Representatives of New Hampshire’s land trust community met earlier this week in Concord and formally adopted the bylaws to create a New Hampshire Land Trust Coalition. The purposes of the coalition will be to provide professional advancement for land trust volunteers and professionals, represent the land trust community on public policy issues of importance to land conservation, and promote land protection education for the general public.
Membership will be open to 501c3 land conservation organizations. Other organizations, agencies, and professionals may join the Coalition as non-voting partners.
The newly elected members of the Board are:
Roger LaRochelle (Squam Lakes Conservation Trust), President
Paul Doscher (Forest Society), Treasurer
Paula Bellemore (Piscataquog Land Conservancy), Vice President
Ryan Owens (Monadnock Conservancy), Secretary
Duane Hyde (Nature Conservancy)
Ken Stern (Five Rivers Conservation Trust)
Dan Kern (BearPaw Conservancy)
Don Berry (Lakes Region Conservation Trust)
Beth McGuinn (Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust)
Following the organizational meeting, Bob Wilber of the Massachusetts Audubon Society and attorney Tom Masland of Ransmeier and Spellman presented a program on Conservation Legacy Agreements, known in New Hampshire as Conservation Stewardship Transfer Fees.
Founded in 1901, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is the state’s oldest and largest non-profit land conservation organization. Supported by 10,000 families and businesses, the Forest Society’s mission is to perpetuate the state’s forests by promoting land conservation and sustainable forestry. For more information, visit www.forestsociety.org.