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Photo by Ryan Smith
CHAIR
Drew Kellner, Brookline
VI CE CHAIR
Peter Fauver, North Conway SECRETARY
Allyson Hicks, Concord TREASURER
Jason Hicks, Meredith PRESID E NT
Jack Savage, Middleton
B OARD O F TRUSTEES
Susan Arnold, Strafford
Philip Bryce, Deering
Deb Buxton, Greenfield
George Epstein, Silver Lake
Don Floyd, Concord
Jameson French, Portsmouth
Patricia Losik, Rye
Amy Reagle Meyers, Jaffrey
Michael Morison, Peterborough
Elizabeth Salas, Weare
Bill “ Tuck” Tucker, Goffstown
Tom Wagner, Campton
Janet Zeller, Concord
STAFF
Ben Aldrich, Field Forester
Frank Allen, Building and Grounds Assistant
Sarah AlSamaraee, Stewardship & Forestry Administrative Coordinator
Dave Anderson, Senior Director of Education
Kristine Arey, Program Director, The Rocks
Brie Belisle, Regional Stewardship Manager
Nik Berube, Maintenance Assistant
Naomi Brattlof, Director of Easement Stewardship
Adam Buxbaum, Christmas Tree Farmer, The Rocks
Rita Carroll, Tree Farm Administrator
Tony Cheek, Vice President for Finance
Connie Colton, Land Protection and Stewardship Coordinator
Linda Dammann, Development Assistant
Carrie Deegan, Vice President for Recreation Management and Public Engagement
Steve Fuller, Regional Stewardship Manager
Leah Hart, Land Conservation Project Manager
Stacie Hernandez, Land Conservation Project Manager
Is the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) at risk from unsustainable har vesting? More than a few people have asked the question this spring in response to the executive branch’s desire to have our national forests provide more of the timber we use for housing and other societal needs.
G
England is an admirable goal So is har-
These were foundational principles of the Forest Society’s centennial vision in 2001, New Hampshire Everlasting Today, in New Hampshire, we do grow more than we harvest, but as a region we import a significant amount of wood, and we may or may not know how sustainably sourced our imported timber may be
A prerequisite for either of these goals is to first keep our productive forests as forests Then we need to manage them long term. We also need innovative loggers, truckers, mill owners, and customers who care where and how the wood they use is sourced.
The Forest Society has forest management plans for each of our 200 properties across 66,000 acres Compiled by trained foresters, the plans outline our goals for each property, taking into consideration the characteristics of the site, the current conditions of the forest, species distribution, and our long-term organizational goals. The plans also integrate recreation,
uptake as well as marketable timber
We manage our forests for the long term, aways looking to foster resilience against pests, disease, and the impacts that we observe due to climate change.
We aren’t unique in this approach many private landowners do the same. As do public landowners, such as the State of New Hampshire and the U.S. Forest Service.
In the case of the Forest Service, which is called upon to manage the forests of the
by an overarc
sive input from many stakeholders and members of the public. The WMNF’s management plan outlines areas of the forest that are set aside as wilderness, areas that welcome millions of recreational visitors, and areas that will benefit from harvesting G
evolve from improved understanding of forest ecosystems rather than short-term political decisions In New Hampshire, we have been fortunate to benefit from world-class research stations in our backyard at Hubbard Brook and Bartlett. The continuum of research, planning, public comment and input, development of alternatives, and adoption of a well-informed forest management plan is essential to the balance of many uses on national forests, especially here in the White Mountains.
As Dave Anderson’s article on page 18 reminds us, the Forest Society has played many roles as a partner with the White Mountain National Forest over the past century. Just as we defend the implementation of a publicly adopted management p
, we will also be vigilant in making sure that transparent planning processes, science-informed silviculture, and common sense continue to drive decision-making in the Whites.
Jack Savage is the president of the Forest Society He can be reached by email at jsavage@forestsociety.org.
A celebration of the black fly forestsociety.org/blackfly
Native plants abound at Creek Farm forestsociety.org/creekfarmgarden
“Meredith Village Savings Bank was thrilled to sponsor the Earth Day cleanup efforts at Mount Major together with the Forest Society A wave of dedicated volunteers swept the trail, picking up litter and leaving nothing but footprints How lucky we are to call this beautiful area home and to share it with such a caring community of residents.”
#meredithvillagesavingsbank
(From left: Jason Hicks, EVP chief financial and risk officer for NH Mutual Bancorp; Marcus Weeks, MVSB president; US Senator Jeanne Shaheen; and Jack Savage, Forest Society president)
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
A nonprofit membership organization founded in 1901 to protect the state’s most important landscapes and promote wise use of its renewable natural resources
Basic annual membership fee is $45 and includes a subscription to Forest Notes
Editor: Ryan Smith
Design & Production: The Secret Agency
Printing: R.C. Brayshaw & Company, Inc.
Forest Notes is printed on elemental chlorine-free Sappi Flo paper with 10 percent post-consumer recycled content Sappi Flo is made from pulp purchased from suppliers who document sound environmental practices and sustainable forest management.
Permission is required for reproduction of any part of this magazine
Copyright 2025 SPNHF US ISSN: 0015 7457
54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, N H 03301 | Phone: 603-224-9945 | Fax: 603-228-0423
info@forestsociety org | forestsociety org
The Forest Society proudly supports the following organizations:
In the Spotlight Staff, board honored by NHBR forestsociety.org/nh200
Tag #forestsociety on Instagram for a chance to be featured in a future issue of Forest Notes
Buzz Wor thy
Creekside Inspiration
Studying Visitor Use at Mount Major
This summer and fall, the Forest Society i s p a r t n e r i n g w i t h O u t d o o r R e s e a rc h
I n s i g h t s , L L C t o c o n d
sur vey at Mount Major in Alton. As one of New Hampshire’s most beloved and heavily visited hiking destinations, Mount Major sees year-round use and this study w i l l h
visiting, what they value, and how their experiences can inform future planning
From June through November 2025, t
trailhead off Route 11. The information collected will help guide trail improvem
experience that also protects the natural resources we all cherish.
I f y o u ’ r e h i k i n g M o u n t M a j o r t h i s season and are approached by a surveyor,
Full Circle
In the autumn 2024 issue of Forest Notes, Senior Director of Education Dave Anderson wrote about a particular red mulberry tree at the Merrimack River Outdoor Education & Conservation Area in Concord that was beloved by birds and by local elementary school students Over time the Merrimack’s riverbank eroded and the tree began to cave toward the river Enter farmer Bill Wardwell. In fall 2023, Wardwell cut twigs off the tree and expertly grafted the scions to mulberry rootstock at his farm in Dunbarton. In May 2024, Forest Society staff planted three of the special trees back home on the Merrimack floodplain nearly within sight of the mother tree “It is more accurate to say they planted clones of the original tree next to itself to be reborn,” Anderson says “They are truly an arboreal Lazarus rising again from the sandy Merrimack River floodplain ”
Learn More:
Turn to page 8 to read about another exciting Forest Society grafting projec t.
we encourage you to participate and share your thoughts Your feedback will play a vital role in shaping the future of this treasured landscape
Learn More: For information, visit forestsociety.org/ mount-major-visitor-use -sur vey.
Left: Vice President for Recreation Management and Public Engagement Carrie Deegan and Seasonal Stewardship Technician Sam Boduch pose with one of the grafted mulberry trees.
Right: Senior Director of Education Dave Anderson waters a grafted mulberry tree.
Consulting Foresters
The Forest Society encourages landowners to consult with a licensed forester before undertaking land management activities. The following are paid advertisers.
Calhoun & Cor win Forestr y, LLC
Realize what you value the most in your forest. Ser ving individual, municipal, state, non-government, and industr y forest owners.
