What’s New in the Easement Stewardship Department?
Summertime is always quite busy for the Forest Society’s Easement Stewardship staff--it's the time of year when we are out in the field monitoring many of the more than 700 conservation easements held by the Forest Society on land owned by others. This summer we have had quite a few changes in our department and wanted to share some of them with you.
Two easement staff members moved on from their positions--Matt Scaccia took a position as the Forest Society's Recreation Manager, and Reagan Bissonnette, Director of Easement Stewardship, left to become the Executive Director of the Northeast Resource Recovery Association.
In response, the stewardship team (Abraham, Naomi and Zach) decided they could work together to fill their departing leader’s role. Naomi, who had been taking on managerial tasks since the start of her career at the Forest Society, was given the opportunity to lead the Easement Stewardship team as the new Easement Stewardship Manager. With Zach and Abraham’s support, Naomi began the search for the team’s two new staff members. Meanwhile, Abraham was promoted to Senior Easement Steward and took on additional stewardship tasks.
As summer approached, the newly organized Easement Stewardship team worked to hire two new stewards who could hit the ground running. The hiring process was competitive –an incredible number of qualified professionals applied for our two open Easement Steward positions. We are pleased to introduce Emily Landry and Stacie Powers – the newest additions to our team! Emily comes to us with experience monitoring lands for the Squam Lakes Conservation Society as well as field experience working for the Loon Preservation Committee. She is the Easement Steward for our mid-state region. Stacie comes to us with experience monitoring easements for Southeast Land Trust of NH as well as Strafford County Conservation District. She is the Easement Steward for the southeast region.
You may have noticed that I have been referring to the easement stewardship staff a team. That’s because the stewards here really do rely on their team. There is no way they could accomplish the diligent monitoring of over 750 Conservation Easements and Deed Restricted properties throughout New Hampshire every year without doing so. The stewardship staff (four full-time Easement Stewards, one Manager and one Land Protection and Stewardship Coordinator) share questions, ideas, suggestions and tips all day every day. There is rarely a day that goes by that our most common phrase, “Thank you, Connie” (our Land Protection and Stewardship Coordinator), is not spoken. We share monitoring responsibilities where necessary and assist each other with improving our efficiencies in technology, reporting, and landowner communications. And our teamwork enables us to be a resource to stewardship staff at other land trusts through NH and New England.
Please welcome our new and improved Forest Society Easement Stewardship TEAM!