THE WOODPILE

Old logging roads crisscross the new addition at the Champlin Forest in Rochester.

Conservation Continues in the Lilac City

In late August, the Forest Society purchased 122 acres of forestland and wetlands adjacent to its existing 185-acre William H. Champlin Jr. Forest in Rochester, with help from many supporters.

“We are so pleased that this acquisition will not only enhance the natural resources protected as part of the Champlin Forest, but also provide an even greater recreational asset in the heart of Rochester, a city of more than 31,000 residents,” Forest Society President Jack Savage says.

The land will be permanently conserved and open to the public thanks to combined contributions of $465,000 from numerous sources, including more than 250 individual donors from surrounding communities. In addition, the Adelard A. and Valeda Lea Roy Foundation awarded a grant of $7,500 and the Rochester Conservation Commission contributed $200,000. A $115,000 grant from the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) and a $110,000 grant from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Aquatic Resource Mitigation Program were essential to this project.

“The expansion of the Champlin Forest helps preserve Rochester’s open space and further connects our community to the outdoors,” Rochester City Planner Ryan O’Connor says. “We’re thankful to the Forest Society, the Conservation Commission, individual donors, and all the partners that worked to make this happen. Opportunities like this help to balance growth and provide lasting benefits to the community and environment.”

The 185-acre William H. Champlin Jr. Forest was donated to the Forest Society in 2006 by Virginia Spaulding Champlin in honor of her late husband. At the time, the Champlins donated additional land to another local nonprofit, Homemakers Health Services, now a part of Easterseals of New Hampshire. It is 122 acres of this property that the Forest Society purchased and reunited with the 185-acre Champlin Forest, while Easterseals is developing affordable senior housing on the balance of their land.

“LCHIP is pleased to support the Forest Society’s Champlin Forest expansion, which will improve access to outdoor recreation close to home for residents of Rochester and Somersworth, two of New Hampshire’s largest communities,” LCHIP Executive Director Paula Bellemore says.

“Completing the Champlin project has been very rewarding personally,” said Lori Sommer, wetlands mitigation coordinator with the NH Department of Environmental Services, Water Division. “In 2005, I was involved in negotiations with the Champlin family and federal agencies concerning mitigation for the nearby Skyhaven Airport. That resulted in the breaching of two dams and conservation of 185 acres of the original William H. Champlin Jr. Forest. This 122-acre Forest Society addition significantly expands protection in a highly developed landscape, results in a connected habitat for wildlife, and furthers mitigation goals to protect the water quality of the Cocheco River watershed.”

The Champlin Forest already hosts a restored wetland and woodland trails are easily accessible from the main parking area off Route 108. The Forest Society plans to celebrate the expansion of the Champlin Forest with a winter walk to be scheduled later this year.

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A Treasured Tree Farm Gets a New Tender

This fall, the Forest Society named Cameron Larnerd as its new Christmas Tree Farmer at Forest Society North at The Rocks in Bethlehem. In this role, Larnerd’s responsibilities will entail cultivating and growing 32,000 Christmas trees, managing the Forest Society’s tree retail and wholesale operations, and overseeing the farmhand staff and volunteers.

After previously collaborating with the organization as a Leave No Trace traveling trainer, Larnerd joined the Forest Society in early 2022 as the land steward and volunteer coordinator. “I truly enjoyed my role as a coordinator this past year, but my love for growing trees and desire to farm led me to pursue this new position,” Larnerd says. “I am looking forward to making the North Country my home, being a part of the community, caring for the tree farm, and welcoming all to the Forest Society North at The Rocks property.”

Growing up in New York, Larnerd developed a love of trees and nature and went on to earn a bachelor of science in natural resource management from The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He also attended Wanakena Forestry Ranger School where he earned an associate of science degree in forest technology.

Centered around the scenic working tree farm and historic estate, Forest Society North at The Rocks serves as the Forest Society’s North Country hub for community engagement through recreation, educational programming, and tourism. Since 1989, The Rocks Christmas Tree Farm has grown to be a popular destination and cutting a tree on the farm is an annual holiday tradition for many families.

