More updates from NEFF

Hello folks-
As usual, things have been busy here at NEFF. Tomorrow, May 30th, is the dedication of the Persons' Farm, now owned by the Ramblin’ Vewe Farm Trust in Gilford, NH. NEFF holds the easement on this property, and both NEFF and the RVFT Board of Trustees wish to thank Dick and Betty Persons for their deep commitment to land conservation. Following the dedication, Andy Fast, UNH Extension Forester, will present a program titled “Thinning Your Woodlot”, to help teach participants how to thin their woodlot both for timber production and sugarbush development.

I am also in the preliminary planning stages for a landowner outreach forum later this summer in Groton, MA and Hollis, NH as part of the EPA Watershed Initiative. Tentatively scheduled for mid to late August, this forum would provide landowners with introductory information on a variety of topics (i.e. green certification, easement donations, land conservation options, federal tax breaks, ice storm damage, etc), and allow them time to be introduced to forestry professionals. They should be great sessions, and I will keep you tuned in as plans develop.

Our Annual Meeting is also approaching. This year, we are holding the meeting in Groton, MA at Lawrence Academy. Weather permitting (fingers crossed!), the morning will kick off with concurrent nature walks in two of our Groton forests—Groton Place and Wharton Plantation. These walks will be led by two of our own staff, Whit Beals (Director of Land Protection) and Si Balch (Chief Forester and Director of Forest Stewardship). Concurrently, we are also offering an opportunity to participate in a canoe ride on the Nashua River. We will paddle a short ways down the river, and get an up-close view of Groton Place and the history and ecology of additional conservation land in the area. Diane, owner of Nashoba Paddlers, will guide us on this ride, and both myself and Chris Pryor (NEFF’s Conservation Easement Coordinator & Forester) will be attending. After the outdoor activities wrap up, we will head to MacNeil Lounge for a buffet lunch, speaker and awards session (including a brand new award for “Forest Steward of the Year”). If you can make it, we would love to see you there!

Additionally, I am working to put the details together for the upcoming Discovery Days, and I am in the preliminary planning stages for the upcoming Forester CEU workshops. Your fellow steward, Ingeborg Hegemann, will be presenting three workshops to licensed foresters for CEU credits in three different locations this September. Ingeborg is a professional wetland biologist, and she will present a workshop on Wetland Ecology & Function, which will cover a variety of topics in characteristics, classification, regulations, and more. I look forward to this workshop, and based on the success of the first round of workshops this spring, I expect that they will be a big success! FYI, as a sidenote, she will also present a wetland program at our Mary A. Herrick Forest this August as part of our Discovery Day series. If you are interested in the topic, let me know if you’d like to sign up.

I will sign off for now, and hope to keep the updates for those of you who check in on occasion. I thought it was an easier way of keeping our volunteers “in the know” every couple of weeks about what’s been happening here at NEFF. I am still working to meet many of you face to face, if I haven’t already, and look forward to putting a face with each of your names.

Best,
Sonya