizations and agencies has come together to find ways to make sure connected habitat and healthy wildlife populations are an enduring feature of our landscape. Meet the project partners. Read Vermont Deputy State Director Emily Boedecker's story, "Staying Connected: An initiative to secure habitat connectivity" (Oak Log, Winter 2011).

Find out more about the initiative from the perspective of Staying Connected Linkage coordinators Bob Hawk and Corrie Miller. Read a personal account of the work by Monica Erhart, one of the Staying Connected Linkage coordinators, and find out why a community like Brandon values the initiative.

See the Staying Connected Initiative linkage map.