“We live in a really remarkable place and you have made it so,” President Jack Savage told attendees.
From the summit of Mt. Monadnock to the bottom of Sharon Bog, Forest Society members and supporters celebrated the organization’s reach — and a year of accomplishments — at the 123rd Annual Meeting in the Monadnock Region on September 21.
Keynote speaker Annie Proulx mesmerized attendees with her writings on fens, bogs, and swamps. We also celebrated three special award winners: Conservationist of the Year Bob Wells, of Hopkinton; Trish Churchill Volunteer of the Year Hiel Lindquist, of Fitzwilliam; and, President's Award honoree Tom Masland, of Canterbury.
Thank you to the members, supporters, sponsors, and speakers who helped us mark our 123rd year of conserving and caring for forests across New Hampshire! View our slideshow to see photos of the special day and learn more about the award winners below.
Lead sponsors of the Annual Meeting: BCM Environment and Land Law, Froling Energy, New England Private Wealth Advisors, and Savings Bank of Walpole. We’re also grateful for our Day Sponsors: Badger, The Toadstool Bookshops, and Yankee Magazine.
Award Winners
Conservationist of the Year: Bob Wells
This year, Bob Wells, of Hopkinton, was honored as the Conservationist of the Year in recognition for more than 50 years of activism, leadership, and support of land conservation.
Wells, who describes himself as a farm kid from Missouri, grew up on a 2,000-acre farm that his family had overseen since the 1800s. He received his BA from DePaw University and then his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He and his wife Binney moved to New Hampshire in 1971.
Wells joined McLane Middleton Law Firm, where he embarked on a distinguished legal career specializing in Trusts and Estates. Through his legal work, Wells has represented countless landowners, assisting them in exploring conservation options for their land, and helping his clients support the causes they care about through their estate planning. Both his clients and organizations across New Hampshire have mutually benefitted from Wells’ expertise and thoughtful advice.
“Bob and Binney have been involved with the Forest Society for more than 50 years,” stated Jack Savage, president of the Forest Society. “Binney just told us recently that it was her mother, an active conservationist in Connecticut, who gave them a membership to the Forest Society when they first moved here to connect them with the New Hampshire community. Well, connect they did — and they have continued to do so in many meaningful ways.”
Bob Wells served as a Trustee for the Forest Society from 1988 to 1994. He previously served on the Forest Society Development Committee and has served on the Land Protection Committee for nearly 30 years. Bob has provided legal advice and guidance to Forest Society staff on countless conservation projects over his time on the Board and Committees, and Forest Society staff and board members have relied on him for excellent advice about Charitable Trust issues.
Wells’ involvement extends beyond the Forest Society as well. He has served on the boards and committees of organizations such as the Nature Conservancy of NH, the NH Historical Society, St. Paul’s School, the Currier Museum of Art, Concord Community Music School, the American Lung Association, and the Office of the Public Guardian, to name just a few.
“At home in Hopkinton, Bob and Binney were inspired by Binney’s grandmother, who donated 1,000 acres of forestland to the State of Connecticut to be added to Algonquin State Forest,” added Savage. “In 1984, the Wells Family donated their first conservation easement to the Forest Society, which protected 115 acres of agricultural land and managed forest surrounding their home in Hopkinton and Henniker.”
This past spring, the Wells Family — including Bob and Binney; their children, Ted Wells and Hylah Wells Patton, and their respective spouses, Anna and Chris; and, grandchildren, Binney, Will, Coley and Thea — together donated a conservation easement on an additional 455 acres in Hopkinton and Henniker. The newly conserved lands are a diverse mix of open fields, forest, and wetlands, and they link together a conserved area that spans from the Hopkinton-Everett Flood Control lands to the Stumpfield-Mudgett Recreation Area.
“The Wells Family’s most recent donation of a conservation easement on 455 acres brings the block of protected land in this area to nearly 10,000 acres,” Savage said. “It is a truly grand achievement, as a family and as a community.”
