FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Amanda Nickerson, Communications Specialist
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
(603) 224-9945, ext. 301
FOREST SOCIETY’S GEOFF JONES AWARDED FOR EXCEPTIONAL FORESTRY MANANGEMENT
Concord, N.H., April 4, 2006—Geoff Jones, Director of Land Management at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, will be awarded the “Austin Cary Practicing Professional Award” by the New England Society of American Foresters (NESAF) at their Winter Meeting Awards Banquet on April 5 at the Sheraton Tara Hotel in Nashua. The Austin Cary Practicing Professional award recognizes NESAF member who have shown exceptional achievement as practicing forest managers.
“I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to help articulate and put into practice the Forest Society’s conservation philosophy on a growing list of protected lands in New Hampshire,” said Jones. “To be acknowledged for this award in honor of someone like Austin Cary is particularly gratifying.”
Austin Cary (1865-1936) introduced northern landowners to forest sampling, growth estimation, and simple silvicultural techniques. Cary’s 1909 Woodsman’s Manual has been called the most practical manual for foresters ever written and was used as a textbook into the 1960s. NESAF supports land use in New England that maintains a healthy forest ecosystem and encourages practices that balance economic development and forest land conservation. The Austin Cary Award has been presented since 1989. Jones is only the second Granite State Forester to receive the award—Charles Moreno received it in 1998.
Jones, a Licensed Forester, and resident of Stoddard, graduated from Keene State in 1977 and from UNH’s Thompson School of Applied Science in 1979, and subsequently went to work for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests that same year. He is the author of A Guide to Logging Aesthetics: Practical Tips for Loggers, Foresters, and Landowners (1993), a widely respected publication still in print today. During his career he has worked to meet the Forest Society’s wildlife, recreational, scenic, and water values on its working forestlands while meeting its financial objectives from its forest resources. During the past five years, Forest Society timber sales have averaged 800,000 board feet, 2,300 cords, and generated $132,000. The Forest Society land management staff has more than 90 years of professional experience, 27 of those belonging to Jones.
“This award is long overdue,” said NESAF Awards Chair Anne Marie Kittredge.
The Forest Society has been a leader in supporting and shaping the sustainable forestry certification programs that have developed over the past 60 years. Since 1901 the Forest Society has been a steward of conservation philosophy and conservation lands. In 1950, the Forest Society became the sponsor of the New Hampshire Tree Farm program, as both a promoter and participant. Forest Society lands have also been certified by the New Hampshire Tree Farm program since 1963, and Forest Society lands were the first Forest Stewardship Council “green certified” lands in New Hampshire in 1999.
The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is the state’s oldest and largest non-profit land conservation organization. In order to preserve the quality of life New Hampshire residents know today, the goal of the Forest Society, in partnership with other conservation organizations, private landowners, and government, is to conserve an additional one million acres of the state’s most significant natural lands for trails, parks, farms and forests by 2026.
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