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I am thrilled to welcome Heather Furman

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as our plenary speaker for today.

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Heather is the Appalachians Director

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at the Nature Conservancy,

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a position she has held since June.

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In this role, Heather guides
continental scale conservation

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for one of the Conservancy's

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four global priority landscapes,

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leading teams and
initiatives across 17 states

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and three Canadian provinces.

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Prior, Heather spent a decade

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as the Conservancy State
Director in Vermont,

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where she grew the visibility, influence,

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and scope of the Chapters
Conservation programs.

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Throughout her career,

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Heather has provided strategic
leadership in conservation,

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working to integrate equitable approaches

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and strengthening the partnerships,

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funding, and scientific research needed

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to protect biodiversity

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and mitigate the impacts
of climate change.

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Heather has held positions

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in both federal and state government

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and with local and international NGOs,

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including the World
Wildlife Fund in Nepal.

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She has traveled extensively
throughout Europe,

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Latin America, and Asia

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building on her formal academic
training in anthropology

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and natural resource planning.

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Heather lives with her husband

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in the Winooski River
Watershed in rural Vermont

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on the unceded land of the Western Abenaki

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that's known today as the
Northern Appalachians.

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As we think about the theme
of this year's conference,

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considering forest as
a piece of the solution

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to a wide range of pressing environmental

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and human health issues,

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Heather's talk will synthesize
efforts and concepts

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around forest conservation
and its many benefits.

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Heather is a creative practitioner

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working to realize the
promises of forest conservation

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across the region while thinking deeply

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about how to approach this
work for maximum impact

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and with equity and justice
implications in mind.

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So it's with pleasure that I
welcome her up to the stage.

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(audience applauding)

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Good morning, good morning.

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Allison, thank you so much
for that kind introduction.

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It's really great to be here.

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I've always been so impressed with FEMC

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and the work that you all do in the field,

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and it's great to have us all together.

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The energy of being together,
it feels really, really good.

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So I am incredibly excited
to set some context

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for all of you today

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and talk a little bit about
the role our forests play

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across this vast landscape
that we call the Appalachians,

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and why the forests right here in Vermont

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and across the northeast

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are actually some of the
most important places

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on the planet.

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So I'm gonna start by asking you all

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to zoom way, way out for just a minute.

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I want you to think about a
place on this little blue dot

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that has meaning for you.

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Maybe it's a place really close
to home, near your backyard,

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or maybe it's a place you've traveled to

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that you can't get out of your head,

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or maybe it's a place
that you've never been,

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but you really can just feel in your bones

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is important to us as a global community,

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and frankly, the future of our planet.

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Maybe it's the jungles of the Amazon.

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It's certainly one of the places
that comes to mind for me,

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the lungs of the Earth.

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Or maybe it's Borneo,

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home to some of the rarest
species on the planet,

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or the Serengeti,

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or the Himalaya.

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Well, for me, it wasn't until
I left my upbringing in Ohio

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that I first experienced
this deep sense of connection

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to something that is globally important.

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When I was in my 20s,

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I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal,

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and it was that moment for
me that sparked my passion

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for protecting ecosystems,

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not just for their intrinsic value,

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but for the contributions that
these places around the world

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and so many places that
we feel connected to

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make to our cultural heritage
and the relationships

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and dependencies that we humans
have with our natural world.

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And so several years ago,

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the Nature Conservancy
did one of the things

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that the Nature Conservancy
does pretty well.

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The scientists at the Conservancy

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did an analysis of all the
places around the world

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that are critical for biodiversity

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and critical for carbon sequestration.

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And the Appalachians
absolutely popped off the map.

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The Appalachians covers only about 8%

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of the continental United States,

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yet it stores 25% of
our above ground carbon,

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nine billion tons.

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And for those of you who love
our temperate broadly forests,

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the ones that turn green and
gold and orange in the fall,

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this is the historic
extent of those forests,

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and this is what it looks like today,

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only the Appalachians
and parts of rural China

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contain the concentrations of biodiversity

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that we see in the world's
temperate forest today.

