Cottrell-Baldwin Environmental Lecture Series

Cottrell-Baldwin Series 2025

The Forest Society, along with the N.H. Division of Forests and Lands, presents the annual Cottrell-Baldwin Environmental Lecture series, with topics that touch on historic preservation, wildlife, and land conservation. The series takes place Tuesdays, in March and April from 7-8:30 p.m., at Fox Forest’s Henry I. Baldwin Environmental Center in Hillsborough. 

The 2025 Cottrell-Baldwin Environmental Lecture Series, titled "Woodlands, WIldlife and Wisdom - from New England Authors," will feature 4 New England authors writing on themes of wildlife and forests from their own unique personal histories and experiences as wildlife biologists, naturalists and foresters. 

The series is free and open to the public. Prior registration is strongly encouraged, however walk-ins will be welcome. The series is held at the Henry I. Baldwin Environmental Center at Fox Forest, 309 Center Road, in Hillsborough. Learn more and register for programs below. 

 

Tuesday, March 18 at 7 PM: REGISTER HERE

“Wildlife Out Your Window: Fascinating Facts about 100 Animals Commonly Seen in the Northeast US," by Brad Timm

Did you know that...Blue Jay feathers are brown not blue, some frogs survive freezing by creating anti-freeze, and that Gray Foxes climb trees. These are just a few of the many hundreds of interesting facts about wildlife of the Northeast U.S. packed in this recent guidebook by Brad Timm. This book contains interesting facts about 100 animals of New England and surrounding regions from Robins and Chipmunks to Black Bears and Bullfrogs. And discover simple things people can do to help local wildlife, no matter if they live in the densest of urban areas or the most remote rural areas. Brad will share interesting facts and anecdotes, read and sign copies of his book.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Brad is a wildlife ecologist and is the Founder and Executive Director of the Northeast Wildlife Team, an organization focused on providing accessible information about the wildlife of the Northeast, and actions that people can take to help conserve them.

 

Tuesday March 25 at 7 PM: REGISTER HERE

"The Promise of Sunrise: Finding Solace in a Broken World," by Ted Levin

Former Bronx Zoo zoologist, award-winning writer, photographer and talented naturalist, Ted Levin, spent the years 2020-’21 during the pandemic rediscovering his home valley while devoted to walking and observing nature, watching seasons pass, day by day. His new book chronicles the rediscovery of his Thetford, VT hillside where Ted lived and recounts his daily joys of observing home ground as Levin was forced by Covid to stay home. In the end, he sold his home and moved to Hurricane Hill in Hartford, Vermont.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Ted Levin received the John Burroughs Medal in 2004, the highest literary honor awarded to an American nature writer. His work has appeared in Audubon, Sierra, Sports Illustrated, National Wildlife, National Geographic Traveler, National Geographic Books, The New York Times, Newsday, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, and The Daily Telegraph. Levin is author of Backtracking: The Way of a Naturalist (1987), Blood Brook: A Naturalist's Home Ground (1992), Liquid Land: A Journey Through the Florida Everglades (2003) and America’s Snake: The Rise and Fall of the Timber Rattlesnake (2016). The new book is due for release March 21 – Vernal Equinox. Join us for the premiere reading.

Tuesday, April 1 at  7 PM: REGISTER HERE

"What's Wild in NH: A Half A Century of Wisdom from the Woods and Rivers of New England," by Eric Orff

From stories of rehabbing bats in the laundry room, to riding a whitetail buck who didn’t quite cooperate with a tagging effort, Eric’s stories will make you laugh and help you connect with the wild nature that lives within us all. Wildlife is now more abundant across the region than at any time since colonial times, thanks to Eric and biologists like him. Eric will read and sign copies of his book.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

As NHFG’s first bear biologist in the 1970s, Eric Orff began a half century career as a “forest ranger who works with animals,” his stated dream job as a 7-year-old. A respected wildlife biologist, with more than thirty-one years at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and fifteen years with the National Wildlife Federation. Known for educational programs and political action - If Only Moose Could Vote - Eric has been a literal voice in the wilderness, declaring the threat of climate change real, based on what he has seen in the woods. His trademark humor and kind heart, coupled with a solid scientific foundation make him someone people like to listen to when they want to know what’s happening in the woods, rivers, and fields of New England.

 

Tuesday, April 8 at  7 PM: REGISTER HERE

"How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending A Changing World," by Ethan Tapper

What does it mean to love a forest? Only those who love trees should cut them, writes forester Ethan Tapper. In How to Love a Forest, he asks: what does it mean to live in a time in which ecosystems are in retreat and extinctions rattle the bones of the earth? How do we respond to the harmful legacies of the past? How do we use our species' incredible power to heal rather than to harm? How do we reach a better future? How to Love a Forest details the fragile and resilient community that is a forest, introducing us to wolf trees and spring ephemerals. It helps us reimagine what forests are and what it means to care for them. Tapper writes forests are degraded both by people who do too much and by those who do nothing. We straddle a status quo that treats ecosystems as commodities and opposing claims that the only true expression of love for the natural world is to leave it alone.

