Keeping focused; Standing in Solidarity: Looking back at 2025 and gearing up for a successful year ahead!

Thanks for your support throughout Standing Trees' fourth year of public lands advocacy

Middlebury College students give a bear hug to a mighty old-growth hemlock tree on a recent outing with Standing Trees

Dear Friend of the Forest,

Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said, “Fight for things that you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” That is what we strive to do at Standing Trees. We fight for the forests and those who depend on them, because we care about them and want to be their voice. And we try to inspire and educate others about the importance of our forests, raising awareness about the threats to our public lands, and providing guidance and opportunities for advocacy and engagement.

In early December I had the honor of helping to lead a hike for Middlebury College’s Sunday Night Environmental Group, a wonderful student-run organization that has been a leading voice for climate advocacy for many years, and an important partner with Standing Trees for protecting Vermont’s public lands. On a cold and snowy Saturday, we hiked into a rare old-growth hemlock stand protected by Middlebury College, in the shadow of the Green Mountain National Forest’s Breadloaf Wilderness.

Beneath the deep green canopy, we stood in awe of this incredible example of what our forests once were and still could be. Without any prompting, the students wrapped themselves around one of the largest hemlocks, giving it a bear hug of epic proportions. It was a humbling experience for the students to be in the presence of three hundred year old trees, and it was a stirring moment for me.

The past year has been a whirlwind of actions and activities that threaten personal freedoms, democratic values, wildlife, wildlands, water, the climate and the future of not just our country but the world. Keeping your mind focused and your head high has become almost a daily challenge. As we extend our branches in solidarity with others who are struggling against attacks from the federal government, the Standing Trees community has remained focused on our mission “to protect and restore forests on New England’s public lands.”

In the past year, we:

• Hosted the first-ever New England-wide gathering of organizations working to protect state and federal public lands. These relationships have made us stronger as a group and helped magnify our voice.

• Engaged with experts to produce critical reports on the importance of our public lands for clean water, flood protection, recreation, and many other ecosystem services that often are left out of government cost/benefit analyses.

• Hired a community organizer and state house lobbyist to dramatically expand our capacity.

• Increased our legal activities against both federal and state actions that threaten our forests, filing two new lawsuits and appealing a judge’s ruling to a higher court.

• Championed the Vermont Climate Resilience and State Wildlands Act, which was introduced by Rep Amy Sheldon, D-Middlebury. This Act would protect 268,000 acres of State Parks, State Forests, and State Wildlife Management Areas. This will increase the amount of land managed to recover old forests from 4% to 7% of Vermont.

• Generated a staggering number of calls and emails into Congressional offices demanding protection for National Forests; Sen Shaheen (D-NH) received more communication about public lands than on any other issue in 2025, resulting in a letter from the entire NH delegation to USDA Sec Brooke Rollins about the 2001 Roadless Rule.

• Produced two “StoryMaps” about threats and opportunities for public lands; our StoryMap about the importance of the 2001 Roadless Rule was honored as one of eight “favorite” StoryMaps of 2025 by ESRI, the company that makes ArcGIS.

• Partnered with three colleges, two law schools, twelve law students, two student interns, and many student volunteers to expand research, education, and action on behalf of public lands.

All of our work was accomplished with your support. We would not exist, and we could not do our work without you. Standing Trees is very much a grassroots organization. We depend on those of you that lend your time and effort and donations to help us.

Please support our work at the start of 2026 with a gift for New England's public wildlands! Standing Trees depends on the support of people like you. Your donation gives us the strength to stand up for public lands, waters, and wildlife.

Thank you for being part of the Standing Trees family.

Sincerely,

Mark

Mark Nelson

Standing Trees Board Chair

Ripton, VT