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So we're really fortunate
that in the Appalachians,

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we have significant forest
conservation opportunities

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with some of the most intact
and connected landscapes

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in the continental US.

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But the truth is the majority, over 75%,

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is not protected and still
vulnerable to fragmentation

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and poorly planned development.

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And of course, the
effects of climate change.

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But what might be the greatest gift

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of the Appalachians is
its proximity to people

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and all of the benefits

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that our forests and our rivers provide.

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So this is the geography
of the Appalachians

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that encompasses the Appalachians program

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at the Nature Conservancy.

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17 states, three Canadian provinces.

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We actually are in the process
of expanding this geography

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into the Western Allegheny Plateau,

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which includes parts of Ohio
and Western Pennsylvania.

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And as you can see on the map,

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the orange areas represent
our urban landscape.

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Over 100 million people,

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a third of the US population

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live within a two-hour
drive of the Appalachians,

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and they depend on the
Appalachians for their livelihoods,

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clean drinking water,
access to the outdoors,

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and for the cultural connections

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that many communities
have with this landscape.

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And so rightly, the Appalachians

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is one of the Biden administration's

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keystone initiative places
for restoring land and water,

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enhancing communities

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by improving access to the outdoors

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and addressing the legacy
of environmental degradation

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and pollution that exists
in so many communities,

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especially in the Central Appalachians.

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And this landscape is
also an economic engine.

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It generates over 25
billion a year in recreation

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and tourism economy,

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not to mention

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all of the other land-based
economies of timber

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and energy production.

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And so for all of these reasons,

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the biodiversity, the
carbon sequestration,

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the interdependency that people
have with this landscape,

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these are the reasons why
the Nature Conservancy

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named the Appalachians as one
of the four global priorities

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right up there with some
of our most iconic places

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around the world, the Amazon, Kenya,

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and the Kalimantan and Borneo.

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But as we know, our world
is rapidly changing.

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Perhaps you have seen this image,

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it was produced by Nature
Conservancy scientists

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a few years ago,

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and it's intended to demonstrate,

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now it's not totally scientific,

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it's just intended to demonstrate

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how species are moving their ranges

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in the face of climate change.

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On average, 36 feet in elevation,

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11 miles northward each decade

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about four times the
background rate of species

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moving their ranges.

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And in fact, some species
have already reached the limit

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of where they can go to find
hospitable microclimates.

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And climate change is
not only driving species

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to seek out new habitats, but
it's affecting us too, right?

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We know that climate change
has a disproportionate impact

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on the world's most
vulnerable communities.

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Many of us listened last week

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as COP28 was happening in Dubai,

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and we're hearing more

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about what the United
Nations environmental program

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has called climate apartheid,

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where the wealthy pay

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or buy their way out to
escape heat and hunger

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and conflict

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while the rest of the
world is left to suffer.

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And this is not a distant
threat, here in the Northeast,

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right here in Vermont,

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we saw once again how climate change

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is affecting human communities,

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businesses in Montpelier
that aren't coming back,

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water contamination that goes
on for months and even years.

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This is my road.

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This is my neighbor's house,

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and what used to be their driveway,

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a powerful reminder
that we are not immune.

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Many of the impacts are
compounded onto other deeper,

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longer term impacts of social
and environmental injustices,

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especially in our Black
and brown communities.

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Native and First Nations communities

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were forcibly removed from
much of the Appalachians

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and separated from their
traditional homelands,

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fracturing generations of relationships

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between communities and the natural world.

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And in economically
disenfranchised rural communities,

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there are places across the Appalachians

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that are left with a
legacy of unsustainable

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natural resource extraction, energy,

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transition and job loss

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that has left a wake of devastation

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for both people and the environment.

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So of course,

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the question is what do we as
scientists and practitioners,

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as the conservation community,

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and frankly as engaged societies,

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what do we need to do

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to address these challenges
in the Appalachians?

