Forest Society Blog - News & Features

Extreme birder and photographer Gino Ellison shares practical tips for spotting and photographing birds, from mastering binoculars and spotting scopes to using back-button focus and a monopod. His most important advice is simple: start with the birds in your own backyard, learn your equipment, and practice patience.

For nearly a century, the U.S. Forest Service's experimental forests—including Bartlett Experimental Forest and Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest—have provided the scientific research that guides sustainable forest management, wildlife habitat, climate resilience, and water quality across New Hampshire. Proposed changes that could weaken or close these research centers threaten the long-term knowledge landowners, foresters, and conservation organizations rely on to steward healthy forests.

American beech trees are a distinctive and vital part of New Hampshire’s northern hardwood forests, providing food and habitat for wildlife while adding year-round beauty to the landscape. But the spread of beech leaf disease could dramatically reshape these forests, making it more important than ever to appreciate—and protect—this remarkable tree.

Join the Forest Society on August 8 for this special anniversary event offering rare access to privately protected conservation easement properties across New Hampshire through guided and self-guided tours, landowner conversations, and opportunities to explore the landscapes conservation helps preserve.

For Canterbury resident Stephen Rasche, New Hampshire's forests and wildlife are a daily reminder that truly wild places still exist. Through a planned gift to the Forest Society, Stephen and his wife are helping ensure that the forest they love remains protected for future generations—reflecting their belief that we are not owners of the land, but its stewards during our time here.

This episode of Something Wild explores one of New Hampshire's most remarkable natural events: the annual spawning of horseshoe crabs in Great Bay. Guided by New Hampshire Fish and Game biologist Beth Heckman, the team learns how these ancient "living fossils" support coastal ecosystems, contribute to lifesaving medical research, and have survived virtually unchanged for more than 450 million years.

Conservation doesn’t stop at the edge of the woods. The Forest Society works alongside policymakers, researchers, landowners, and partners to help shape the policies and public investments that protect New Hampshire’s forests, clean water, wildlife habitat, and communities for generations to come.