From the natural resources project.

• Author: Kilian, Christopher
• Position: Conservation Law Foundation of New England

CLF's Natural Resources Project works to protect the rivers, forests, open spaces, and natural habitat of the New England landscape--perhaps the most intensively used landscape in North America. Currently, the project is developing a strategy to protect large, Core Ecological Reserves on key public lands, where wildlife that requires shelter from human intrusion can thrive. We think these places are far too important to allow defilement by dirt bikes, four-wheelers, roads, logging, and development. New England provides limited opportunities for such reserves. We're advocating protection of suitable ones in Vermont's Green Mountain National Forest and New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest; on the recently created Nulhegan National Wildlife Refuge in Northeastern Vermont; and on other important public lands throughout the region.

Another current activity of Natural Resources is dealing with the plight of key regional waters, including those of Lake Champlain, the Maine Coast, and New Hampshire's Great Bay. The project is working to restore these waters by enforcing provisions of the Clean Water Act. Our strategy relies on the CWA's fundamental requirement: no pollution may be piped into New England waters without permits guaranteeing...