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Well, over my 25 years doing this work,

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I don't think I've ever seen
an opportunity for impact

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as exciting and as critical
as it is right now.

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Our organizations and
institutions see the urgency

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for biodiversity and for climate.

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They know that we're at an
inflection point for the planet

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and that we need to work together

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with focus and determination.

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And I truly believe that we are poised

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to make the kind of
progress that we need to

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this critical decade.

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So there are a lot of ideas

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about how we should approach solutions

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looking ahead to 2030 and beyond.

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But because I work for
the Nature Conservancy,

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I wanna share with you how
we are approaching this work

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in the Appalachians

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and how we're framing our impact

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through the lens of connectivity,
climate, and community.

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So first, connectivity.

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Every state in the Appalachians
has a critical role to play

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in creating and maintaining
this 2,000 mile superhighway

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for nature.

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We need to maintain the connectivity

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in order for species to move

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and adapt as the climate changes, right?

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We need all of us, land
trusts, tribes, governments,

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and communities to prioritize
meaningful habitat protection

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and connectivity for both
terrestrial and aquatic species.

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This is the long view.

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On climate, the Appalachians
is nothing short

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of an insurance policy for the planet.

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As I said earlier,

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it stores nine billion tons of carbon.

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And in order to maintain

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and improve our forest
ability to keep doing this,

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we need to do three things.

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We need to improve our forest health.

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All of you are very familiar with that.

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We need to make it economically viable

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for private landowners to
keep forests as forests.

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And we need to ensure that our energy

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00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:48,810
and transportation
infrastructure is complimentary

263
00:13:48,810 --> 00:13:51,213
to this goal and not working against it.

264
00:13:52,500 --> 00:13:56,280
And despite the urgency of this decade

265
00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:58,383
and the urgency of this work,

266
00:13:59,430 --> 00:14:00,900
we need to do this work

267
00:14:00,900 --> 00:14:04,440
in the context of deep
community engagement,

268
00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:06,930
helping to build equitable approaches

269
00:14:06,930 --> 00:14:10,953
to how we achieve these goals
and empower local leadership.

270
00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:18,320
And so how do we reconcile
urgency with depth?

271
00:14:19,062 --> 00:14:23,823
How do we go fast but also go slow?

272
00:14:25,140 --> 00:14:29,490
How do we talk about scale
when so much of the work

273
00:14:29,490 --> 00:14:32,133
plays out on the ground and in places?

274
00:14:33,270 --> 00:14:37,380
To hold this tension is
something we all need

275
00:14:37,380 --> 00:14:38,923
to become proficient at.

276
00:14:38,923 --> 00:14:43,050
In the Appalachians,
we have a shared vision

277
00:14:43,050 --> 00:14:45,090
across this forested landscape

278
00:14:45,090 --> 00:14:49,680
for a connected and resilient
network of lands and waters,

279
00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,530
an intact forest that stores carbon,

280
00:14:52,530 --> 00:14:54,829
and also provides a myriad of benefits

281
00:14:54,829 --> 00:14:56,703
for nature and people,

282
00:14:57,750 --> 00:15:00,300
acting at the continental scale

283
00:15:00,300 --> 00:15:04,740
to move faster means
strengthening this vision

284
00:15:04,740 --> 00:15:09,060
and translating that into
broad conservation actions

285
00:15:09,060 --> 00:15:12,636
that leverage policy
and funding and science

286
00:15:12,636 --> 00:15:17,013
and our values around
equity and inclusion.

287
00:15:18,630 --> 00:15:22,410
Adapting those to regional partnerships,

288
00:15:22,410 --> 00:15:24,813
respecting local cultures and customs,

289
00:15:24,813 --> 00:15:29,160
and then slowing down
to engage meaningfully

290
00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,823
at the local level through
empowered local leaders.

291
00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,740
So let me just share a little
bit more about the vision

292
00:15:37,740 --> 00:15:40,770
that we have at the Nature
Conservancy for the Appalachians.