41 Pine St , Peterborough, NH 03458 • 603-562-5620
Email: swiftcor win@gmail com
Mar tin Forestr y Consulting, LLC
Offering complete forest management ser vices, including timber sales, cruises, appraisals, and wildlife habitat management. Ask us about recreation trail planning, construction, Brontosaurus mowing, and forestry excavation services P O Box 89, New Hampton, NH 03256 • 603-744-9484
Email: mar tinforestr y@gmail com
Meadowsend Consulting Company
Quality Consulting Forestr y with Integrity. Guaranteed.
Jeremy Turner, NHLPF #318 – Southern NH jturner@meadowsendco.com
Matthias Nevins, NHLPF #518 – Central NH mnevins@meadowsendco com
Ryan Kilborn, NHLPF #442 – Nor thern NH rkilborn@meadowsendco com
Vast range of quality land management ser vices
Connect with us for a free site consultation! meadowsendco.com • 603-526-8686
Licensed foresters should address
A Note From the Direc tor ’s Desk
The depar tment is glad to be back out in the woods!
If you are an easement landowner in the southwest par t of the state, you may meet our newest hire, Steve Fuller
If you are in the southeast par t of the state, you may get an out- of-the - office message from Brie Belisle, who has welcomed her second child into her family this spring.
In the nor th, you may encounter a familiar face from the past! We’re glad to have Abraham Ames joining us this summer as a seasonal staff to help monitor easements as we navigate some transitions within the depar tment.
Interested in learning about owning and managing land (including habitat management or forestr y)?
View our librar y at: forestsociety.org/landownerstewardship -reference -librar y Naomi Brattlof Director of Easement Stewardship
Search-and-Rescue Volunteers Make All the Difference
By Tim Acerno
Department is responsible for all searcha n
state, and given the increased interest in outdoor recreation, conser vation officers are busy year-round responding to calls for hiker assistance. These missions are e
support of experienced volunteer searchand-rescue teams. Without these specially t r a i n e d a
s supporting Fish and Game, some calls for help may not have the positive outcomes people have come to expect
Conser vation officers are well trained i
one of many of the officer’s duties, they cannot physically be ever ywhere at once. N
p s h i r e ’s o u t d o o r c o m m u n i t y is fortunate to have dedicated volunteer t e a m s c o m m i t t e d t o p a r t n e r i n g w i t h
F
A Celebration and Dedication of the Bean Forest as the Forest Society ’s 200th Conser ved Forest July 13 | 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
Join Forest Societ y staff and friends as we celebrate the generous land conser vation legac y of Dorothy “Dottie” Bean when we dedicate this new 340acre forest in Farmington. The wellmanaged land includes trails winding through mature red oak , beech, white pine, and hemlock forests. Open ledges from near the summit of Chesley Mountain offer sweeping views of the Salmon Falls R iver valley. A guided t wo -hour hike on the loop trail includes strenuous uphill hik ing to reach the top
these trained volunteers are vital to many successful missions S
demanding work that can be extremely dangerous, and teamwork is the key to
endorsed by the White Mountain National Forest and the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. To learn more visit hikesafe com
Outdoor enthusiasts are also encouraged to purchase a Hike Safe card ever y year Proceeds help defray the costs of training and rescue equipment. “People seem to appreciate having a way to contribute to our search-and-rescue readiness. At the same time, they get the peace of mind that if an incident occurs, reimbursement costs are covered,” said Fish and Game Col. Kevin Jordan To purchase a Hike Safe card, visit wildlife.nh.gov/get-outside/hiking-safety.
Volunteer Appreciation Day July 20
Bear Brook State Park , Allenstown
Five Hikes Challenge
September 1– October 31
2025 Theme: Hike with Hear t
Monadnock Trails Week
September 4–8
124th Forest Society Annual Meeting
September 27
Colby Sawyer College New London
Registration opens August 4
For more information about these or other events, visit forestsociety.org/events.
Search and Circle
Find the following words in the puzzle. Words are hidden:
Propagating Partnerships: Advancing Research Goals Through Statewide Collaborations
By Steve Junkin
It’s been said many times before that p a r t n e r s h i p s a d v a n c e c o n s e r v a t i o n efforts in New Hampshire Our feeo w n e d l a n d 6 7 , 0 0 0 - p l u s a c r e s o f f e r s a platform for collaborating with other organizations to achieve a unified goal To increase our collective knowledge about ecology and forest management, our forests offer ideal conditions for research projects Forest Society foresters know these lands well, and they can quickly provide intimate details about these forests when responding to research inquiries For example, when the New Hampshire State Forest Nurser y in Boscawen asked the Forest Society for permission to collect seeds of specific species growing on our land, we were ready to assist and direct them in short time. This request led to the creation of the Seed Seekers Program, now in its third year, where Forest Society volunteers are trained in identifying and locating requested seeds By providing tree species data and locations across Forest Society forests, we have been able to help the Nursery increase the genetic diversity of the trees they grow. When the diversity within plant species increases so does the resiliency of those species to withstand stressors, including climate change, pests, and pathogens
Another collaboration with the Nursery and the Division of Forests and Lands Forest Health Program involves the propagation of white ash trees. In 2022, State of NH F o r e s t H e a l t h S p e c i a l i s t B i l l D a v i d s o n revisited forests, several of them on Forest Society properties, where he had previously injected white ash trees with pesticides to protect them from the Emerald Ash Borer. Ash trees experienced a bumper crop of seeds that year allowing Bill to gather seeds from a handful of sites in the state. The trees saved were selected due to each site’s ability to grow resilient ash trees into the future.
New Hampshire State Forest Nursery Manager Billy Kunelius collects white oak scion using a bucket lift at the Dame Forest in Durham, N H , (above) and a pole pruner at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown
These collected seeds were planted that same year with help from Billy Kunelius at the State Forest Nursery It took the seeds two and a half years to sprout and grow large enough for harvesting in the spring of 2025, and Davidson and Forest Society staff are in the process of planting the trees at the sites where the seeds were collected from. Davidson is hoping this will inform future restoration efforts in the wake of the devastating Emerald Ash Borer infestation
Adding to the list of partner projects, the Forest Society recently collaborated with the Nurser y on the establishment o
, Steve Roberge and Andy Fast of the UNH C
received grant funds from the White Oak I
oak species across its native range in the eastern U.S. By building a seed orchard,
prevent animals, including white-tailed deer, turkey, and black bear, from grazing on the sought-after white oak acorns
This year, Kunelius asked the Forest S o c i e t y i f w e k n e w o f p l a c e s o n o u r land where they could collect branches (aka scions) from seed-producing white o
information, we were able to quickly pull up our inventory records and database of species to provide Kunelius with multiple locations to choose from. The goal of this scion-collecting effort was to collect from 3 0 s i t e s s p r e a d w i d
y
c r o s s t h
to aid in genetic diversity. Kunelius and Forest Society foresters Ben Aldrich and Steve Junkin visited the Morse Preser ve i n A l t o n , R y a
Durham, and Burch Forest and Harmon Preserve in Freedom in search of white oak scion material Since the best scions are located in the upper branches of the trees, Kunelius used a boom lift and specialized pruning pole to gain access to the canopy. After collection, the scions are stored i n Z i p l o c b a g s i n t h e r e f r i g e r a t o r, s o they remain dormant and don’t dr y out.