After spending more than 35 years in the position, longtime Christmas Tree Farm Manager Nigel Manley is handing the pruning shears over to Larnerd. While Manley will no longer manage the tree farm, he continues to play an integral role at Forest Society North at The Rocks as the senior outreach manager, continuing to develop and run educational programs such as the very popular NH Maple Experience. Manley is also part of the capital campaign team working to raise $8.5 million for The Rocks’ renovation project that is in full swing.

Jack Savage, president of the Forest Society, added, “We are so fortunate that Cam brings to this new position a background and passion that will serve him well and that he will have the benefit of Nigel’s mentoring as he gets the lay of the land. It is an exciting time at The Rocks and having the tree farm in good hands is essential to our vision for Forest Society North.”

Christmas Tree Farm Manager Cameron Larnerd

Mahoosuc Highlands Project in Shelburne Meets Milestones

As seen on the cover of this issue, the Mahoosuc Highlands encompass a spectacular landscape that stretches from the banks of the Androscoggin River to the flanks of Bald Cap Peak in the town of Shelburne, N.H.

Recent grant awards have brought the Forest Society ever closer to accomplishing this 3,750-acre acquisition. With grants from the NH Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, the U.S. Forest Service’s Community Forest Fund, and potential support from NHDOT wetland mitigation funds, we are well on our way to the $3.3 million project campaign goal.

Thanks to support from a private foundation, private contributions to the project will be matched 1–1 up to $250,000. To help us maximize this challenge grant and reach the full $500,000 fundraising goal, please visit forestsociety.org/mahoosucs.

This winter we will be working with members of the Shelburne community to form a Community Forest Advisory Committee, while we continue working with The Conservation Fund and the Mahoosucs Land Trust to complete the project. We hope to achieve our fundraising goal by early 2023 and keep on track to acquire these lands as the newest Forest Society reservation by the end of the 2023.

Thanks to all who have contributed so far!

Finding More at the Morse Preserve

Photos and story by John Welch

Iadmit it. I overlooked the Morse Preserve in Alton for too long. The property’s 1,400-foot summit, Pine Mountain, seems to sit in the shadow of Mount Major, a more popular hiking destination that’s also owned and managed by the Forest Society. It wasn’t until I had nearly finished hiking all 69 miles of the Belknap Range’s official trails, including dozens of summits of Mount Major, that I first visited the Morse Preserve. On an unusually mild February evening in 2016, I set off for the summit from the trailhead on Avery Hill Road. When I reached the top, I lingered until sunset on a thawed patch of granite amid wild blueberry barrens and took in the views of the Belknap Range, White Mountains, and Lake Winnipesaukee. As I snapped photos of the landscape, I made a mental note to return to this place; there were possibilities here beyond a mere hike.

The author’s middle daughter, Gabby, and wife, Gloria, discover the joy of picking wild blueberries atop the Morse Preserve’s Pine Mountain.

Left: The author’s family poses atop Pine Mountain. Right: In 2016, the author’s oldest daughter, Annabelle, hiked the Robert A. Greenwood Sr. Loop Trail on her way to summiting Pine Mountain for the first time.

Two months later I returned with my preschool-age daughter, Annabelle, on the first warm day of spring. Having been carried to summits before but never having hiked one under her own power, she was eager to start hiking them with Daddy. Our pace was slowed not by the trails, which were easy, but by her curiosity at every little thing she noticed along the way. She studied the forest floor and pointed out the red shoots emerging from the cracked acorns, part of the oak tree’s germination process. Wanting to emulate my hiking poles, she made one out of a stick she found. Wind and pride washed over her face as she took in the view from her first earned summit. I realized this was more than a hike—it was a foundational memory for us. The outing made such an impression upon her that she included the photo of us at the top as one of the five things on her life timeline assignment that she created upon entering kindergarten that fall. Both the photo and timeline remain on her bedroom wall to this day.

As the years passed, hiking Pine Mountain became a rite of passage for each of my two younger daughters. Knowing that my youngest daughter, Jenna, was more motivated by treats than views, my wife and I timed her first summit attempt around the peak of wild blueberry season in July. Jenna’s first taste of the smaller-yet-sweeter-than-grocery-store berries made her smile, causing her stuffed cheeks to lift her pink eyeglasses visibly higher. My wife and daughters pretended to be bears foraging for the sweet morsels, and we spent an hour savoring the berries and views.

