More Than Ever
Forest Society Annual Meeting, Saturday Sept. 28, 2013, Meredith, NH
From my perspective, there are two kinds of people in New Hampshire: those who are members of the Forest Society, and those who could be members of the Forest Society.
In reaching out to both, I have spent a fair amount of time over the last decade and a half traveling around the state of New Hampshire interacting with people who care about the state and its forests. It is one of the many things that makes my job as president/forester—your president/forester—so enjoyable. Spreading the word of our good work like white pine pollen on the wind is rewarding.
In the past year, I have noticed a remarkable change. Rather than me introducing myself and our mission, more and more people come up to me—perhaps only because they recognize a Forest Society logo on my clothing—and thank me for the work the Forest Society has been doing.
Earlier this week I attended one of the Department of Energy hearings regarding the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Northern Pass transmission line. As I’m sure you know, the Forest Society has been steadfastly opposed to Northern Pass. Our board of trustees, after research and careful consideration, has concluded that if a Northern Pass transmission line is to run the length of New Hampshire, then it should be buried from beginning to end. I presented testimony asking the DOE to include at least two viable burial alternatives in the EIS. Although Northern Pass itself has claimed that it is too expensive to bury their private transmission line, I noted that for New Hampshire it is far too expensive NOT to bury it.
There were 600 people there that night, and I left the Grappone Center that evening hoping my remarks would make a difference. Apparently, they did, at least for one person.
The following day I found in my mailbox a brief note from my mail carrier. Although she has been delivering my mail for some years now, I wouldn’t have assumed that she knew who I was or my connection to the Forest Society. But in her neatly handwritten note, she thanked me for what she called my inspiring remarks the night before, adding “We’ll keep on fighting.”
There is no greater reward for a conservationist than to learn that you have managed to inspire others. For while we celebrate the protection, parcel by parcel, of our most valued landscapes, our work is only perpetual when all of society stands up to defend them.
We find ourselves today, more than ever, routinely thanked by people in New Hampshire for helping defend the state’s natural beauty and the economy it supports. The greatest result, perhaps, of the entire Northern Pass debate is that in opposing the more than 1500 steel lattice towers and overhead powerlines, people are not just telling us what they don’t want, they are passionately advocating and articulating a vision for what they DO want their New Hampshire to be. Residents and landowners favor what New Hampshire still has today: our mountains, our lakes, our rivers, wildlife and forests. They are defining why they care about New Hampshire and its landscape.
Our greatest opportunity, then, is to convert those sentiments into actions that realize the collective vision for our state. So…what are we doing?
I’m pleased to report that thanks to the collective effort of our conservation partners, legislative allies, and citizen advocates across the state, we achieved a long-standing goal—the restoration of the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program dedicated fund, which had been diverted from its rightful purpose by the legislature. Full-funding of LCHIP is back! This enables communities around the state to pursue conservation and historic preservation projects that would otherwise never be possible.
In addition, thanks to a generous donor we established a new program to fund trail projects in the Quabbin-to-Cardigan region of western New Hampshire. We administered the program’s first grants for seven different trail creation and repair projects.
In August 2012 we announced our Trees Not Towers campaign to acquire conservation easements on 1800 acres in Coos County, including the McAllaster Family’s thousand-acre dairy farm. Additional landowners, demonstrating astounding generosity, came forward and donated additional easements as part of that Trees Not Towers initiative. In fact, so far in total we have protected not just 1800 but some 8,000 acres in northern New Hampshire, including the working landscape surrounding the Balsams.
Elsewhere, thanks to energetic and quick-acting donors around Millen Lake, we have added the Farnsworth Hill Forest in Washington, NH, to our portfolio of Reservations. We added nearly 3,700 acres in conservation easements. We now own and manage more than 52,000 acres across 172 forest reservations, and hold easements on some 130,000 acres in partnership with private landowners.
We are keenly aware that we must be forward-looking stewards of those lands. To that end, we inventoried and completed management planning on 39 Forest Reservations. Working with consulting foresters, we conducted eight timber sales, harvesting fifteen thousand tons of wood products and improving wildlife habitat. Our volunteer land stewards—and we enjoy having more than ever--contributed a record number of hours improving trails and monitoring our Forest Reservations, including Mount Monadnock.