Top left: Forest Society Forester Steve Junkin wraps his graft tightly at the UNH greenhouse. Right: A macro photo of a white oak scion grafted to a swamp white oak rootstock
Bottom left: Scions collected from the Dame Forest in Durham are bagged and ready for grafting. Right: In just under a week, the grafted stems developed new leaves
Once the rootstock young trees grown specifically for grafting arrived from the Virginia State Nursery, it was time to begin grafting A common practice among apple growing and other fruit crops, grafting marries the strengths of the two species that are fused together. In the case of this project, Kunelius grafted white oak (Quercus alba) scions to swamp white oak (Quercus b i c o l o r )
r o o t s t o c k . W h y n o t u s e w h i t e oak as the rootstock? Grafted trees need copious amounts of water for the grafted connections to take successfully. Swamp white oaks have a very high tolerance for wet conditions, which means they can tolerate the frequent waterings The scions need to be dormant while the rootstock needs to be just exiting dormancy and o t h e r w i s e b e g i n n i n g t o g r o w T h i s i s true whenever trees are grafted together. As part of the grant, in late March 2025, Dr. Laura DeWald from the University of Kentucky, traveled to UNH greenhouses to teach a grafting workshop To assist Kunelius in grafting 500 trees, more than 15 state and university employees joined h i m a n d D e Wa l d a t t h e w o r k s h o p . I n later weeks, Forest Society staff and other state and university employees completed the grafting of the remaining trees. Over
will monitor the seedlings as they grow
looking trees will be selected and planted in the nurser y’s orchard in spring 2026. Kunelius’s goal is to grow 100 trees in the orchard that will produce seed (typically in as little as 5–7 years), plant the seed, and later sell the seedlings at the nursery
Why White Oak?
White oak is a species that was once
occupies a small amount of its original range because of many factors, including a shift in disturbance patterns over the last several centuries. Oaks require a lot of sunlight to regenerate, and the larges c a l e , l i g
open a forest canopy occur less frequently Forest fires would have historically created these conditions; however, today’s land use practices, which aim to suppress fires, have little benefit to fire-adapted species. In the absence of fire, there are forestr y m
post-fire condition, but this requires an intensive approach that can be hard to c
and oaks are successfully regenerated, it doesn’t take long before white-tailed deer fi n d t h
over other tree species leading to a radical s h i f
densities are too high. From an ecological standpoint, white oak fills an important niche in the food web as it provides both h
bark where insects hide and become food sources for many bird species. White oak is also a highly sought after lumber species for making barrels that age and ferment libations, such as wine and beer Some species stand less of a chance of doing well in the future as our climate changes. However, white oak is projected to do well in a warming climate, so it is considered a climate resilient species
From seeds to scions, the Forest Society is ready to assist when our conservation allies come calling No doubt, our partnerships and relationships outside of our office walls will be key to protecting our state’s natural resources in the days and years ahead
Steve Junkin is a field forester for the Forest Society.
Billy Kunelius waters newly arrived swamp white oak root stock from the Virgina State Nursery.
Forest Society Interns Reflect on a Summer that Shaped Them The Kids Are Alright
By Sophie Oehler
In the fall 1975 issue of Forest Notes, short articles throughout the magazine highlight the efforts of an inspired group of young people. This is the Forest Society’s second ever class of summer interns, a tight-knit group of college grads and Masters degree students who spent the summer of ‘75 (for some, the summer before, too) exploring newly acquired Forest Society properties, clambering through the mountains in search of historic cellar holes, and following in the footsteps of history at some of the Granite State’s most iconic places. Fifty years on, still smiling and still close friends, they have grown into pillars of conservation, environmental action, and public service thanks to foundations built solidly in the basement of the Forest Society’s former headquarters at 5 South State Street in Concord.
T h e e a r l y 1 9 7 0 s w e r e an exciting time for both environmental action and youth empowerment The Environmental Protection
A g e n c y w a s n e w l y f o r m e d ,
t h e n a t i o n a l v o t i n g a g e h a d just been lowered to 18, and s c h o o l c a m p u s e s a c r o s s t h e country were maintaining the social momentum whipped up during the anti-Vietnam War
d e m o n s t r a t i o n s a n d t h e fi r s t Earth Day five years prior With environmental protection just e m e r g i n g o n t o t h e n a t i o n a l stage, interest in environmen-
t a l c a r e e r s a m o n g s t y o u n g p e o p l e w a s o n t h e u p s w i n g
Jameson (Jamey) French interned with the Forest Societ y in the summer of 1975 in bet ween graduating from Trinit y College with a BA in histor y and doing graduate work in economic histor y at the Universit y of Edinburgh, Scotland He worked with Dijit Taylor and another intern on the campaign to protect Sandwich Notch, specifically completing a field inventor y of historic sites in the notch, along with a repor t on the area’s histor y and cultural significance. He has been president and CEO of Nor thland Forest Products since 1990 (the family has been in the hardwood industr y since the late 19th centur y). Nor thland was the first in Nor th America to adopt forest cer tification, a voluntar y standard that ensures forest products are sourced from sustainably managed forests. He ser ved as the chair of the Land Trust Alliance the first Granite Stater to hold the position and remains the youngest person to have ser ved as chair of the Forest Societ y board. He continues to lead his business and the boards he has chaired, keeping in mind the words of former Forest Societ y President/Forester Paul Bofinger, a mentor and family friend: “If people on both sides of the issue are mad at you, you’re in the right place ”
“I was part of a whole group of young people who had been inspired by Earth Day to become involved in the environment,” says Lucia Kittredge “Nobody had really talked about environmental protection before, and our colleges didn’t even have environmental programs These internships were a big deal ”
At that time, Forest Society internships were facilitated by programs sponsored by the Massachusetts Audubon Society and University of Massachusetts-Amherst To apply, each hopeful intern selected from a long list of institutions seeking seasonal staff, and were hired for projects that best suited their skills, interests,
Dijit Taylor
and experiences In New Hampshire, the only two organizations offering internships were the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission and the Forest Society
“I knew I wanted to get back to New Hampshire, which was a big draw for applying to the internship program,” says Dijit Taylor, who at the time was a Master’s candidate in natural resource conservation at Cornell. “I spent much of my childhood on my family’s property in Epsom, N H , and hiking in the town forests around my hometown of Natick, Mass I knew I wanted to get into conservation because those memories engrained in me the importance of outdoor spaces, and I wanted those same experiences to continue for future generations ”
During her 1975 internship with the Forest Societ y, Dijit was initially assigned to create an interpretive nature trail through the Kingston Cedar Swamp but joined Jamey French’s project to inventor y the historic resources of Sandwich Notch. The notch inspired her graduate thesis at Cornell: a study on rural land use and resource allocation conflicts. The Forest Societ y used her thesis in their materials for the successful campaign Dijit went on to ser ve as the Appalachian Mountain Club’s first female director of research, and the director for the Center for Land Conser vation Assistance at the Forest Societ y where she star ted the annual land conser vation conference, Saving Special Places. She became the executive director of the Land and Communit y Heritage Investment Program in 2010 where she facilitated the permanent conser vation of more than 53,000 acres of land and 177 historic buildings. She fondly remembers her internship, specifically playing sof tball against the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission interns, and “getting a strong dose of feminism from the other female interns ” “I love this industr y, it’s so impor tant for the permanence of land,” she says. “People need land to know and love it, and I love being par t of something so significant.”
During this era, the Forest S
(
, “the Grande Dame of New Hampshire Conser vation ” Thanks to the Forest Society’s
and plans to build a superhighway through Franconia N
pioneer in adopting the use of conser vation easements, creating a ripple effect in the land protection community, and a campaign to protect
Sandwich Notch, the state’s last unprotected and undeveloped mountain pass, was underway. With regional land trusts still few and far between and environmental protection as a political issue continuing to gain momentum, the Forest Society was at the forefront of conservation action in New Hampshire
As a result, the interns of 1975 found themselves in positions of significant responsibility Jamey French and Dijit Taylor served as early data and story collectors for the campaign to save Sandwich Notch, connecting with c o m m u n i t i e s a n d k e y players across the state to compile reports that would play an instrum e n t a l r o l e i n t h e campaign’s eventual success. Cleve Kapala ran the Forest Society’s summer camp and connected with public schools across New Hampshire Jane Difley developed management plans that would guide stewardship of Gap Mountain and built r e l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h p r o m inent landowners in the local community. Lucia Kittredge identified and laid out a new route for the MonadnockSunapee Greenway, and Diane Kostecke wrote The Franconia Notch: An In-Depth Guide (Forest Society, 1975), which is still available for purchase online. “I didn’t know it at the time but there was no better place to be launched into a career,” Kostecke says. “We interns had a lot of autonomy with the big projects we got to do. Even when some of us might have felt out of our depth, we just did it That kind of mentality set me up for so many other opportunities.”
involved with the organization since departing his internship. “The Forest Society has greatly impacted my desire to keep the forest industr y engaged and recognizing the role they have in conservation and the good care of forests.”
