Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests

Land and easement stewardship: the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests owns and manages 200 reservations covering almost 60,000 acres. In fy23, we ran 11 timber harvests covering 580 acres. We harvested 2.3 million board feet of sawlogs and 14,000 tons of low grade wood. This brought in $433,000 in stumpage revenue. We trained 20 New volunteer land stewards, bringing our total of land stewards to 164 helping us monitor and maintain our forest Society reservations across the state. Our volunteer easement monitoring program (vemp) saw 10 volunteers monitor 34 conservation easment properties. In addition, our staff monitored more than 700 easements on more than 130,000 acres. At the rocks, we harvested more than 4,600 christmas trees. the farm to school program and the forever green programs were all held on-site in fy2023. the spring maple programs and fall bus tours were both successful. the bretzfelder park programs were conducted via a mixture of zoom and in-person formats.

Education and outreach: forest Society outreach education programs for 2022-23 included more than 100 unique public and community-based outreach events for an audiences totaling more than five thousand participants. Based from program centers at creek farm in portsmouth, the forest Society north at rocks and bretzfelder park in bethlehem and the concord conservation center, education and outreach program audiences include forest Society members, general public, nh public schools, college students and community program providers serving older, adult learners. Outreach partnerships include the annual program series at the john hay estate at the fells in newbury and with the nh division of Forests and lands in the nh department of natural and cultural resources at fox state forest in hillsboro. Other partners and venues include the lake sunapee protective association, the city of rochester recreation department. At creek farm in portsmouth programs are hosted by the gundalow company, little harbor chapel and good work at creek farm. Concord program include those delivered to the osher lifelong learning institute, the centennial senior center "good life" programs and pleasant view retirement in concord and more.fiscal year 2023 included a broad mix of indoor lecture series, outdoor walks or hikes and public presentations and media features designed to connect members, volunteers and local audiences with the forest Society's mission and history. Programs content statewide is focused on natural resource conservation and forestry, land conservation, history, wildlife, and stewardship of recreation trails serving tens of thousands of visitors statewide. Slide-illustrated lectures, readings, hikes and tours deliver forest Society content live and in-person. Communication via statewide media include monthly "forest journal" columns in the statewide nh sunday news and "something wild" twice per month public radio and online and podcast features produced in partnership with nhpr and nh audubon. Outreach education, communication and engagement programs at the forest Society introduce students, residents, visitors, members and donors to the people, protected properties and partnerships that make our statewide mission possible.highlights:i. Regional forest Society program centersa. Creek farm21 forest Society presentations and events throughout the year with total program attendees = 400.other usage of creek farm:gundalow camp programs = 425 kids, 47 adults = 472portsmouth paddle company = 31korabek meditation and training = 34good work and portsmouth hs (sarah k) = 50 studentsb. Forest Society north at the rocks programsspringtime bus tours and autumn foliage season bus tours with maple sugaring interpretation year-round 45 bus tours x 40 people each = 1800 visitorschristmas tree sales and wagon rides during major tree sales weekends +/- 400participants.maple weekends at the rocks 6 days; 5 tours/day @ 12-15 people= 360+ people attendingapple tree pruning march 12, 2023, 17 participantsag in the classroom may 25, 2022 at the rocks +/- 100 studentsc. Bretzfelder park winter lecture seriescommon loon february 15, 2023 / 27 registered snowshoe walk bretzfelder park field trip february 22 / 25 participantsrocks renovation / march 1, 2023 / zoom presentation / 102 pre-registeredblack bears march 8, 2023 / zoom presentation / 98 pre-registeredd. Concord conservation center programs5 forest Society presentations and events throughout the year with total program attendees = 75.ii. Program partnerships education series or eventsa. Nh division of Forests and lands, department of natural and cultural resourcescottrell baldwin environmental lecture series at fox state forest. Five presentations with a total attendance of 330b. John hay estate at the fells, lake sunapee newbury 2022 summer series of readings, talks, hikes, panel discussionc. Lake sunapee protective associationspecial event for lspa 125th anniversary program "wonderful waterful landscapes" peter bloch & dave anderson on april 21 2023 earth day 100+ attendediii. Field trips hosted on forest Society reservationsstaff-led public hikes and interpretive programs for public and partnersmay 11 2022 greenfield elementary school visit to gipson forest timber harvest, greenfield 25+ students and staffjuly 9 2022 ammonoosuc river forest hike dedication and celebration afternoon and morning tours july 16th 9 am to 1 pm high watch forest reservation, effingham for green mountain conservation group 12 attended.july 23 2022 "building unity in the outdoors" event at monadnock trails week 11 attended november 5 2022 timber harvest tour at wilkins campbell forest - 27 attendedfebruary 24 champlin forest, rochester. Dedication of property expansion and winter walking tour) - 43 pre- registered march 3 unh seagrant program graduate students for conference room land conservation issues panel discussion and concord floodplain tour for lyndsey williams 25 students and unh seagrant staff and researchers.april 20 mccabe forest vernal pools tour for antrim elementary school students with harris center for conservation education 45 students and school staff, chaperonesiv. Special events & community outreach at partner campus settingsquincy bog natural area, rumney "the night visitors" wildlife camera images and natural history august 10, 2022 18 attendedosher lifelong learning institute (olli) concord campus nov 1 "maple sugaring" program 1- 3 pm - 15 attended upper valley april 17 peter bleylor white mountain hikingpleasant view retirement program on nh wildlife centennial senior center "good life" programs in concord feb 15 "merrimack river at risk" film 12 attendedmarch 4 "introduction to family maple sugaring" 12 attendedapril 27 "a century of conservation at forest Society" 15 attendedmoultonboro loon preservation committee introduction to vernal pools program for lakes region audubon chapter april 13,2023 11 attended"history of mt monadnock" for jaffrey historical Society april 27 40 attended may 10, 2022 al-noba "engaging community on conservation lands" workshop presentation 18 attended may 12 forestry career field day at bear brook state park v. 2022 "5 hikes challenge" diy fall hiking seriestotal = 100+ unique registrants for 198 total participantsvi. Forest Society 121st annual meeting concord. September 24, 2022annual meeting 2022 had 157 guests pre-registered; 135 attended. Keynote speaker, awards, business meeting. Held at concord conservation center headquarters.vii. Mt major school outreachnov 3 visit to dover middle school 8th grade students pre-hike presentation, 85 students