As we headed back down the trail, my middle daughter, Gabby, noticed wood lilies in bloom. “Are these tiger lilies?” she asked. I explained that they were a native wild look-alike of her favorite flower. We love to go birding as a family and were excited to hear an unfamiliar metallic trilling bird song coming from the scrub oak thicket below the summit. We tracked it down and found it was made by an eastern towhee, a new species the girls had not seen or heard. This discovery, along with a growing passion for wildlife photography, prompted me to see even more potential for future trips to the Morse Preserve.

The next spring, I came back with my 600 millimeter lens early one morning to photograph birds. My main goal was to find ruffed grouse among the ideal shrubby habitat along the Mary Jane Morse Greenwood Trail. It didn’t take long for me to hear the supersonic whomp-whomp-whomp sound of male grouse drumming their wings on logs as part of their courtship ritual. This was the behavior I was hoping to photograph. I searched the thickets to try to find a drumming log covered in grouse scat. Instead I found rabbit droppings, coyote scat, and the scattered

The author and Annabelle atop Pine Mountain on her first mountain hike. This photo remains on her bedroom wall to this day.

feathers of a dead grouse, which was likely the victim of the same coyote. Though I didn’t get the grouse photos I was after, I did get some beautiful photos of the returning eastern towhees and migrating warblers on newly budded out branches. This outing gave me an appreciation for the rich habitat that the Morse Preserve provides for a diverse array of species.

The preserve is a place for a diverse array of people, too. When I returned to the summit after looking for grouse that morning, I saw a small group getting ready to celebrate a wedding. The young bride and groom had donned jackets over their wedding attire to brave the chilly wind gusts, but they still seemed radiant in this place. I also know of a serious birder who uses the summit to observe raptor migration in the fall. Families often visit the summit as a sunset picnic spot. It is no surprise that people are discovering the Morse Preserve given that it is an easy drive from many of New Hampshire’s main population centers such as Concord, Manchester, Laconia, Dover, and Rochester.

This public access has been enabled by the Forest Society’s stewardship and conservation efforts. Formerly private land where generations of the Morse family lived for 135 years, the preserve was created in 2008 thanks to a 431-acre gift from Mary Jane Morse Greenwood. She named the trails in memory of her predeceased family members. Recently, the preserve was expanded by a Forest Society acquisition of a 222-acre parcel on the southern ridge of Pine Mountain and a 260-acre conservation easement connecting the existing northern portion of the preserve through a beaver pond and wetland complex to Jesus Valley Road. Thanks to these efforts, this land will remain a place to make more memories and discoveries about the natural world in the future.

This fall, my kids have asked about winter hiking and learning about what to wear, what to pack, and what tasty treats we can eat along the trail. A family outing to teach them might be our next memory made at the Morse Preserve. I can’t wait to return.

John Welch is an educator and photographer who resides with his wife and three children in central New Hampshire. To see more of his work, visit jwelchphoto.com.

Online

Learn more about the recent additions to the Morse Preserve by visiting forestsociety.org/morseadditions.

Above: Dr. Michael E. Mann, distinguished scholar of climate science and author of The New Climate War, encouraged Annual Meeting attendees that it's not too late to take action on climate change. Left: Annual Meeting attendees enjoyed a refreshed Conservation Center, including a pollinator garden near the front door.

Connecting in Concord: The Forest Society’s 121st Annual Meeting

Photos and story by Anna Berry

The Forest Society welcomed nearly 150 members and friends to its statewide headquarters in Concord on September 24 for its 121st Annual Meeting. Attendees gathered to celebrate the Forest Society’s accomplishments over the last year and to learn more from keynote speaker Dr. Michael E. Mann about how to take bold action to avert the worst impacts of climate change.

Dr. Mann, distinguished scholar of climate science and author of The New Climate War, among other books, is a presidential distinguished professor in the department of earth and environmental science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. “It’s not too late,” said Dr. Mann in his Annual Meeting speech. “Ironically, the belief that it’s too late could be the one thing that makes it too late. The impacts of climate change are no longer subtle. Denial just isn’t credible.”