Over the course of the last couple years there has been much discussion about wind power and the proliferation of wind project proposals. I should acknowledge that the Forest Society has been criticized for not opposing any wind proposal to date. It’s also true that we have been criticized for not being in favor of any specific wind proposal. And we have been criticized for staying neutral and not weighing in on any specific wind proposal. So much for avoiding controversy.
Our board and policy committee have discussed at length wind power as an issue that impacts the energy future and scenic landscape of New Hampshire. In our collective view, we believe that wind power has a role to play as a source of renewable energy. At the same time, we observe that New Hampshire’s treasured ridges and peaks are at risk of being inundated with wind towers if we fail to develop comprehensive siting criteria for such facilities. Today New Hampshire has no comprehensive siting criteria to lead appropriate siting decisions. The Forest Society opposes permitting any new wind facilities unless and until such siting guidelines are in place.
Just a week ago, several staff and I attended the national Land Trust Alliance Rally where the Forest Society was acknowledged for having become an Accredited Land Trust. This was no small achievement for a 112-year-old organization in a digital world—among other things, we scanned 350,000 documents in order to adequately and securely back up our files. More important, the Forest Society is one of seven accredited land trusts in New Hampshire and 230 across the country, and the process has made us better at what we do. Taking responsibility to voluntarily meet the high accreditation standards will only strengthen the trust our donors and supporters have in us.
Here in the Lakes Region, we have worked with conservation partners to assemble a comprehensive Lakes Region Conservation Plan that focuses on the land protection priorities that will keep Squam, Newfound, Winnipesaukee and other lakes clean and robust. Some of you explored our Morse Preserve in Alton earlier today. This summer I visited for the first time our Bear Island Forest, where I chanced upon abutting landowners who made it clear to me not only how much they care about their Winnipesaukee island forest, but how much they appreciate the permanent protection of it.
And that brings me to one of our most ambitious and forward-looking initiatives yet—our Everybody Hikes Mount Major Campaign to acquire and protect nearly a thousand acres in the Belknap Mountains. As some of you know from your hike today, Mount Major rivals Mount Monadnock as one of New Hampshire’s—and the world’s—most hiked peaks. At least 80,000 people a year climb one of the trails to unparalleled views of Winnipesaukee, the Sandwich Range, and on a clear day, Mount Washington.
We have joined with the Lakes Region Conservation Trust and the Belknap Range Conservation Coalition to engage in this campaign knowing that while it is just the first step, it is a very big step. When we successfully complete this campaign, we will have protected some of the trails. As was with the case with Monadnock, more will need to be done. In particular, responsible stewardship of the trails will demand that we plan well, engage a broad coalition, and keep our eyes on the long-term goal—improving the quality of the experience for the tens of thousands who enjoy the Belknap Mountains while protecting the resource.
It is a challenge we face for all our forest reservations. It is a challenge we relish, and it is a challenge for which we are preparing ourselves. Mount Major, the Lakes Region, and all protected lands in New Hampshire deserve no less.
There is one more conservation project that I’d like to mention among the dozens we are working on. In Amherst and Mont Vernon, we are working with the Wilkins family, who are seeking to conserve 500 acres that are the working forest for their family sawmill. The sawmill has been in the family across eight generations, since 1808. They have persevered through fires, the great Hurricane of ’38 that decimated so much of New Hampshire’s forests 75 years ago this month, and world-wide lumber markets that challenge family operations.
As a forester, as the president of a forestry organization, I believe in the value of working forest. Sustainable harvesting helps our economy, and helps forests stay as forests. They are at the heart of the Forest Society’s conservation mission, “to perpetuate the forests of New Hampshire through their wise use”. I have a deep affection for those who steward the working landscape, I am proud that this organization can help the Wilkins family do right by their piece of it, and I congratulate all of you for being there to help make it possible.
I leave you with this request: Leave here tonight seeking the conservationist’s greatest reward. Inspire others. Together—especially once all those people who could-be members turn into actual members of the Forest Society—we can realize the vision of a conserved New Hampshire, a New Hampshire Everlasting and Unfallen.
Thank you.