Staying Connected
Collaboration in the Three Borders linkage area
Two Countries, One Forest works closely with the Staying Connected Initiative to unite U.S. and Canadian partners and harness the collective tools of conservation science, land protection, community outreach, land use planning, transportation, and policy to restore and enhance landscape connections.
Staying Connected works with 55 partner organizations: representing 5 states (MA, ME, NH, NY, VT) and 3 provinces (NB, NS, QC), and including nonprofits as well as public natural resource and transportation agencies.
Since September 2009, Staying Connected Initiative partners have permanently conserved more than 288,000 forested and wetland acres that contain wildlife corridors and road crossings essential to healthy wildlife populations. Projects covering an additional 43,000 +/- acres are in various stages of development.


Our joint area of interest is known as Three Borders and includes upper Maine, portions of western New Brunswick, and eastern Quebec. The area is critical to regional connectivity, as it links northern Maine and the rest of the Northern Appalachians to the southwest. The extensive forests of the Gaspé Peninsula are just to the north, and New Brunswick sits to the east. The St. John River forms the primary border between Maine and Canada in this linkage area.
The Maine side is mostly forested, especially in the western and central regions of the linkage area. The eastern portion of the Maine side is characterized by more agriculture and settlements along the river. The Quebec portion is more densely populated and fragmented by roads than the New Brunswick portion, but the great majority of forest land in the linkage area is actively managed.
In a recent newsletter, the Staying Connective Initiative announced progress in restoring connectivity to the Three Borders region in Quebec. Through collaboration with multiple stakeholders, we hope to find and evaluate the most effective strategies to address various aspects of landscape conservation throughout the region.