Land Protection: the forest Society conserved 2,158 acres through 10 land Protection projects across the state. Among the projects were four fee acquisitions totaling 1,194 acres added to our reservations and six conservation easements totaling 964 acres on land owned by others. We continue to administer two regional land Protection partnerships for the quabbin to cardigan regional partnership and merrimack river conservation partnership, which involve organizations in New Hampshire and Massachusetts working together to protect the vital natural resources of each region.

Membershipthe forest Society currently has 8,958 members (households and businesses). Members are kept informed of the organization's activities via blogs, social media, e-newsletters and quarterly publication of forest notes magazine. Policythe forest Society lobbies state elected officials in concord, nh and our federal delegation in Washington. During the fiscal year, there was one staff member who allocated time to lobbying these activities include: testifying at legislative committee hearings, meeting directly with state legislators on behalf of the forest Society's position on specific pieces of legislation and providing legislators with information on issues under consideration in congress and the nh legislature. the state legislature meets from january to june each year. the majority of the organization's policy staff state-level lobbying efforts occur within these six-month sessions although we do engage with legislators at other times during the year. the forest Society lobbies specifically on bills relating to spnhf's mission including those addressing forestry, water quality, air quality, land conservation, energy facility siting, renewable energy and energy efficiency. for example, in the 2023 legislative session, we advocated for legislation that clarified municipal responsibilities related to New Hampshire's timber harvesting laws, a bill that clarified landowner rights related to the use of game cameras on their lands and advocated for legislation that improved the rules for a state agriculture lands conservation program. Because the Protection of nh's water resources is another priority of the forest Society, we also advocated for the passage of legislation to strengthen the standards for siting a solid waste landfill near a body of water. We also opposed another bill that would have severely undermined the ability of the public to engage on siting decisions regarding large-scale energy facilities. Finally, we work directly with our federal congressional delegation on federal legislation which related to the forest Society's mission. for example, we have been working with the delegation on the establishment of a New federal conservation program to help forestland owners conserve their Forests. We are also working with on a bill to establish the Connecticut river watershed partnership act. Because the federal farm bill is a major source of conservation funding, we have been working with them on the upcoming reauthorization this year of the farm bill. We have also been working with the congressional delegation to pass the charitable conservation easement integrity act, legislation designed to curtail tax abuses with conservation easements. While the legislation has yet to receive final approve the nh delegation is supportive.