293
00:15:40,770 --> 00:15:43,590
When it comes to
protection and restoration,

294
00:15:43,590 --> 00:15:48,291
our estimates are that
between now and 2030,

295
00:15:48,291 --> 00:15:50,678
we have the opportunity to protect

296
00:15:50,678 --> 00:15:53,880
18 million acres across the Appalachians

297
00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:56,340
and 5,200 river miles.

298
00:15:56,340 --> 00:15:58,380
And so I hope that many of you

299
00:15:58,380 --> 00:16:00,910
are familiar with the
Conservancy's Resilience

300
00:16:00,910 --> 00:16:03,570
and Connected Network Science.

301
00:16:03,570 --> 00:16:06,210
This work comes out of our Center

302
00:16:06,210 --> 00:16:08,469
for Resilience Conservation Science

303
00:16:08,469 --> 00:16:11,610
led by Dr. Mark Anderson.

304
00:16:11,610 --> 00:16:14,099
And over the course of more than a decade,

305
00:16:14,099 --> 00:16:17,050
over 150 scientists identified

306
00:16:17,050 --> 00:16:20,160
and mapped representative
connected network

307
00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:22,942
of climate-resilient
lands that, if conserved,

308
00:16:22,942 --> 00:16:26,373
could help sustain
biodiversity into the future.

309
00:16:27,270 --> 00:16:29,733
And as you can see in this slide,

310
00:16:30,690 --> 00:16:34,911
some really critical
linkage areas are needed

311
00:16:34,911 --> 00:16:38,700
for permanent forest
conservation long term.

312
00:16:38,700 --> 00:16:40,560
And across the Appalachians geography

313
00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:42,360
and the Continental and the United States,

314
00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:46,110
only about 22% has been
effectively conserved.

315
00:16:46,110 --> 00:16:48,573
So we really have some work to do.

316
00:16:50,730 --> 00:16:52,650
One way we can get more done

317
00:16:52,650 --> 00:16:56,430
is simply by working smarter
and working together.

318
00:16:56,430 --> 00:16:59,190
So just a few weeks ago,
at the end of November,

319
00:16:59,190 --> 00:17:02,970
the Nature Conservancy
launched our new Resilient

320
00:17:02,970 --> 00:17:05,460
and Connected Appalachians Grant program

321
00:17:05,460 --> 00:17:08,143
aimed specifically at
supporting our partners,

322
00:17:08,143 --> 00:17:10,620
other nonprofits, municipalities,

323
00:17:10,620 --> 00:17:14,160
and tribal governments to
engage in the Appalachians

324
00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:16,950
and conserve more of this network.

325
00:17:16,950 --> 00:17:19,170
This fund is a compliment

326
00:17:19,170 --> 00:17:22,348
to our New York Climate
Resilient Grant program.

327
00:17:22,348 --> 00:17:26,100
It builds on the lessons
that were learned there

328
00:17:26,100 --> 00:17:27,540
over the course of three years,

329
00:17:27,540 --> 00:17:30,180
and it just launched into six states,

330
00:17:30,180 --> 00:17:32,010
New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts,

331
00:17:32,010 --> 00:17:33,557
Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

332
00:17:33,557 --> 00:17:35,760
And we designed the program

333
00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:37,740
specifically to be easy to use,

334
00:17:37,740 --> 00:17:41,010
to cover costs that
aren't usually eligible

335
00:17:41,010 --> 00:17:42,210
from other grants.

336
00:17:42,210 --> 00:17:43,418
And this year alone,

337
00:17:43,418 --> 00:17:47,280
we aim to protect more than 20,000 acres

338
00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:51,810
as a result of taking this
high-level strategic view

339
00:17:51,810 --> 00:17:52,980
of what needs to get done

340
00:17:52,980 --> 00:17:55,293
to secure this network in the northeast.

341
00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,960
When it comes to advancing
natural climate solutions

342
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,210
using nature to store more carbon,

343
00:18:03,210 --> 00:18:06,990
I believe we can make huge
gains through reforestation

344
00:18:06,990 --> 00:18:10,338
and improving the way that
we manage our forests.

