FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK
CHAIR Bill Tucker, Goffstown
VICE CHAIR Drew Kellner, Brookline
SECRETARY Karen Moran, Webster
TREASURER Andrew Smith, Twin Mountain
PRESIDENT Jack Savage, Middleton
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Charlie Bridges, New Durham Deb Buxton, Greenfield Bill Crangle, Plymouth George Epstein, Silver Lake Elizabeth Salas Evans, Weare Peter Fauver, North Conway Don Floyd, Concord Allyson Hicks, Concord Jason Hicks, Meredith Deanna Howard, Etna Patricia Losik, Rye Nancy Martland, Sugar Hill Michael Morison, Peterborough Tom Wagner, Campton Janet Zeller, Concord
STAFF Will Abbott, Project Manager, The Rocks Frank Allen, Building and Grounds Assistant Dave Anderson, Senior Director of Education Anna Berry, Digital Outreach Manager Nik Berube, Maintenance Assistant Naomi Brattlof, Director of Easement Stewardship Rita Carroll, Tree Farm Administrator Tony Cheek, Vice President for Finance Connie Colton, Land Protection and Stewardship Coordinator Andy Crowley, Stewardship Projects Manager Linda Dammann, Development Assistant Carrie Deegan, Reservation Stewardship and Engagement Director Maria Finnegan, Manager of Individual Giving Leah Hart, Land Protection Specialist Stacie Hernandez, Land Protection Specialist and Regional Stewardship Manager Laura Holske, Finance Specialist Brian Hotz, Vice President for Land Conservation Steve Junkin, Field Forester Sarah Kern, Creek Farm Education Program Coordinator Susanne Kibler-Hacker, Senior Philanthropy Advisor Allan Krygeris, Senior Technology Specialist Sara Krzyzaniak, Data Processor Rebecca Lapitino, Policy & Reservation Stewardship Coordinator Matt Leahy, Public Policy Director Cameron Larnerd, Land Steward & Volunteer Coordinator Margaret Liszka, Membership Director Nigel Manley, Director, North Country Properties Ann McCoy, Development Manager Jack Minich, Regional Stewardship Manager Michelle Morse, Human Resource Director Carl Murphy, Facilities Manager Meredith Reed O’Donnell, Foundation Relations Manager Tina Ripley, Administrative Assistant John Plummer, Regional Stewardship Manager Gabe Roxby, Field Forester Jack Savage, President Matt Scaccia, Recreation and Community Relations Manager Ryan Smith, Communications Manager Maria Stewart, Senior Executive Assistant Anne Truslow, Vice President for Development Wendy Weisiger, Managing Forester Harriette Yazzie-Whitcomb, Receptionist
Our Durable Mission
A
s I write “From the President’s Desk,” I am sitting at the Presidents’ Desk. It was manufactured primarily from oak and was used by Jane Difley before me, by Paul Bofinger before her, and likely by Larry Rathbun prior to that. Based on its vintage, it may have been used by Philip Ayres a century ago. Our desk rests on the hardwood floor in the Weeks Wing, added to the Conservation Center headquarters in 1990. The walls of the President’s office feature pine paneling. Visitors enter the office through the wooden door and are offered a seat on wood-framed chairs around a wood table, where we can look through wood-framed windows across the Merrimack River valley. Stored carbon was not likely on the minds of any of the craftspeople making these products decades ago. But nonetheless, as I sit at this desk, I am literally surrounded by carbon stored in durable wood products. And if the forests from which the surrounding wood was harvested have managed to remain as forests, then they have already regenerated more trees, sequestering more carbon, while continuing to provide multiple benefits in clean air, water, wildlife habitat, and perhaps recreation. We care about carbon taken up by trees today because of climate change. As we learn more about the carbon cycle and foresters include carbon sequestration and storage among our forest management goals, the value of durable wood products is often overlooked. When long-lasting wood replaces energy-hungry products like concrete or steel,
it offers a measurable climate benefit. A vibrant wood market allows private landowners, who control 73 percent of New Hampshire’s forestland, to keep their forests as forests. On page 24, Matt Leahy articulates our case for sustainable forest management in the face of those who would have forestland owners manage exclusively for carbon. Good forestry can foster multiple benefits, including carbon. The real threat we face is forest conversion, which continues at a steady pace. The Forest Society’s 1904 mission to “perpetuate forests through their wise use and complete reservation in places of special scenic beauty” is as relevant today as ever. Born of the effort to convince society—and Congress in particular—that the White Mountain National Forest (among others east of the Mississippi) were a worthy and necessary goal, it seeks to bring resource managers and preservationists together in a common purpose. Yes, there are some places we leave untouched. And, yes, we can make sustainable (wise) use of an abundant renewable resource in our region. To keep forests as forests, we must be willing to strike the same balance. It’s a mission as durable as the desk at which I sit.
Jack Savage is the president of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. He can be reached by email at jsavage @forestsociety.org.