President’s Award: Tom Masland
This year, the Forest Society presented the President’s Award to Tom Masland, of Canterbury, for his more than 30 years of legal work supporting the Forest Society, land trusts, and individuals on conservation issues.
“I don’t think it is possible to overstate Tom’s contribution to land conservation in New Hampshire,” stated Brian Hotz, vice president of land conservation for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. “While he may not acknowledge it himself, Tom is considered one of the foremost land conservation attorneys in New Hampshire and the country, representing both landowners and conservation organizations in land protection projects and conservation transactions.”
Masland has served as legal counsel to the Forest Society for more than 30 years and his team at Ransmeier and Spellman have played a central role in developing the Conservation Easement template that is used statewide in conservation transactions. Masland is a frequent speaker statewide and nationally on conservation easements and estate planning for professionals as well as the general public. He is a former member of the Conservation Defense Advisory Council of the Land Trust Alliance. He has also been active in statewide environmental matters, serving on the boards of regional land trusts and other nonprofit organizations. Masland and his team at Ransmeier and Spellman represent over 30 land trust and governmental agencies in the state.
“Tom and his wife, Sylvia Bates, walk the talk,” stated Jack Savage, president of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. “Together they became the first hikers to complete our Forest Reservation Challenge in 2017 by visiting all 33 trails featured in the Challenge. His counsel on conservation issues has been instrumental to the Forest Society as a leading expert in an increasingly complex world of conservation easements. We truly value all he has contributed, not only to the Forest Society, but statewide to land trusts and individuals.”
Each year, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests announces the organization’s Trish Churchill Volunteer of the Year Award at its Annual Meeting held in September. This annual award honors those exemplary volunteers who have made an extraordinary commitment of their time, resources, and energy to help the Forest Society achieve its mission.
Trish Churchill Volunteer of the Year: Hiel Lindquist
On September 21, the Forest Society presented the Trish Churchill Volunteer of the Year Award to Hiel Lindquist of Fitzwilliam. Lindquist has volunteered with the Forest Society for the past 15 years.
“This year’s Volunteer of the Year award is a special one for me because the award is going to a land steward who was part of the fist land steward training class that I organized after I started working for Forest Society more than 16 years ago,” stated Carrie Deegan, vice president of recreation management and public engagement for the Forest Society.
Lindquist has been a constant and reliable supporter of Gap Mountain and the Forest Society since he became a land steward. He maintains the trails, cleaning the water bars on both the north and south trails twice a year —sometimes he organizes other volunteer help but a lot of times he does it solo. He’s built drainage and stone staircases with youth crews, rerouted and resurfaced trails, maintained views from both summits, and helped with projects to design and build bridges.
The trail up and over Gap Mountain is part of two long distance trails, the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, which travels 110 miles from the CT/MA border to the top of Mt. Monadnock, and the Wantastiquet-Monadnock Trail, running 50 miles from Mt. Wantastiquet in Hinsdale, NH to the top of Monadnock. Lindquist has been very involved with both trails and their respective management and has represented the Forest Society on the Wantastiquet-Monadnock Trail Coalition.
Lindquist is also involved at Mount Monadnock, representing his town of Fitzwilliam on the Monadnock Advisory Commission. He is a volunteer at Monadnock Trails Week every year and has helped lead First Day Hikes at Monadnock for New Hampshire State Parks.
“What I love most about working with Hiel is his quiet confidence and rational way of approaching the world,” added Deegan. “I’ve never seen him get upset about anything, and I’ve been at some spirited meetings and worked on some intense trail crews with Hiel. He’s always a voice of reason, not afraid to point out when something is needed but always calm and diplomatic about everything he does and says. He’s got a great sense of humor, and plenty of good stories, and I know all of us on staff appreciate Hiel more than we’re often able to express. Hiel is very much a part of the Forest Society family and our Land Steward community, and I am honored to be able to present this year’s Volunteer of the Year award to Hiel Lindquist.”
The Forest Society Volunteer of the Year Award is named after Trish Churchill. Churchill embodied the spirit of volunteerism with her enthusiasm and compassion for others.