345
00:18:10,338 --> 00:18:14,803
Our 18 million acre goal
for forest land protection

346
00:18:14,803 --> 00:18:19,260
includes more than 13 million
acres in need of restoration.

347
00:18:19,260 --> 00:18:23,237
So that means we all in
this room need persistence

348
00:18:23,237 --> 00:18:26,099
and we need innovative tools

349
00:18:26,099 --> 00:18:31,099
and new ways to tackle our work at scale.

350
00:18:31,500 --> 00:18:34,077
And so one way to look at this

351
00:18:34,077 --> 00:18:38,100
is by looking at the landowners

352
00:18:38,100 --> 00:18:42,570
who own large land holdings
across the Appalachians.

353
00:18:42,570 --> 00:18:45,300
Going a little further
afield into the central

354
00:18:45,300 --> 00:18:46,980
and southern Appalachians on public land,

355
00:18:46,980 --> 00:18:51,450
we've made real gains in
restoring keystone species

356
00:18:51,450 --> 00:18:52,890
to their native habitat.

357
00:18:52,890 --> 00:18:56,115
Elk that were extricated
in the mid-19th century

358
00:18:56,115 --> 00:18:59,490
were reintroduced in
Kentucky in the mid-2000s

359
00:18:59,490 --> 00:19:00,923
and are now moving their way back

360
00:19:00,923 --> 00:19:05,730
into their historic ranges
of Virginia and beyond.

361
00:19:05,730 --> 00:19:08,340
Our Red Spruce Restoration Initiative

362
00:19:08,340 --> 00:19:10,461
that has restored thousands of acres,

363
00:19:10,461 --> 00:19:12,570
planting well over a million trees

364
00:19:12,570 --> 00:19:13,710
in the Central Appalachians

365
00:19:13,710 --> 00:19:16,647
where they were reduced to more than 90%

366
00:19:16,647 --> 00:19:21,647
from unsustainable logging
and subsequent fires.

367
00:19:21,690 --> 00:19:24,270
And this species underpins the health

368
00:19:24,270 --> 00:19:26,790
of the high elevation climate refugia

369
00:19:26,790 --> 00:19:29,133
for hundreds of rare species.

370
00:19:32,250 --> 00:19:35,130
And the reintroduction of prescribed fire.

371
00:19:35,130 --> 00:19:37,020
Our Southern Appalachians director,

372
00:19:37,020 --> 00:19:38,433
this is her in this picture,

373
00:19:39,371 --> 00:19:43,740
who along with hundreds of
newly-trained fire crews,

374
00:19:43,740 --> 00:19:45,240
are applying techniques

375
00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:48,480
that were practiced by
Indigenous people of this region

376
00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:50,269
for thousands of years.

377
00:19:50,269 --> 00:19:52,303
And this approach is beginning to restore

378
00:19:52,303 --> 00:19:54,690
the land of fire-adapted communities

379
00:19:54,690 --> 00:19:57,783
on hundreds of thousands
of acres of public land.

380
00:20:00,437 --> 00:20:02,160
We've also had the opportunity

381
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:03,960
to engage with private landowners

382
00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:05,730
to improve land management at scale.

383
00:20:05,730 --> 00:20:08,940
And one example is through the
Family Forest Carbon Program,

384
00:20:08,940 --> 00:20:10,560
which you may have heard of.

385
00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:13,350
Private forest landowners in
the US collectively own more

386
00:20:13,350 --> 00:20:16,560
than the federal government.

387
00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,440
And while this program isn't perfect,

388
00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:23,520
we know that all new and
innovative approaches

389
00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:25,855
take time to mature.

390
00:20:25,855 --> 00:20:28,410
This represents an
opportunity for landowners

391
00:20:28,410 --> 00:20:31,461
with smaller parcels, 30 acres,

392
00:20:31,461 --> 00:20:34,290
to receive payments for adopting practices

393
00:20:34,290 --> 00:20:37,152
that promote carbon
storage and sequestration,

394
00:20:37,152 --> 00:20:40,727
making access to carbon
markets more approachable

395
00:20:40,727 --> 00:20:43,563
to a broader cross-section of people.

396
00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:48,840
The program now exists
in nearly every state

397
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:51,613
in the Appalachians in eight states.

398
00:20:51,613 --> 00:20:55,500
We are currently enrolling
over 470 landowners

399
00:20:55,500 --> 00:20:57,600
who total more than 70,000 acres.

400
00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:00,910
And we've pre-qualified 5,700 landowners

401
00:21:00,910 --> 00:21:04,436
who control another 800,000.

402
00:21:04,436 --> 00:21:07,595
And so we have an
opportunity as practitioners

403
00:21:07,595 --> 00:21:11,155
to continue to learn
and improve our approach

404
00:21:11,155 --> 00:21:15,060
so that the tools like the
Family Forest Carbon Program

405
00:21:15,060 --> 00:21:16,794
can continue to meet all the goals

406
00:21:16,794 --> 00:21:20,193
that we have for our
forest to keep them intact.

407
00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:23,652
But as you know,

408
00:21:23,652 --> 00:21:28,260
climate action is not
just about sequestration

409
00:21:28,260 --> 00:21:29,190
and resilience,

410
00:21:29,190 --> 00:21:34,137
we need to address our
infrastructure to guide placement,

411
00:21:34,137 --> 00:21:37,710
to avoid the impacts to
critical lands and waters

412
00:21:37,710 --> 00:21:39,790
in our resilient and connected network.

413
00:21:39,790 --> 00:21:44,790
If clean energy continues
the way it has always gone,

414
00:21:46,026 --> 00:21:47,970
one of the greatest threats

415
00:21:47,970 --> 00:21:52,970
to our forests is further
fragmentation from development.

416
00:21:53,190 --> 00:21:56,940
In fact, the US will need
an area the size of Texas

417
00:21:56,940 --> 00:21:58,440
to meet our climate goals.

418
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,620
So as we push harder

419
00:22:01,620 --> 00:22:04,054
to accelerate renewable energy deployment,

420
00:22:04,054 --> 00:22:08,253
and let me be clear, we need to do this.

421
00:22:09,150 --> 00:22:14,150
We have a great opportunity
to repurpose developed land.

422
00:22:14,190 --> 00:22:16,050
And so in the Central Appalachians,

423
00:22:16,050 --> 00:22:18,930
especially in states like
Kentucky and Pennsylvania

424
00:22:18,930 --> 00:22:20,252
and West Virginia,

425
00:22:20,252 --> 00:22:23,040
there are nearly 3/4 of a million acres

426
00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:24,720
of former coal mine lands

427
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,990
that are providing opportunities
to site renewable energy,

428
00:22:27,990 --> 00:22:30,150
particularly solar.

429
00:22:30,150 --> 00:22:31,230
At the Nature Conservancy,

430
00:22:31,230 --> 00:22:34,020
we call this initiative Mining the Sun.

431
00:22:34,020 --> 00:22:35,010
And importantly,

432
00:22:35,010 --> 00:22:38,520
there are proud
energy-producing communities

433
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:42,720
who wanna maintain a
legacy of energy production

434
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:43,848
and do it in ways

435
00:22:43,848 --> 00:22:46,860
that are fostering health
for their communities

436
00:22:46,860 --> 00:22:49,173
and for the lands that surround them.

437
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:56,640
And that brings me to not what we do,

438
00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:58,200
but how we do it.

439
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:02,098
We have learned from decades
of working with communities

440
00:23:02,098 --> 00:23:05,936
that we are only going to be successful

441
00:23:05,936 --> 00:23:09,142
when the people whose
lives and livelihoods

442
00:23:09,142 --> 00:23:13,380
that are being impacted by
our conservation decisions

443
00:23:13,380 --> 00:23:17,940
have power and ownership
in those decisions.