In his tender and fearless literary debut, Tapper proffers a more complex vision. He writes that we must take action to protect ecosystems, and that the actions we must take will often be counterintuitive, uncomfortable, even heartbreaking. In striking prose, he shows how bittersweet acts—loving deer and hunting deer, loving trees and felling trees—can be radical expressions of compassion. In this poetic, visionary book, Tapper weaves a new land ethic for the modern world, reminding us that what is simple is rarely true, and what is necessary is rarely easy.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Ethan Tapper is a forester and writer based in Vermont. Since 2012, he has worked as a consulting forester and service forester, managing public and private forestlands and advising thousands of landowners. Tapper leads dozens of public events each year, maintains an active social media presence, and writes a column in newspapers and a quarterly column in Northern Woodlands magazine. He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including being named Forester of the Year by the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance in 2021. Tapper manages Bear Island, his 175-acre forest and homestead in Bolton, Vermont, and plays in a punk band.

 

About the Cottrell-Baldwin Series

 

Full capacity crowds have packed Fox Forest classroom in past years. (Photo: Dave Anderson)


The annual Cottrell-Baldwin Environmental Lecture Series takes place at the Caroline A. Fox Research & Demonstration Forest in Hillsborough, featuring a variety of experts on topics ranging from foraging for edible plants to restoring wildlife habitat. The lecture series honors the environmental and scholarly legacies of Hillsborough residents Annette and William Cottrell, as well as that of New Hampshire’s first research forester, Henry Ives Baldwin. The annual series is co-sponsored by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and the NH Division of Forests & Lands Caroline A. Fox Research & Demonstration Forest.

2024

  • Tues, March 19th - 7 PM: "The Forgotten Forest Primeval" a film by New England Forest Films/Ray Asselin 
  • Tues, March 26th - 7 PM: "Remember Winter?" a film by Gabriel Andrus 
  • Tues, April 2nd - 7PM: A Forest Carbon Primer with Tony D'Amato
  • Tues, April 9th - 7PM: The Promise of Building Big with Wood: An Environmental and Economic Answer with Andy Fast

2023

  • Tues, March 21 at 7 PM: Covered Bridges of NH with Researcher & Photographer Kim Varney Chandler
  • Tues, March 28 at 7 PM: Black Bears: Understanding and Controlling Human-Bear Conflicts with Andy Timmins, NH Fish & Game Biologist
  • Tues, April 4 at 7 PM: Ten Years and a Dozen Porcupines – An Informal Study with speakers Ann Eldridge & Bill Duffy
  • Tues, April 11 at 7 PM: This Land Was Saved for You and Me with Author Jeffrey Ryan

2021

April 6: Fresh Water Connections with Jim Rousmaniere

In this pre-recorded presentation, journalist and historian Jim Rousmaniere explores the many relationships between inland waters and surrounding lands. As was expressed in the constitutional logic behind the Weeks Act that led to the protection of the White Mountains, land and water are connected. This presentation is based partly on research that went into Rousmaniere's "Water Connections" (a non-fiction book published in 2019 about what inland waters mean to us and what we mean to water). The talk explores recent experiences involving contamination, floods, stream crossings and citizen action, among other topics.

Learn more:

 

March 30: Edible Wild Plants of the Granite State with Russ Cohen, author of "Wild Plants I Have Known... and Eaten."

In this virtual education program, Russ Cohen, expert forager and author of, "Wild Plants I Have Known...and Eaten," shares his knowledge of #ediblewildplants. The Granite State is home to over 100 species, some of which are more nutritious and/or flavorful than their cultivated counterparts. Connect with over 40 of the tastiest species the region has to offer — ranging from plants everyone knows, like Daisies and Dandelions, to plants you may never have even heard of, like Calamus and Carrion Flower. The presentation covers identification tips, edible portion(s), season(s) of availability and preparation methods, along with general guidelines for safe and environmentally responsible foraging. Learn about native edible plants raised from seed and partnerships with conservation groups to add edible native plants to the landscape.

Learn more:

 

March 23: New England Cottontail Restoration with Heidi Holman, NH Fish and Game Department Wildlife Diversity Biologist

In this pre-recorded presentation, Heidi Holman, Wildlife Diversity Biologist at NH Fish & Game, will look at 10 years of hard work to restore the native cottontail. Until recently, the New England cottontail was a candidate for federal listing under the Endangered Species Act. For years, shrubby thickets and young forests, primary habitat for the species, has declined due to changes in human land use. Since 2008, hundreds of partners from state and federal agencies, municipalities, conservation organizations, zoos and private land owners have been working together across the historical NE cottontail range on a recovery effort to reverse the decline and bring back our native rabbit while providing benefits to over 60 other species that live in these habitats. (Photo: NH Fish & Game)

Learn more:

March 16, 2021: Trout Stream Restoration with John Magee, Fish Habitat Biologist, NH Fish and Game Department

Streams and riparian forests are dynamic, changing dramatically over decades. Research in the last 30 years sheds light on the interconnections of streams and riparian areas as integral parts of stream ecosystems. Research demonstrates the importance of wood in streams to fish habitat and nutrient cycling and emerging information on the role of light on the productivity of stream ecosystems. Learn about research in NH and beyond on fish habitat, instream wood and what we may expect in the coming decades as our forests age. John will share stream restoration projects that use knowledge of stream and riparian processes to restore health to formerly degraded ecosystems.

Learn more: