Forest Society Welcomes Seasonal Staff

The Forest Society welcomed five new team members this summer, who are working as interns and seasonal staff. Get to know these forestry technicians and reservation stewards!

Ian is an incoming sophomore to the University of New Hampshire's forestry program after spending time at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common. He is passionate about sustainable forest management, and agriculture. He was born and raised in the Monadnock region and has admired and enjoyed nature from a young age, when not working he can be found making progress on his goal of catching every species of fish in New Hampshire, gardening, or cooking. This summer he is most looking forward to learning more about forest management and experiencing new places while out marking property boundaries. 

Meghan graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology & Conservation in 2018. She spent two years in NV working for the USFS managing forestland for burn restoration and invasive species control. The focus was on maintaining rare and endemic species more ecologically suited to a changing fire regime. Meghan returned to NH to pursue her M.S. and get back to her roots and the opportunity to work within the Northern New England Ecoregion. She is excited to learn about local efforts in management and conservation and the intricacies that make fire an effective and successful ecological management tool outside of traditional governmental entities. When not working she is keeping herself busy hiking, hunting, and fishing as well as other activities including hand spinning and reconstructionist, medieval-style blacksmithing and carving.

Derek Colquhoun is returning for his 4th season as a Mount Major Trail Steward with the Forest Society this summer. 

Derek enjoys interacting with visitors on the mountain and helping them learn something new while also having the best possible hiking experience. The remainder of the year, Derek is a science teacher at Laconia High School. 

Mary Geisinger is a native of Texas, and recently relocated to New Hampshire to attend graduate school at Antioch University of New England. She will be working on her Masters project in Conservation Biology this summer, conducting field work on recreational impacts to alpine vegetation communities in the White Mountains, in addition to working part-time as a Mount Major Trail Steward. Mary has lots of great experience leading trips and excursions for an outdoor center at the University of North Texas, and is excited to share safety and sustainable hiking tips with visitors to Mount Major.

Elyse Scott is a junior majoring in Biology at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY, and a native of Claremont, NH. She recently completed a field semester in the Adirondacks, conducting research on the effect of mercury on aquatic life in vernal pools. Elyse will be spending the summer on Forest Society reservations across New Hampshire, completing recreational infrastructure and stewardship tasks of all varieties. She’ll also be making frequent visits to a few very busy forest reservations in order to provide outreach and information to summer visitors.