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, Easement Steward 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, Easement Steward Michelle Morse, Human Resource Director Carl Murphy, Facilities Manager Meredith Reed O’Donnell, Foundation Relations Manager Tina Ripley, Administrative Assistant John Plummer, Conservation Easement Steward 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
The Funny Part of Tree Farming
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mong our more celebrated certified tree farmers in New Hampshire was PJ O’Rourke, who died recently of complications related to lung cancer at age 74. PJ spoke at our Annual Meeting in 2013 and had the crowd howling with his decidedly unflattering views of the Northern Pass transmission line proposal. Knowing his audience, he also opined on the travails of being a landowner in northern New England. With more than a little good humor, he loved to assume the mantle of the befuddled and overworked tree farmer. “A demanding life it is,” he wrote in the Wall Street Journal in 2012. “Sleet, snow, frost or freezing rain, the crop must be brought in—every 40 years no matter what.” As a self-described “failed country gentleman,” PJ claimed, “the difference between being a certified tree farm and being lost in the woods is a bureaucratic mystery fully understood only by the Department of Agriculture.” No wonder he was confused, given that here in our state the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands is part of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. He must have been knocking on the wrong state bureau door looking for help. On being a tree farmer, he wrote, “I think it means I can deduct what I spend on growing trees (nothing) from what I earn on selling timber (nothing).” As a certified tree farmer myself, I love his joke—it often
seems like it’s true. But as the some 1,500 tree farmers (including the Forest Society) in the state know, there is a bit more to it—especially since we are committed to improving those forests over time through sustainable forest management. And depending on how many acres there are in your tree farm, and the age and health of your forest, it’s possible you might wear yourself out bringing the crop in twice as often. The Forest Society is one of the sponsors of the NH Tree Farm program. New Hampshire was the 29th state to adopt the program, a moment celebrated in 1950 at the Andorra Forest in Stoddard. (Massachusetts beat us to it by two years.) According to the State Forest Action Plan, 70 percent of forestland is owned by private landowners like PJ O’Rourke. He may have feigned bewilderment for our amusement, been occasionally lost in the woods, and failed in his quest to be a “country gentleman,” but he left this world as something even more noble, a New Hampshire tree farmer.
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.