President Jack Savage shared the Forest Society’s plans to reduce the organization’s emissions and advocate for policies that will address climate change locally and nationally, but he acknowledged, “It would be easy to highlight our own plans to reduce the Forest Society’s emissions or to point to the nearly 60,000 acres of forestland we own and manage, or the 135,000 acres of land under easement that are already sequestering and storing carbon, and declare: the Forest Society is addressing climate change. After all, New Hampshire arguably invented additionality as our forests recovered substantially from 1850 to 2000, sequestering carbon annually—we’ve done a lot.”

Savage noted that resting on the Forest Society’s work and history is not sufficient. “If everyone in this state or country feels they have already done enough to mitigate the consequences of climate change, this crisis will not be resolved,” he says. “So, even though we are just one organization that operates in one of the smaller states in the country, we must commit to act beyond the walls of the Conservation Center and outside the boundaries of our forest reservations.”

During the business portion of the meeting, Phillip Bryce of Deering was elected as a new member to the Board of Trustees. Bryce previously served on the board in 2010 and 2011 before stepping away to become director of New Hampshire State Parks.

Award Winners

Left: Shirley French (right) poses with her son, Jameson S. French, after being recognized at the Annual Meeting for her 65 years of membership. Middle: From left, Lorin Rydstrom, 2022 Conservationist of the Year, with President Jack Savage and incoming Board of Trustees Chair Drew Kellner. Right: Volunteer of the Year Dave Heuss (right) and Forest Society Reservation Stewardship & Engagement Director Carrie Deegan.

Karen Moran, of Webster, was elected by members to continue to serve as secretary of the board.

Board members met following the meeting to elect two new officers: Drew Kellner of Brookline as chair and William Crangle of Plymouth as vice chair. Andrew Smith of Twin Mountain will continue serving as treasurer.

Also at the meeting, the Forest Society presented the Conservationist of the Year Award to Lorin Rydstrom. This prestigious award honors people whose work to promote and achieve conservation is exemplary and whose actions have advanced the protection and stewardship of land statewide. Hailing from Hollis, Rydstrom was honored in recognition of his longtime career as a founder of Seaboard International Forest Products, his personal dedication to conserving New Hampshire’s working forests and special places, and his leadership in supporting conservation work across the state. “Lorin understands a day in the woods, whether hunting, fishing, working, or just walking, is a day well spent,” said Drew Kellner, incoming chair of the Board of Trustees. Rydstrom has been a member of the Forest Society since 1994 and served on the Board of Trustees from 2013 to 2021. “Lorin’s impact on the Forest Society and as a leader will be felt for generations to come,” Savage says.

The Trish Churchill Volunteer of the Year Award was given to Dave Heuss. This annual award honors exemplary people who have volunteered their time, resources, and energy to help the Forest Society achieve its mission. Based in Concord, Heuss has volunteered with the Forest Society for the past eight years. He first volunteered to be a land steward for Woodman Forest in Boscawen, but his volunteerism has expanded tenfold since.

Heuss has helped lead guided hikes for the popular Forest Society 5 Hikes in 5 Weeks program, built rock stairs during Monadnock Trails Week, tends to the Tom Rush Forest chestnut seed orchard, participates in the sugar maple regeneration citizen science program, and has staffed numerous Forest Society events and programs over the years. Heuss is also a master woodworker and has built kiosks and bridges, fixed doors, and done numerous odd carpentry jobs around the Forest Society Conservation Center. “It’s hard to think of a volunteer workday, event, or program that Dave has not been involved in over the past eight years,” President Jack Savage says. “From tending our chestnut seed orchard to making two hundred perfect little tree cookies to hand out to kids during an education program to flipping flapjacks for the governor and Executive Council, he is willing to do anything and has the skills to do everything. Dave has become an indispensable colleague and a good friend to many of us here at the Forest Society.”

Anna Berry is the director of communications and digital outreach.

Learn More

The Forest Society presented its 121st Annual Report at the Annual Meeting. Read all about our accomplishments over the last year by visiting forestsociety.org/annualreport.