The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has honored Charlie Bridges of New Durham with the 2013 Sarah Thorne Conservation Award for his effectiveness in helping to conserve hundreds of thousands of acres of land in New Hampshire.
Bridges received the award Saturday at the Saving Special Places conservation conference held at John Stark Regional High School in Weare.
Bridges has worked for the N.H. Fish and Game Dept. for 25 years, currently serving as the Habitat and Wildlife Diversity Program administrator. In this role, he is the “go to” person at Fish and Game for members of the state’s conservation community. His skills at leading and facilitating collaboration between public agencies and private conservation organizations have enabled successful conservation efforts throughout the state.
“Many, many times, the trust and collaborative spirit that Charlie brought to the table made projects happen here in New Hampshire that in many states of America would never happen,” said Paul Doscher, vice president of land conservation at the Forest Society. “He figured out, early on, how to bring the resources of public agencies together with the nimbleness of private land trusts so that conservation could get done.”
“One of the first calls made by anyone working on a land conservation project of statewide significance is to Charlie Bridges,” said Rich Cook, a land agent with Fish and Game who nominated Bridges for the award. “A map of the projects Charlie has helped to complete would stretch from Portsmouth to Pittsburg, Hanover to Hampton and everywhere in between.”
Bridges represents Fish and Game on the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program Board, the State Conservation Committee’s Moose Plate Grant Program and the N.H. Forest Legacy Program, and he served for many years on the Current Use Board. A major part of his job is to manage and add to the 19,000 acres of land conserved under conservation easements held by Fish and Game and the 53,000 acres of state-owned Wildlife Management Areas.
He also directs funds to other conservation organizations for projects that protect important wildlife habitats. No funds are specifically allocated to land conservation in Fish and Game’s budget, but Bridges has effectively tapped into federal funding sources, grants and programs such as check-offs on hunting and fishing licenses to find the money needed for habitat conservation work.
In accepting the award, Bridges thanked his colleagues at Fish and Game for their help in tapping into these funds so that the department has been able to allocate about $5 million to 52 conservation projects over the last 10 years. He said partnerships between Fish and Game and the conservation community are vital.
“The Forest Society and other statewide and regional land trusts are really helping Fish and Game achieve our mission of habitat protection. Those partnerships are really essential. Land conservation is so expensive and so complex, there is no way we could do it without the other organizations,” he said.
The Sarah Thorne Conservation Award was created in 2005 to recognize Sarah Thorne for the nearly 20 years she dedicated to land conservation in New Hampshire. A former Forest Society staff member, Thorne now teaches science at Prospect Mountain High School in Alton. The Forest Society presents the award annually to a conservation professional or volunteer who has made a major contribution to the protection of the New Hampshire landscape at a local, regional, or statewide level. The award is given to recognize those who have also enhanced the capacity of other conservation organizations, professionals and volunteers.