444
00:23:17,940 --> 00:23:19,800
Over the course of the last year,

445
00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:23,220
our staff from across the
Appalachians went on a journey

446
00:23:23,220 --> 00:23:25,770
to examine how community ownership

447
00:23:25,770 --> 00:23:28,620
and equity was showing up in our work.

448
00:23:28,620 --> 00:23:31,046
These are not perfect examples

449
00:23:31,046 --> 00:23:33,774
of community engagement and equity,

450
00:23:33,774 --> 00:23:38,523
but they are places where
we had something to learn.

451
00:23:39,383 --> 00:23:42,006
And we learned that it's not enough

452
00:23:42,006 --> 00:23:46,140
for durable long-lasting conservation

453
00:23:46,140 --> 00:23:49,950
to just consult and involve
communities in decisions,

454
00:23:49,950 --> 00:23:53,583
but to actually share power and resources.

455
00:23:55,050 --> 00:23:56,461
We also continue to learn

456
00:23:56,461 --> 00:24:00,150
that the cultural and
historical dimensions

457
00:24:00,150 --> 00:24:02,670
of a place matter,

458
00:24:02,670 --> 00:24:05,303
whether it's the coal fields of Kentucky

459
00:24:05,303 --> 00:24:09,090
or the timber economies of Maine,

460
00:24:09,090 --> 00:24:11,953
our willingness to acknowledge

461
00:24:11,953 --> 00:24:14,220
some of the detrimental impacts

462
00:24:14,220 --> 00:24:17,190
of our past practices
on the land and water

463
00:24:17,190 --> 00:24:19,541
have ripple effects to this day.

464
00:24:19,541 --> 00:24:23,610
And our ability to engage in repair

465
00:24:23,610 --> 00:24:25,560
of building relationships

466
00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,080
and sharing the benefits of conservation

467
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:29,760
is absolutely essential

468
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,670
in order for us to move
toward more sustainable

469
00:24:32,670 --> 00:24:34,893
and equitable solutions.

470
00:24:37,620 --> 00:24:40,920
And those solutions, I
think, are within our grasp

471
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,640
because there are so many
things that bind us together

472
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,220
across this incredible landscape.

473
00:24:47,220 --> 00:24:50,220
Renowned author and Appalachian resident,

474
00:24:50,220 --> 00:24:52,770
Barbara Kingsolver put it beautifully.

475
00:24:52,770 --> 00:24:57,180
She said, "The Appalachians is
both a region and a mindset.

476
00:24:57,180 --> 00:24:59,790
Our devotion to place belies the fact

477
00:24:59,790 --> 00:25:01,860
that we're hard to pin down on a map,

478
00:25:01,860 --> 00:25:05,760
a swath of Highlands, coal
country, and points north.

479
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:07,980
State lines make little sense here,

480
00:25:07,980 --> 00:25:09,510
and we have more in common

481
00:25:09,510 --> 00:25:10,950
with other mountain communities

482
00:25:10,950 --> 00:25:13,653
than with the far ends
of our state capitals.

483
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:16,530
Appalachia has few large cities.

484
00:25:16,530 --> 00:25:18,840
Our economies are land-based,

485
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:20,123
and unless you live here,

486
00:25:20,123 --> 00:25:22,950
we're probably not what you think."

487
00:25:22,950 --> 00:25:26,749
So for me, this incredibly
forested landscape

488
00:25:26,749 --> 00:25:29,637
is a place of hope.

489
00:25:29,637 --> 00:25:33,910
We have the opportunity right
here in our own backyard

490
00:25:33,910 --> 00:25:36,720
to have a global impact

491
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:39,863
that will help move us
toward a future of resilience

492
00:25:39,863 --> 00:25:42,783
and restoration and reconnection.

493
00:25:43,830 --> 00:25:45,863
Thank you so much for having me.

494
00:25:45,863 --> 00:25:49,030
(audience applauding)