VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

Volunteer Land Steward Craig Mabie says he’s always been a “conservation person,” and he brings that passion to his current role reporting on the state of Stillhouse Forest in Canterbury.

Lost and Found: A Volunteer Finds His Place on the Banks of the Merrimack

By Sophie Oehler

Between a winding back road in Canterbury and the sandy banks of the Merrimack River, the trees at the Forest Society’s Stillhouse Forest shuffle quietly in a late June breeze. Protected in 2018, the 291-acre property is known for its hardwood forests, ravines shaded by hemlocks, and vernal pools surrounded by thickets of lady ferns.

In the center of it all, bushwhacking through bittersweet and beech saplings, is Craig Mabie. Born and raised in Newport, N.H., and now residing in Loudon after a 30-year stint in Seattle, Wa., Mabie is the volunteer land steward for Stillhouse. In this position, his passions align perfectly with his job responsibilities. “I’ve always been a conservation person, and an adventure guy,” Mabie says. “I do all kinds of skiing, biking, fly fishing, and kayaking...so, I’ve always been into land preservation in various forms.” Mabie’s role consists of reporting on the state of the property, including documenting signs of unwanted recreation, maintenance needs on property infrastructure, and trail or land erosion. These reports help the Forest Society get an idea of how best to manage the property.

The Volunteer Land Steward Program has been in action since 1993, training and assisting more than 170 volunteer land stewards who monitor an assigned Forest Society property within 20 miles of their residence. Mabie found out about the program after volunteering with the Forest Society on other projects. He was already an active volunteer with the Canterbury Shaker Village Trails and Grounds Crew, as well as the Loudon Trails Program, and Jackson Ski Touring Foundation. Now, in his second year of service, Mabie believes his work maintaining trails with these organizations helped him feel prepared and inspired to join.

On a private tour of the property, he shows me his favorite points of interest— in addition to some particularly large patches of poison ivy to avoid. As he guides me through the forest by memory, it becomes obvious that he is spending

more time out here than just the suggested bi-annual check-in. “Stillhouse is an undeveloped piece of property,” he says, “so, it’s really raw and beautiful in that way. [Getting to go] bushwhacking with my GPS, map, and compass is really satisfying.”

Although some trails do exist, they are often blocked by waist-high grass thickets or fallen trees. In fact, we are surprised to find the woods road into the forest has been recently mowed, which Mabie dutifully notes.

Stillhouse is managed for the protection of wetlands, riparian zones (the interface between bodies of water and land), and water quality. Nearly 600,000 people rely on the Merrimack for drinking water every day, and conservation land such as Stillhouse ensures the water entering the river is that much cleaner thanks to the filtering power of forests.

Like many large industrial rivers in the country, the Merrimack has had a complicated history. In 2010, the U.S. Forest Service listed it as one of the most threatened rivers. Since then, a statewide effort has been launched to protect it for safe drinking water and recreation. Stillhouse serves as part of that preservation by protecting a large section of the riverbank from dangerous runoff and pollution.

Not only is Stillhouse a trailblazer in river and riparian area preservation, but it is also a diverse one at that. The reservation boasts a variety of ecological environments: meadows created by logging projects, cliff precipices, and ravines decorated by a brook and a hemlock colony. This diversity is what inspires Mabie to continue his land steward work. “Preserving land in regard to climate change, clean drinking water...and taking developmental pressures off our land, allowing these wild places to remain wild, [is] a big part of my motivation.”

After a while fighting our way through brush, we arrive at one of his favorite spots: a sandy bluff overlooking a bend in the river. The land falls away in a steep drop off to reveal a thin strip of a sandbar at the bottom. Pine trees tower over the edge and wildflowers pop up around the rim of the eroded bank. On the opposite side of the emerald water is the Canterbury boat launch.

We then move to his other favorite view of the river where a rocky peninsula juts into the shallows of the water. On the bank above the stony shore is the riparian area, covered in lady fern, and, in spring, vernal pools, an important ecological environment for amphibians and insects to reproduce and feed.

He tells me that these are all the same places he leads groups to as part of a property tour he started in 2020. With a goal of showing participants the beauty of the property and talking about the importance of conservation, he’s introduced members of the Havenwood Heights Retirement Community to the forest, as well as groups from the Canterbury Shaker Village Trails and Grounds Crew and the Merrimack River Watershed Council. “People are excited to see Stillhouse,” he says. “Unfortunately, most people don’t get to see it, so I enjoy that aspect [of the tours].”

As we walk through the cool woods, songbirds serenade us from the forest canopy. We see herd trails created by deer and a smattering of different butterfly species. Mabie says he has also spotted bald eagles soaring over the river and signs of otter habitat in the riparian zones. Not only is Stillhouse home to a diverse array of plant and tree life, it is also what he calls a “sanctuary for wildlife.” “There’s not a lot of people; it’s a non-motorized, non-developed site. Because of the river access [and] because of Hart Hill... there’s quite a diverse ecosystem in here for all creatures to benefit,” he notes.

In the two and a half hours we spent walking the property, we never heard a car or a lawnmower or a chainsaw. There were no trail signs, no lost gloves waiting for their owners in the parking lot, and very little litter save for a single beer can and an overturned green horse bucket. In fact, the only other traces of humanity to be found were an old silo foundation and the sound of a plane engine overhead. “It feels strange hearing a plane in a place like this,” Mabie comments, as we watch it flying toward Manchester.

And it does. Stillhouse is one of those places that still feels wild. The silo is practically invisible, the forest having long since grown in around it, as if trying to remove all signs of former human occupation from view. The wildness is what inspires Craig Mabie to continue the work he does. “Stewarding land and keeping the land healthy is supremely important and getting more important all the time,” he says. “There’s a great deal of satisfaction knowing you are helping your particular piece of land meet its goals, as well as meet the goals of the bigger picture.”

Though being a volunteer land steward is rewarding, Mabie says it does come with the occasional challenge. Even though land stewarding has a lot to do with the land, it often has more to do with communicating with abutting landowners. “[I have to] make sure I’m being a good listener. I wanted to educate myself on the issues that people are facing. So, [I’ve] just been listening to get an understanding of what those issues are, so that I can work with them as best I can.”

Regardless, Mabie wholeheartedly recommends the position of volunteer land steward. “Do it, do it, do it. It’s a wonderful experience to be able to have one of these properties to oversee and become familiar with and to understand. You can really effect change; you can make things happen.” On my drive home from Stillhouse, I think about Mabie’s enthusiasm for his work. In a time of climate insecurity and grief, there is something reassuring about knowing that places like Stillhouse will remain untouched, undisputed, unscathed, thanks to people like Craig and their love for the forests and all that grows within them.

Sophie Oehler is the communications and outreach intern for the Forest Society.