FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Amanda Nickerson Freitas, Communications Specialist
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
(603) 224-9945, ext. 301
Forest Society Announces Newly Elected Trustees
Concord, N.H., November 20, 2007—The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests announces the election of Steve Taylor, Howard Moffett, Midge Eliassen, Leonard Dowse Jr. and Henry Swan to its board of trustees.
Taylor, a farmer and freelance writer from Meriden, will be retiring as New Hampshire’s Commissioner of Agricultural after 25 years of service on November 18, 2007. Taylor also serves as town moderator in Plainfield and on the advisory board of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s Upper Valley Region. Taylor has long been active in agricultural, conservation and charitable organizations at the local and state level.
Moffett, of Canterbury, is an attorney with Orr & Reno, served as a Congressional aide to US Representative John Anderson 1969-1972, and was a journalist for Newsweek magazine reporting from South Vietnam in 1966 and 1967. Moffett has served on the board of the New Hampshire Historical Society, is a founding member of the Webster Farm Preservation Association and former board chair of the Canterbury Shaker Village.
Eliassen, of Sunapee, is an independent contractor for Tri Pyramid Structures, Inc., a photographer, librarian, writer and editor. Eliassen has served on the Lake Sunapee Protective Association, school committee and served as chairwoman for the zoning board of appeals for eight years.
Dowse, of Hancock, is the owner of the Rowing Shell Repair Center and the retired Director of Admissions for the Buckingham, Brown & Nichols School in Cambridge, MA. Dowse also serves at the treasurer for the Harris Center for Conservation Education, chair of the Hancock Trustees of Trust Funds, President of the Hancock Fire Department Association; he has served as a Hancock Selectman and is also the Director of the Bowdoin Rowing Association.
Swan, of Lyme, is the Chairman and former CEO of Wagner Forest Management, having held various investment management positions with the company from 1963 to 1977. Swan has served previously as a Forest Society board member (and as Chair). He currently serves on the White Mountain National Forest Advisory Committee, and has been the Connecticut River Valley Resource Committee Commissioner since 1988.
The new class of trustees joins current board members Donald Wharton of Landaff (Chairman), Martha Chandler of Laconia (Vice Chair), Carolyn Benthien of Goffstown (Secretary), Maynard Goldman of Grantham (Treasurer), Peter Bergh of New Castle, William H. Dunlap of Amherst, Stephens Fowler of Hanover, Katherine Hersh of Nashua, Stephen Kaneb of South Hampton, Amy Meyers of Jaffrey, Patrick O’Donnell of Concord, Richard Russman of Kingston, Steven Walker of Jaffrey and Peter Worrell of Portsmouth.
The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (www.forestsociety.org) was founded in 1901 to protect the state’s most important landscapes and promote the wise use of its renewable natural resources. Today, the Forest Society is made up of more than 10,000 member households and owns 154 reservations that encompass over 43,000 acres in communities across the state. In addition, the Forest Society holds more than 550 conservation easements on an additional 100,000 acres, and conducts ongoing programs in research, advocacy, land protection, education, land management and sustainable forestry.
###