Volunteer of the Year: Dave Heuss

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 people who have volunteered their time, resources, and energy to help the Forest Society achieve its mission.

At this year’s 121st Annual Meeting on September 24, the Forest Society was honored to present the Trish Churchill Volunteer of the Year Award to Dave Heuss of Concord. Heuss has volunteered with the Forest Society for the past eight years. 

He first volunteered to be a land steward for Woodman Forest in Boscawen, but his volunteerism has expanded tenfold since. Heuss has helped lead guided hikes for the popular Forest Society 5 Hikes in 5 Weeks program, built rock stairs during Monadnock Trails week, tends to the chestnut seed orchard, participates in the sugar maple regeneration citizen scientists’ program, and has staffed numerous Forest Society events and programs over the years. Heuss is also a master woodworker and has built kiosks and bridges, fixed doors, and has done numerous odd carpentry jobs around the Forest Society Conservation Center.

“It’s hard to think of a volunteer workday, event, or program that Dave has not been involved in the past eight years,” states Jack Savage, president of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. “From tending our chestnut seed orchard to making 200 perfect little tree cookies to hand out to kids during an education program to flipping flapjacks for the Governor and Executive Council, he is willing to do anything and has the skills to do everything. Dave has become an indispensable colleague and a good friend to many of us here at the Forest Society.”

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.