“Without the Forest Society I wouldn’t have had the same sense of how forestry and conservation fit together, and I certainly wouldn’t have the same sense of New Hampshire,” Difley says “The work we did expanded and deepened my conservation ethic
Diane Kostecke spent a summer interning with the Forest Societ y in 1974, putting together T he Franconia Notch: An In-Depth Guide af ter graduating from Brandeis Universit y. The following summer, she interned with the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission and finished the guidebook with the Forest Societ y in her spare time The historic and cultural research, media production, and communit y engagement work she completed during her internship was the bridge to a long career with Wisconsin public television. In her time working in media production, she has been involved with multiple environmental documentaries and projects, and in her retirement she completed an oral histor y and documentar y on Roy Lukes, a major environmentalist from Door County, Wisc. Though she moved away from New Hampshire shortly af ter finishing her internships with the Forest Society, she remains a generous suppor ter and admirer of the organization and her fellow interns: “I learned so much from [the others] and, though having lost touch over all these years, they are indelibly etched in my memor y with respect and affection ”
and convinced me to stay in conservation and commit my career to it. Plus, it formed lifelong relationships that have followed me through my career and have meant a lot to me ”
Kapala echoed Kostecke’s sentiment: “The Forest Society was a launching pad for me and the direction I gravitated toward for the remainder of my life. The internship was socially, educationally, and philosophically important It made collaborating with p a r t n e r s s e c o n d n a t u r e , i t i n s t i l l e d a s t r o n g r e s p e c t f o r environmental quality, and it inspired my career interests ”
After their summers at the Forest Society, each of the interns left to pursue careers that were somehow influenced or supported by their individual assignments Most of them remained in environmental fields with the exception of Kostecke, who went on to become a successful public television producer All of them remained dedicated to the values, ethics, and life lessons absorbed during their intern experience “My whole life has been working with one leg in the industr y and the other in the environmental community,” French says. He has remained
As can be expected for like-minded, outgoing, and inspired young people working in close proximity, the interns quickly bonded into a tight-knit group that remains interwoven today The result is a long histor y of living and working in the state intersecting with each other and the Forest Society Jamey French served on the Forest Society’s Board of Trustees at the time when the organization hired it’s first and only female president/forester: a certain Jane Difley Jane would lead the Forest Society for 23 years, and during that time the Forest Society helped establish the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program to support land conservation and historic preservation in the state where Dijit Taylor, many years later, would serve as executive director Cleve Kapala went on to work in industry for TransCanada, and in doing so was instrumental in placing a conservation easement on more 2,300 acres with 31 miles of frontage on the First and Second Connecticut Lakes in Pittsburg an easement held by the Forest Society
Their personal lives, too, have remained connected. Difley and French share a birthday and celebrate the occasion yearly over
lunch. Difley, Kittredge, and Taylor have formed a hiking group of women called “The Trampers,” who meet weekly
t o “ t r a m p ” a c r o s s f o r e s t s , fi e l d s , a n d r i v e
t each member played a role in conserving
L
Jane Difley interned with the Forest Society in the summer of 1975, draf ting land use management plans on Gap Mountain, as well as the Webster Natural Area and the Tophet Swamp Af ter receiving a master’s in forestr y at UMass Amherst, she ser ved as vice president of forestr y programs and national director for the American Forest Foundation’s American Tree Farm system before going on to become the executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council. She is best known for being the Forest Society’s four th president/forester and the first woman to hold the position at the organization. During her tenure as president, Difley doubled the Forest Society’s conser ved forestland acreage, played a major role in halting Eversource’s Nor thern Pass transmission line, and led the organization’s centennial vision campaign, New Hampshire Everlasting. In her two decades as president, Difley ushered in an era of change and evolution for the Forest Society and continues to enjoy witnessing the for ward movement of forestr y in the Granite State “We’ve evolved a lot in the priorities we set around forestr y,” she says. “We’re talking about how we are going to prepare for climate change and how we can educate people on the role of forestr y in mitigating it. As always, we need to involve landowners in the conversation It’s really all about people ”
o f their first encounter, working late to type up an assignment after the secretaries had gone home Kittredge returned from the field, less shocked to find Kapala still working as she was to find him capable of doing his own touch typing. “I remember t h i n k i n g , ‘ H e r e ’s t h i s l o v e l y p e r s o n w h o ’s i n t e r e s t e d i n m e because of my typing skills? How can that be?’” he says. “When you think about it, the Forest Society did change my life It was a foundational experience ”
upheaval, finding their way to contribute to the greater good of environmental stewardship.
F o l l o w i n g t h e i r e x a m p l e , B e n L
p o l i c y intern with the Forest Society in the early 2000s Today, he is a land use attorney for the US
Lucia Kittredge spent t wo summers interning with the Forest Societ y, both of which were spent planning and helping to reroute the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway. In bet ween summers, Lucia was a graduate student in landscape architecture at UC Berkeley and went on to lead a successful career as a traditional landscape architect before turning to independent consulting, providing land conser vation guidance for landowners. She was instrumental in the conser vation of the Canterbur y Shaker Village, Andorra Forest in Stoddard, and the Forest Societ y’s Cockermouth Forest. She currently ser ves on Hopkinton’s Open Space Committee and chairs the Hopkinton Trails Committee and is thrilled to have been a par t of their effor t to conser ve the Hopkinton Village Greenway, a 4 5-mile loop around the village center, in perpetuit y. “I’ve worked with so many wonder ful landowners and seen some beautiful land across the state. I feel I’ve come full circle in so many ways.”
There are many unique and special things about this group
Humble as they are successful, they fill our conversations with anecdotes of people who made their work possible, reflections on what they’ve learned as professionals as opposed to what they’ve conquered, and unending gratitude for the experiences
t h a t l i f e
policy and if you base success
Society is a great place to learn from,” he notes A
current employer on a Forest Society timber landing, leading to the beginning of an inspired a n d i
g forester profession. “Working for the Forest Society broadened my horizons and helped me create new relationships throughout the state,” Gough says. “It sets a foundation for what it means to be a good forester, leaving a tangible legacy where you’ve truly made a change with the places and people you interact with.”
What these more recent interns have in common with the interns of 1975 is more than just their starting point. They are
intelligent, insightful, irrefutable in their pursuit of purpose They are empowered by people and, in doing so, empowering of people They can, and have, brought about change felt across communities natural and human that extend far beyond New Hampshire’s borders And that is why the Forest Society hired them Not because of a GPA or a family connection, but because even before they knew who or what the Forest Society was, they were already living its mission
Today, we have entered a moment in time where the winds of environmental change are gusty We know better than ever b e f o r e h o w i m p o r t a n t
f o r e s t c o n s e r v a t i o n i s t o our planet, we have better s c i e n t i fi c a n d s p a t i a l d a t a than ever before so that we can identify and prioritize
i m p o r t a n t r e s o u r c e s a n d connections between them, and we have more proven tools for collaboration and common interests than ever before But we need political will, bold action, and dogged persistence.
That part is not new, if we look back on the tumultuous b a c k d r o p t o t h e s u m m e r o f 1975, we’ll see that we have m a d e b o l d c h a n g e h a p p e n before and the stories of the i n t e r n s o f 1 9 7 5 i s a t i m e l y reminder “It’s hard to see past o u r c u r r e n t s i t u a t i o n i n t h e federal government. Who knows what’s going to happen in the next four hours or four days, let alone the next four years, or what that will do to our local work,” Dijit Taylor says. “The key to avoid becoming demoralized is to get your feet, and the feet of other people, especially elected officials, out on the land.”
know But the benefit of being a young person is that you stand at the threshold of possibility. That fear, curiosity, and quest for knowledge and belonging can impel you toward your mission
A n d t h a t i s w h y i n t e r n s h i p
experiences can bring together that youthful energy, drive, and curiosity with hands-on experience, real-world problem solving, and new perspectives They create a community of change And they build the next generation of leaders and innovators for institutions like the Forest Society.
I spent the summer of 2022 as a communications intern at the Forest Society. I found a place where I could make a difference,
Cleve Kapala interned at the Forest Societ y from the fall of 1974 through the summer of 1975, af ter which he was hired as a full-time staff member In 1974, he helped Les Clarke run the Conser vation Camp and Day Laborator y in Outdoor Education. The following summer, af ter finishing his master’s in environmental education at Antioch Universit y, he suppor ted the Conser vation Trust Program During his 10 years at the Forest Societ y, he worked in multiple depar tments, from land protection, policy research, advocacy and lobbying to education, communications, and publications. This time engaged him in the planning and designing of the energy efficient Conser vation Center and pulled him in a new career direction The rest of his career has been dedicated to ser ving as communit y and government liaison for major energy companies, including TransCanada and New England Electric (preceded National Grid). He played a significant role in negotiating TransCanada’s 2,300-acre conser vation easement with the Forest Societ y on the First and Second Connecticut Lakes in Pittsburg “My younger self wouldn’t believe the career I’ve led. I never could’ve foreseen what I’m doing now.”
thanks to an organization that sticks by its values, a staff who lift one another up, and the legacy of six young people, just like me, who may not have known the great influence they would someday have but pursued their future as if that is what they meant to do all along
In Diane Kostecke’s words, “The story of human existence is always feeling like we’re on the cusp of something terrible but persevering despite that. There’s something in us that keeps us trying If that disappears, the world won’t feel the same ”
Jamey French clearly remembered the effort that went into affecting change “When I look back to when I was chair of Earth Day in my town 55 years ago, the Merrimack River was full of sewage, DDT was killing everything, and we had no eagles or ospreys We could’ve put our heads in the sand and said there’s no hope. But we didn’t and there’s been dramatic improvement since then We must stay determined so that we can make a difference ”
To be a young person is to experience seemingly insurmountable change; to worry how you fit into the world, if you’ll ever
The interns of 1975 will tell you that it’s thanks to the Forest Society that they enjoyed such great success and purpose in their career and maybe they’re right. But it takes a specific person to rise to the occasions and expectations that this organization sets: a person with vision, tenacity, and passion; a person who welcomes challenge for the growth it promises; a person who not only wants change but inspires it It takes a special person to hold these truths for one summer. A rare individual will hold them their entire career
Sophie Oehler is in her third year as the communications coordinator for the Forest Society
A L A S T ING
LEGAC Y
How Wat erv ille Valle y’s
Wild He art Became Part of t he
Whit e Mountain N at ional Fore s t
By Dave Anderson
Beginning in 1911 with the protection of Mount Sunapee in Newbury, N.H., Philip Ayres, the Forest Society’s first forester, and his small team embarked on a statewide conservation journey that would forever carve the organization’s place in New Hampshire history. Following Sunapee, the Forest Society’s first reservation, came Lost River Gorge (1912), Mount Monadnock (1914), and 1,500 acres on Mount Kearsarge (1918).
Then in 1926, the Forest Society partnered with other organizations in a campaign to protect 5,000 acres in the heart of Franconia Notch, what is now Franconia Notch State Park But perhaps the least-known project that Ayres led was his work to lobby for the protection of 23,000 acres surrounding Waterville Valley from 1925 to 1928 Ayres knew what was at risk of being lost if a proposed logging railroad through Mad River Notch was
approved. There, in the upper reaches of the Pemigewasset River watershed, lay an irreplaceable tract of uncut primeval forest surrounding the Greeley Ponds, an area of original forest that only the Nancy Pond Research Natural Area surpassed in size. In his book The Waterville Valley: A Story of a Resort in the New Hampshire Mountains (1952, North Country Press), author Nathaniel Goodrich chronicles the evolution of logging privately owned forestland surrounding the summer resort community The first European settlers entered Waterville Valley around 1825 late by New Hampshire standards Goodrich describes the remembered primeval forests of his childhood 70 years later in 1895:
“Mile after mile it stood as it had grown, untouched throughout the years. Majestic sometimes with cathedral aisles of towering spruce, or intimate with green underwood veiling the gray or silver of beech and birch, always to me it was lovely, and quieting, and withal something strange Such was the forest of the Valley I am privileged to have seen it. It was the playground of those who came in vacation time They made trails in it without having to ask permission. They followed the brown sun-flecked paths beside ‘little brown brooks,’ and found places to sit and read or dream or fall in love. Now it seems the forest of a dream, and as a dream it passed, and is no more.”
According to Goodrich, before 1890, the International Paper Company had acquired the former land of the New Hampshire Land Company and began logging in Water ville Valley along the western slopes of prominent Noon and Jennings peaks. Logs were hauled to Campton and then by rail to the mill at Franklin Long logs were sledded down feeder roads to the banks of the Mad River in winter where they were cut into four-foot pulp logs and heaped in piles below a series of pools and driving dams constructed along the upper Mad River made for conveying the wood downstream Hardwoods were not cut because they are too heavy for river drives; hardwood sinks. A pivotal moment for Waterville Valley occurred in 1926 Goodrich writes:
“In 1926 the Inter national Paper Co. sold its holdings in the Valley to the Parker-Young Co for $1,050,000 Driving logs down Mad River and shipping them by rail to Franklin was getting too expensive The mill at Franklin was antiquated…. Parker Young, however had their mill at Lincoln and a logging railroad ending not far north of Greeley Ponds They proposed to extend this through [Mad River] Notch, fork it out east and west, cut the remaining spruce and maybe the hardwood, and then get out This was the last straw–not so much the cutting of more timber, for that was recognized by most people as inevitable–as the extension into the Valley of a railroad To feed those boaconstrictors at a profit it seemed necessary to cut everything,
down to sapling, while their engines were notorious for starting forest fires The reaction was instant and there began a campaign to have the Water ville timberlands made part of the White Mountain National Forest ”
Fifteen years earlier, the Parker-Young Company sawmill on the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River in Lincoln was the center of the sprawling timber empire of famed railroad logger J.E. Henr y and Sons. Their ruthless logging tactics, notoriety, and sheer ingenuity fueled the campaign by the Forest Society to create the White Mountain National Forest via federal land purchases under the provisions of the Weeks Act Legislation in 1911 Today, more than 42 eastern national forests trace their origins to the Weeks Act.
Goodrich goes on to explain:
“The railroad peril galvanized friends of the Valley into strenuous action For several years there had been efforts to get the Government to buy a small area of the best spruce, but these had come to nothing One of the chief obstacles was that such a purchase would cost well over $60 an acre, whereas practically all the previous acquisitions in the White Mountain region had been cut-over land averaging $6.50 an acre. The cost of the whole Water ville tract, with over 6,000 acres of uncut forest remaining, would average $50 an acre…. it was essential to show that there was public sentiment in favor of the purchase too strong to be disregarded, in other words, to organize a pressure group. At this point the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests went into action, led by its canny, diplomatic and dynamic executive, Philip Ayres. Veteran of many such campaigns, he knew the ropes To him, more than to anyone else, is due the success of an effort which, at the start, seemed a forlorn hope.”
An early photo of the Waterville Valley Forest Guard Station located on the banks of the Mad River in Campton, N H
Ayres organized support to lobby Congress to pass the McNaryWoodruff legislation, which extends Weeks Act funding for expansion of the National Forest. Goodrich outlined the succession of hurdles faced by the advocates:
1 Colonel W B Greeley, Chief of the US Forest Ser vice, must recommend the purchase
2 The Parker-Young Company must consent to sell
3 The National Forest Commission must give approval
4. Congress must pass the McNary-Woodruff bill.
5. President Calvin Coolidge must take action to include the required funds in the federal budget
“On November 2, 1927, Col. Greeley advised that the option had been granted and urged its acceptance On December 7 the commission approved the purchase. The option had to be accepted before April 1, 1928, and full payment made before June 1 It remained to get the money made available before that date….The option was taken up on March 22 and final payment made June 4 So, the Valley, excepting the 508 acres of hotel property, passed
into the National Forest For 23,000 acres the United States paid private owners, in 1928, $1,050,000 ($45 65/ acre). One hundred and ten years earlier, in 1818, two men bought from the State of New Hampshire, 33,000 acres, the whole township of Waterville, for $1,663.60 ($0.05/acre).”
The Af termath
After the 1928 federal acquisition, logging by The ParkerYoung Company continued in the forest surrounding Waterville Va l l e
Guards, precursors to the modern day USFS Rangers and District Foresters
“Soon after the Forest Service took over there came a radical change in the method of getting logs out of the Valley. The last drive went down the river about 1931 The driving dams were blown up or have rotted away At this time several developments made it practical to take logs out over the roads The highways became more able to stand the strain. In 1933 or 1934 the Forest Service opened the Tripoli Road, which greatly shortened the haul to Lincoln, and by that time motor trucks had shown what they could do. Also, the development of road-making machines made it economically practical to build good gravel roads right to the log piles and skidways.”
In 1928, the Greeley Ponds in Waterville Valley were protected as part of Congress passing the McNary-Woodruff legislation
The silver cup given to Philip Ayres from the Waterville Valley Athletic Improvement Association in 1928 was given to former U S Forest Service employee David Govatski (pictured at left with Forest Society President Jack Savage) by the descendants of the Ayres family over three decades ago because of his involvement with presenting forest history. The cup was displayed during the Weeks Act Centennial in 2011 and the Centennial of the White Mountain Forest in 2018, and now, after being generously donated by Govatski, resides with the Forest Society at the Conservation Center in Concord
“There was an understanding at the time of sale that ParkerYoung could continue cutting in the Valley for fifteen years, paying the Forest Service for the stumpage. This would enable the company to keep its mill (in Lincoln) supplied, and at the end of the period Government would have got back nearly all the purchase cost…. Another provision in the contract reserved entirely from cutting, a scenic area, a tract of 770 acres around Greeley Ponds. Unfortunately, the 1938 hurricane blew flat a great deal of this magnificent spruce ”
As noted by Goodrich, the September 21, 1938, hurricane not only leveled the timber in Waterville Valley and Mad River Notch it decimated large tracts across the White Mountain National Forest The fuel load created from the blown-down timber caused part of Waterville Valley and other areas of the forest to be closed for nearly a decade due to the severe fire danger.
Epilogue
The campaign to save Waterville Valley was Ayres’ last hurrah to save an iconic, regional forest landscape. He had employed his tried-and-true tactics to identify public and private funding sources and lobby business and political leaders to build broad public support. Ayres ultimately retired from the Forest Society in 1934 He died in November 3, 1945, and lies buried in the E l m w o o d C e m e t
the unofficial summer office of the Forest Society during that remarkable era
To d a y, t h e l
S o c i e t y w o r k s w i t h a n
White Mountain National Forest and NH State Parks to effect landscape-scale land conser vation of the most important scenic and recreational landscapes in New Hampshire, the mountains and forests at the heart of our state’s identity.
T he History of T ripoli Road
The mineral originally referred to as tripolite was first discovered near Tripoli, Libya. This mineral today known as diatomaceous ear th was mined and baked in kilns and transpor ted by rail during a shor t-lived industrial era along what is now the seasonal USFS Tripoli Road, which connects the upper end of Water ville Valley west to the Pemigewasset River Valley and Route 3 corridor in Woodstock, N.H.
Diatomaceous ear th is a glass-like silica material comprised of microscopic marine diatoms: tiny zooplankton in deposits of ancient seabed. It is used today in industrial applications ranging from reflective coatings for highway signs and paints for traffic lanes and as a filtration powder for applications including filtration of hot maple syrup.
By Ryan Smith
For the Love of Her Land
Growing up on the outskirts of Newark, New Jersey, where her father worked for the Western Union Telegraph Co. in New York City, Dorothy “Dottie” Bean spent part of her childhood summers traipsing through the fields and forests of her grandparents’ 340-acre property in Farmington, New Hampshire. This exposure to both urban and rural environments at a young age gave Dottie a unique opportunity to experience two worlds generations apart. Although her grandparents’ farm was located just five minutes from downtown Farmington, stepping onto the property was like stepping back in time.
R e l i c s f r o m t h e e a r l y, h a r d s c r a b b l e d a y s o f t h
D
m e r i t t family who settled the land in the late 1700s still remain. A pile of bricks is all that’s left of the blacksmith shop that o n c e s e r v i c e d t h e w o r k i n g f
M
n i t i
n g
a c k t o when original owner Mark Demeritt was enrolled in the New Hampshire Militia recently hung in the 1818 farmhouse Barns and other outbuildings that were once used to raise cattle, oxen, and horses endure the test of time and unforgiving New England winters Despite today’s rapid pace of progress, the days of yore have yet to vanish from the land, especially the decades’ worth of sweat equity Dottie invested in this historic property
After earning a degree in biology in 1958, Dottie worked as a research supervisor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston In 1970, she accepted a position with Tufts University at New England Medical Center, now Tufts Medical Center By then, her grandparents had passed away, and her parents who had retired in the early 1960s were living in the farmhouse Dottie mirrored her urban- rural upbringing by working full-time in Boston during the week and spending weekends on the farm in New Hampshire.
In 1990, with her father already deceased, Dottie retired from Tufts and moved into the farmhouse to care for her elderly mother until she passed away in September 1992, leaving the house and land to Dottie With no one else left to maintain the property, Dottie dedicated the rest of her life to stewarding the land and its history.
Her deepening commitment to preservation led Dottie to join the Forest Society in 1992. Soon after, she arranged to bequeath
her property to the Forest Society, with the provision that the house and up to 20 acres would be sold and the proceeds used to care for the property in an endowment fund The income from that fund will pay for taxes, maintenance, and ongoing improvements to the 338 acres that the Forest Society retains as the Bean Forest
Dottie’s conservation efforts were part of her life long before her death, though In 1993, she enrolled her land in the New Hampshire Tree Farm Program. While most Tree Farms are privately owned, some are municipal, school, or other public forests. Each must be at least 10 acres, follow a written management plan, and show a strong commitment to stewardship. Tree Farmers protect wildlife habitat and watersheds, conserve soil, promote sustainability, and provide recreational opportunities all while producing forest products. Between the Forest Society and the Tree Farm Program, Dottie found the support she needed to manage the conservation values of her land. She was the first to register for every Forest Society Annual Meeting and traveled to them no matter how far from home. She was a champion and cheerleader for numerous land protection projects, especially the Powder Major Forest in Madbury and Lee
Dottie was as involved in the daily chores as she was in the long-term planning of her land She tended the flower and vegetable gardens, mowed the grass, and painted the barns, fences, and gates When help was needed, she often called on her neighbors, Miles and Sher yl Olstad, who helped her mow fields and clear fallen trees after storms. “Dottie was generous,
Dorothy “Dottie” Bean (left) poses with her parents, Joseph and Donna
h
dedication,” Sheryl says “She had these traits in her job at Tufts University and carried them right over to the preservation of her farmhouse and property when she retired ”
The Olstads had four children, all of whom spent considerable time on Dottie’s land sledding in the winter, exploring the property in the summer, and picking pumpkins in the fall “Dottie was like a third grandmother to our kids,” Miles says “She was always there on birthdays and holidays, enjoying the company of our children ”
Dottie was generous when it came to letting others enjoy her land She let the Boy Scouts run their camporees in the sandpit, she allowed a friend to tap her maple trees in exchange for syrup, and she never posted her property from hunting. She took pleasure letting hikers walk on the property’s trails, including the loop trail that leads to a scenic view near the top of 1,000-foot Chesley Mountain The west side of the loop trail climbs through a beautiful hemlock and beech forest while the east side skirts beside towering red oak and white pine trees and an intermittent tributar y of Rattlesnake Brook Over the years, the Boy Scouts and Trailwrights Inc. volunteered their time to
maintain the trails, including by clearing brush and building bridges and rock staircases
maintaining her property for several years, not allowing her illness to slow her down until the cancer finally took her life in August 2021 at age 84. Ever thinking beyond her own needs, she had a new roof installed on the farmhouse shortly before her death, calling it a “birthday present” of sorts for Forest Society President Jack Savage and the organization.
Dottie didn’t just talk about conservation she lived it Today, the Bean Forest is open to all, and to add more significance to her generous gift it marks the 200th property the Forest Society now owns “Dottie worked hard every day taking care of her house and property and was driven by her dedication to the previous generations who lived on the farm,” Sher yl remarks “She was steadfast in the commitments she made for the preservation of the property for the Forest Society, and she would be absolutely delighted to know that her property will continue to be available for the public to enjoy just as she intended.”
Ryan Smith is the editor of Forest Notes.
Rattlesnake Brook, a tributary of the Cocheco River, flows through the Bean Forest
Celebrating Our 200th Conserved Forest
River (1912)
Stearns-Lamont Forest (1985)
High Watch Preserve (1997)
Tebbets Hill Reservation (2006)
A S S E T S T O A C R E S
Bean Forest (2025)
Dottie Bean had a clear vision of her land legacy as a balance of conservation, public access, funds for stewardship, and new generations of families making her house a home. With her legal advisors and the Forest Society, she created an estate plan with specific intention that has now come to fruition. Through the Assets to Acres Program, the Forest Society works with landowners to plan for land donations and devises of proper ty intended for re-sale.
For information, please contact Anne Truslow, Vice President for Development, at atruslow@forestsociety org or (603) 224-9945, ext 319
Should Forest Carbon Projects Be Taxed
By Matt Leahy
Forest carbon markets are controversial For many years, the debate has been over their validity can they actually help to mitigate climate change a n d t h e i r b e n e f i t s R e c e n t l y i n N e w Hampshire, the conflict has been most acute over the relationship between forest carbon markets and timber tax revenue Specifically, municipal and state officials have expressed concerns about the loss of timber tax revenues because of private forestland owners enrolling their properties into carbon markets
The question at hand is if forest carbon markets are having a negative impact on local tax bases, should governments tax the property owner to capture that reduced timber tax revenue? During this year’s legislative session, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a bill that proposed to do just that. House Bill 123 would have required landowners to pay an annual yield tax of 10 percent of the “estimated net value of the carbon offset credits issued and sold in the previous calendar year.”
Broadly speaking, the arguments for taxing carbon projects focus on three points:
1. Revenue generation
Taxing forest carbon offset projects could generate revenue for governments or, as proposed in New Hampshire, recoup lost revenue which can then be redirected into other government activities
2. Ensuring fairness
Taxing carbon offset projects in a similar manner to other industries will ensure f a i r n e s s i n t h e t a x s y s t e m a n d e n s u r e companies or individuals are paying their fair share of taxes.
3.
Market distor tion
Without proper taxation or regulation, there’s a risk of “greenwashing,” where
companies might invest in low-quality or ineffective offset projects just to claim
Taxing carbon offsets might incentivize better quality projects that are genuinely helping the environment.
However, others argue against taxation and cite the following reasons:
1. Government policy should encourage investment in carbon offset projec ts
designed to mitigate climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere Furthermore, they can be an avenue for forestland owners to generate additional revenue thereby helping them keep their forests as forests and maintaining that forest stand’s ability to sequester and store carbon
2. Double taxation concerns
the bill, the owner would pay a yield tax of 10 percent of the estimated net value o
sold and then be taxed again when trees were har vested In the case of a corporate landowner who already also pays business taxes like the NH Business Enterprise Tax o
tax would amount to triple taxation.
3. Economic and social benefits
Forests provide additional benefits beyond s
gas emissions They protect biodiversity, improve water quality, and support local economies through outdoor recreation opportunities. Forestland owners often provide and encourage these benefits without receiving any compensation Taxing forest carbon projects reduces the ability of these owners to steward their lands
During the Legislature’s consideration of HB 123, the Forest Society recognized the concerns forest carbon programs have raised. We also agree the Legislature should find a way to support municipalities that may have experienced a reduction in local tax revenue
However, we were also concerned that inaccurate information was presented to legislators about what forest carbon programs are and what they are not. As we noted in our testimony to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
1 Landowners can and do continue to harvest timber on properties where they have negotiated a forest carbon contract;
2. The landowner retains ownership of the property;
3. Recreational activities such as hunting, fishing, and hiking are allowed It is inaccurate to say that enrolling a property in a forest carbon program will end p u b l i c a c c e s s o n a p r o p e r t y t h a t h a d previously allowed it.
I n s t e a d o f a p p r o v i n g a c o m p l e x t a x bill, the Forest Society asked the Senate Committee to take a bigger view of the issues involving forest carbon programs to determine if other approaches exist that would address the municipal tax question w i t h o u t u n f a i r
a n d owners from using forest carbon programs
We asked the Senate to amend HB 123 to establish a study commission to review a l l p o s s i b l e a p p r o a c h e s t o s u p p o r t i n g municipalities. We also argued this study commission should consider how forest c a r b o n p r o g r a m s c a n b e n e f i t
maintaining sustainable forests.
In the end, the Legislature significantly changed this bill On the positive side, it does establish the requested study commission It also sets up a voluntary timber tax reimbursement (payment in lieu of t ax e s ) p r o gr a m. U n fo r tu n at e l y, t h e bi l l also includes a two-year moratorium preventing a forestland owner from enrolling a parcel of more than 500 acres into a carbon credit offset program.
This conflicted outcome highlights how controversial forest carbon projects are Whether they will ever be widely accepted or, conversely, whether the market will shrink is hard to predict. Regardless of how macro-economic and political forces affect them, we continue to believe they should be an option to help forest landowners sustainably steward their properties
As the Forest Society engages with the Study Commission, we will advocate for solutions that strike an appropriate balance between the concerns of local officials with the rights of private forestland owners
Matt Leahy is the public policy director for the Forest Society
Together Mak ing New Hampshire a Great Place to Live, Work, and Explore
Summit Circle ($5,000 and up)
Athletic Brewing Company
Badger, Peabody & Smith Realty, Inc
Garnet Hill Inc
Gates Industrial Corporation
Mainstay Technologies
Merrimack County Savings Bank
Nathan Wechsler & Company
OnX Maps
Seaboard International Forest Products, LLC
Whalen Public & Media Relations, LLC
Trustees’ Circle ($2,500 to $4,999)
J Group Hospitality
Littleton Food Coop
Mallor y Por traits
Meredith Village Savings Bank
Nor theast Delta Dental
Nor thland Forest Products, Inc.
The Secret Agenc y, LLC
St Mar y ’s Bank
President’s Circle ($1,000 to $2,499)
BCM Environmental & Land Law, PLLC
Bensonwood & Unity Homes
Check mateHCM Solutions
Chinburg Proper ties
EOS Research Ltd.
Frog Hollow Forestr y Froling Energy
Lumbard & Kellner, LLC
New England Private Wealth Advisors, LLC
NH Conser vation Real Estate
Ransmeier & Spellman, P C
Rockywold-Deephaven Camps, Inc.
Savings Bank of Walpole
Upstream Tech
Steward ($750 to $999)
Exterus Business Furniture
Law O ffice of Leonard D Harden
Meadowsend Timberlands Limited
TMS Diesel Nor th
Par tner ($500 to $749)
Arcomm Communications Corporation
Brookdale Fruit Farm
W S Badger Company
Blue Mountain Forest Association
Brookdale Fruit Farm
Capitol Craftsman, LLC
Durgin and Crowell Lumber Co , Inc
FedPoint
Half Moon Enterprises
The Lyme Timber Company LP
Monadnock Paper Mills, Inc
The Music Mill
Pine Springs
R M Piper, Inc
Whole Wealth Management, LLC
Colleague ($250 to $499)
Banyan Global
Dublin Road Tap Room & Eater y Frost Pond Carpentr y Gideon Asen LLC
Colleague (continued)
Grappone Management Company
Hammond Lumber Company
Hancock Lumber
Innovative Natural Resource Solutions, LLC
Kozikowsk i Proper ties, LLC
Maxfield Real Estate
Mediation Par tners of New England, LLC
Mulligan Forest, LLC
Nor theast Forest Ser vices
Por tsmouth Paddle Board Company, LLC
Proctor Hill Forestr y and Logging, LLC
Rek ’-Lis Brewing Company
Robbins Lumber
Samyn d’Elia Architects, PA
Seven Birches Winer y Seven C ’s Inc.
Toadstool Bookshops
Tri-State Iron Works, Inc.
Underhill Acres, Inc
Vik ing Forest Products
Winnipesaukee Chocolates
Yankee Publishing, Inc
Zachar y Berger Associates, Ltd.
Matching Gift Companies
ADP, LLC
Advent International
American Biltrite, Inc
Amgen, Inc
Bank of America
Bank of New Hampshire
Boston Scientific
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
The Cigna Group
Cleveland H Dodge Foundation, Inc
Davis Polk & Wardwell, LLP
Dell, Inc
Erie Insurance
Gar tner, Inc
Gilead Sciences, Inc
Google, LLC
Gradient
Hearst Communications, Inc.
Intel Corporation
Jacobs Solutions, Inc.
Jefferies Financial Group, Inc
Johnson & Johnson
Liber ty Mutual Insurance
Lincoln Financial Group
Mac y ’s, Inc
Manulife Financial Corporation
Microsoft Corporation
Motorola Solutions, Inc
NetApp, Inc.
Prudential Financial, Inc
Raytheon Technologies Corporation
Shell Oil Company
Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc
The Travelers Companies, Inc
UnitedHealth Group
Ver tex Pharmaceuticals, Inc
VMware, Inc.
Help Protect the Top of Mount Kearsarge!
By Anne Truslow
When I left New Hampshire for a new job in Washington, D C , I took with me a William Mitchell
s i l k s c r e e n e d p r i n t c a l l e d “ Vi e w o f M t . Kearsarge ” Having that print on the wall of my “garden apartment” in Washington was like keeping a window open to New Hampshire until I could return
N o w, I l i v e d , a n d s t i l l d o , i n t h e M o n a d n o c k R e g i o n y o u ’ d t h i n k I ’ d take a print of Monadnock. But it was Kearsarge that spoke to me because it is so ever-present in central New Hampshire It embodies the landscape of our ever yday, and it has been a quiet landmark for me through different times of my life: trund l i n g f r o m M a s s a c h u s e t t s u p R o u t e 8 9 to Middlebur y College; later driving the dirt roads to explore potential conser vation projects from Boscawen to Bradford Kearsarge watches over us in central New H a m p s h i r e a n d o f f e r s a p a r t i c u l a r l y friendly greeting on the horizon whether you are returning from the north, west, or south Funnily enough, Kearsarge stands out because it is actually a “monadnock.”
Not surrounded by close foothills and rising 2,100 feet in relative elevation, we see it as a height of land from long distances
M o u n t K e a r s a r g e h a s a l s o p l a y e d a recurring role in the history of conservation and collaboration between the Forest Society and the State of New Hampshire
The Forest Society’s first purchase of land on Kearsarge was in 1918: 521 acres protected in honor of Governor Frank West Rollins, one of the Forest Society’s founders Later transferred to the state, this is the land now known as Rollins State Park. T
Forest Society stepping for ward to protect land on Mount Kearsarge “to be held in p
,
acres in 1971 Of course, there have been bumps in the road: the Forest Society was not a fan of telecommunications towers o n M o u n t K e a r s a r g e b a c k i n t h e d a y. B u t o v e r t h e c o u r s e o f a c e n t u r y, 9 , 5 0 0
acres on and around Kearsarge have been f o r e v e r p r o t e c t e d b y t h e F o r e s t S o c i e t y, t h e s t a t e , s u r
land trusts.
N o w, w e h a v e t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o
a c q u i r e a n d p
inholdings at the top of Kearsarge Two p a r c e l s b
o f Mount Kearsarge State Forest have been h e l d i n p r
To g e t h e r e n c o m p a s s i n g 2 3 0 a
Kearsarge Mountain Road as it enters the state park from Warner, as well as some unique higher elevation habitat. Almost the entire property ranks as Tier 1 habitat in the NH Wildlife Action Plan And, the views! If not conser ved, this land, even though behind the gates, could be developed as camp lots. T h
at Mount Kearsarge makes it an especially beloved place. You can drive most of the way and still get out for a satisf
with panoramic views from open ledges t
Cardigan, Ragged Mountain, bookended
“View of Mount Kearsarge” by William C Mitchell, 2007 Courtesy of William C Mitchell
by the distant Green and White Mountain ranges. To the southwest, views extend to Lake Sunapee and Mount Sunapee and sometimes Mount Monadnock and the Wapack Range or onto the Boston skyline For the more intrepid, this is just a stop along the regional Sunapee-RaggedKearsarge Greenway
The Forest Society has an agreement to purchase the 230 acres by the end of this year. To do so, we must raise a total of $500,000 toward the purchase and costs
F
T
y will acquire and own this property in the near term, but in keeping with many past projects, will seek to transfer permanent ownership to the State of New Hampshire so that it becomes part of Mount Kearsarge State Forest
P l e a s e h e l p
t o support the permanent conser vation of t h e l a s t l a r g e i
h
o p o f Mount Kearsarge! Your gift will be part of a long tradition of citizen action to protect the icons of our state. For more information, please visit forestsociety.org/ kearsarge2025 or contact Anne Truslow at atruslow@forestsociety.org. Thank you!
Name:
Address:
Telephone: Email:
Enclosed is my tax- deductible contribution of $ VI S A MasterCard Number:
Please mail the completed form to:
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests 54 Por tsmouth Street, Concord, NH 03301
Donate online at forestsociety.org/kearsarge2025 For more information, call Anne Truslow at 603-224-9945 or email atruslow@forestsociety.org.
Thank you for your help!
54 Por tsmouth Street
Concord, NH 03301-5400
Address Ser vice Requested
We’ve always been active in the outdoors and spent 15 years as volunteer trail workers on the Appalachian Trail in the Mid-Atlantic As we learned more about the land and the threats that exist, we worked with federal, state, and local land managers to recruit volunteers for forest health projects. When we moved to New Hampshire in late 2020, we immediately fell in love with the state’s beautiful hemlock trees; a stark contrast to the species die-off we witnessed in the Mid-Atlantic
i
The Forest Society gave us a home to continue our efforts
programing. One of the ways we do this is through sponsoring
Members since 2021
To join them, visit forestsociety.org/join-today. Dewey
Dewey and Mary are among the 10,000 members who help the Forest Society protect and manage critical lands for wildlife, water quality, wood, and wellness across the state
lecture series. Past presenters at our programs have included Forest Society staff members Dave Anderson, Matt Scaccia, and Dylan Summers. In addition, we volunteer as land stewards at Monson Center and participate in Forest Society conservation projects, including Monadnock Trails Week
important especially now Funding cuts at several agencies and the likelihood that fewer people will make donations endangers conser vation efforts throughout New Hampshire. The Forest Society staff is extremely lean, dedicated, and knowledgeable The work they do is extraordinary, and we are happy to support them with our time and donations ”
