6. The Last Green Valley: Modernization and Sustainability in a Three-State Area

The Last Green Valley (LGV) was designed to achieve large-scale conservation by melding the needs of people and nature across a large landscape. Its roots are in the mandate by the US Congress to create a National Heritage Corridor in 1994. Despite development pressures, land and forest fragmentation, loss of farmland, urban and suburban sprawl, economic challenges for the region’s citizenry, and funding difficulties for the several organizations working to protect it, the region is perceived as an “oasis.” This problem framing has been helpful in focusing the public’s and leaders’ attention on the relative uniqueness of the LGV within a larger New England context. This chapter describes and analyzes the environmental, social, and management dynamics and challenges of the LGV. It also examines likely futures for the area and offers recommendations to accelerate progress toward environmental and economic sustainability. In doing so, we focus on three prototypes that offer a general strategy for large-scale conservation in the common interest. There is an opportunity to innovate more broadly and engage citizens, activists, universities, and political leadership more inclusively. Finally, leaders who are visionary, skilled, and knowledgeable, who understand various relationships and interdependencies in the community, are essential for future gains. These transformative leaders should be supported and encouraged to guide the organizations involved onto a path that seeks to identify and secure the common interest.