National Fish and Wildlife Foundation - Central Appalachia Business Plan

Small towns and rural communities are seeing an increase in the number of hunting and fishing lodges, white water outfitters and outposts for hikers on the extensive network of trails in the region, including the king of trails, the Appalachian Trail. [...] Forest management in the landscape is further complicated by the diverse mix of landowners in the region and the range in the size of forests or woodlots under management. [...] NFWF has been substantially engaged with all three of these initiatives prior to the development of this business plan and engaged in dialogue with these partners through the development of the business plan, to ensure NFWF’s goals, priorities and strategies were supportive of these efforts, and that NFWF is positioned to fill implementation gaps and leverage existing and new funding. [...] Central Appa lachia Bus iness P lan | 6 Conservation Outcomes The purpose of this business plan is to improve the quality and connectivity of forest and freshwater habitat in order to increase the distribution and abundance of fish, birds and other wildlife, as evidenced by a suite of species that collectively are indicators of forest and freshwater habitat condition (see Tables 1 and 2). [...] Strategy 2: Target Outreach and Assistance to Key Forest Landowners and Practitioners Throughout the focal geographies and the larger central Appalachia landscape, NFWF will invest in strategies to continue to grow the universe of willing landowners and knowledgeable practitioners in order to lay the groundwork for replication and to take the forest block approach to scale.