Forest Guild Hires Howard Gross to be new Executive Director

Santa Fe, NM (November 28, 2006) – Henry Carey, President of the Forest Guild, announced that the Board of Directors has completed the search for a new executive director and has hired Howard Gross, effective January 2, 2007. Howard has a long and impressive background in field research, natural resource management and non-profit leadership.

Stated Carey, “The Directors believe that hiring Howard is an important step in the progressive maturing of the Guild. Membership is climbing, regional meetings are springing up around the country and the Guild’s voice is increasingly sought on silvicultural and policy issues. The Directors and I are confident that Howard will accelerate this progress across the country.”

Before coming to the Forest Guild, Gross worked with the National Parks Conservation Association in Joshua Tree, CA to protect and generate increased public support for Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks, the Mojave National Preserve and surrounding desert areas. He used his experience in fund raising, coalition building, research and strategic solutions planning to successfully address issues similar to those that affect Guild foresters.

From 1999-2003 Howard was Executive Director for HawkWatch International, which works to monitor and protect birds of prey and their environment. Howard was formally recognized by Pronatura Veracruz (Mexico) and the Hawk Migration Association of North America for his contributions to raptor conservation. Howard also worked for five years as a Watershed Ecologist and Project Manager for SWCA Environmental Consultants in Utah.

Howard received an M.S. in Watershed Science from Utah State University in 1994 and a B.S. in Mathematical Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1984. He has published peer-reviewed articles and presented at scientific conferences on a diverse range of topics.

"I look forward to working with the Guild's membership, staff, board, and partners to promote excellent forestry, expand the services provided to members, and grow our regional programs,” Howard said upon learning he had been hired as Executive Director, adding, "My life's work over the last seventeen years has been focused on stewardship of our nation's natural heritage. I hope this experience proves to be an asset to the Forest Guild."

Forest Guild Develops Rating System for Working Forest Conservation Easements. New report to help evaluate proposed easements

November 28, 2006 – "Conservation easements that emphasize working forests represent the future of conservation and responsible resource use across the country.” stated Forest Guild Research Director Zander Evans at a recent staff meeting, adding that, “Bob Perschel's perspective piece is a valuable guide to understanding this evolving tool." Zander was referring to a new report just released by the Forest Guild that helps land trusts and the public gauge the effectiveness of conservation easements in ensuring sustainable forestry. Authored by the Guild’s NE Regional Director Bob Perschel, the report, Ensuring Sustainable Forestry Through Working Forest Conservation Easements in the Northeast analyzes three key New England easements and identifies eleven criteria that can be effectively used to evaluate current and proposed easements.
Forest Guild Maine Coordinator, Andy Shultz, is confident that the new report will help evaluate conservation proposals in Maine. “This is a great tool for landowners, easement holders and all stakeholders in these negotiations. It is particularly timely as the Plum Creek proposal for the Moosehead Region is in the spotlight now. The Forest Guild's voice is clearly represented here."

Jensen Bissell, Director of Baxter State Park in Maine, agrees. "Forest conservation easements are growing as a mechanism to conserve working forestland, but the variety of approaches may not ensure that the forests will retain their value to society over the long term. The field foresters of the Forest Guild have produced an excellent aid for measuring the real value and future effectiveness of forest conservation easements."

Two of the case studies in the report cover large Maine easements: the Pingree easement of 2001 and the West Branch project of 2003. Explained Perschel, “It was essential to examine and analyze large easements that were influential and precedent setting… It's time we heard from the field foresters about the growing use of working forest conservation easements to protect our forestlands.”

The largest easement in the country, the Pingree transaction, focused on protecting the forest from development. The price per acre was low and most of the funding came from private sources. In comparison, the West Branch transaction utilized public funding and went through a lengthy negotiation process to ensure that sustainable forestry would be practiced. Both easements received high ratings using the new system. “We have to remember that working forest conservation easements are a relatively new tool and we are learning as we go,” said Perschel. “We can learn from the hard work that went into completing these deals and do even better on the next ones.”

Ensuring Sustainable Forestry Through Working Forest Conservation Easements identifies eleven design approaches to easements that provide progressively more assurance that sustainable forestry will be achieved. The best example of high assurance easements may be seen in the Peck-Hull-Norcross Easement and Covenant in western and central Massachusetts. This easement was successful because it contained very specific prescriptions for forestry practices. Norcross Program Director and forester Dan Donahue helped negotiate the easement. “Norcross has very specific goals directed toward conserving wildlife. As a contributor of funds to the easement; we wanted to know that those goals would be met in perpetuity. We were able to build into the easement a set of guidelines that allowed us to be very specific in the kinds of forestry systems that would be used.”

While each land ownership is different and there is no “one size fits all” WFCE, the publication delineates how a number of key components can be selectively combined to design the most practical, efficient, ecological, silvicultural and economical easements possible all across the country.

Click here to download a pdf of Ensuring Sustainable Forests Through Working Forest Conservation Easements.

New Mexico Fire Planning Task Force approves Greater Cuba Community Wildfire Protection Plan

The New Mexico Fire Planning Task Force has approved the collaboratively developed Greater Cuba Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). This planning document which covers 6 communities in the western Jemez Mountains surrounding Cuba NM is a prerequisite to enable communities access to federal funds to reduce hazardous fuels. Forest Guild collaborated with Jim Hughes, SWCA Consultants, Village of Cuba, Sandoval County, Cuba Regional Economic Development Organization, Greater Eastern Jemez Wildland-Urban Interface Council, Bureau of Land Management, Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico State Forestry, and members of each of the communities to develop a comprehensive CWPP to prioritize the landscape for fire protection and management attention. A comprehensive continuous coverage weighted overlay hazard analysis was performed with community input to assess critical areas. Forest Guild incorporated a community capacity index into the CWPP to identify communities that have moderate to low capacity to mitigate the risks of wildfire, and who may have difficulties recovering from a catastrophic event. In addition, Forest Guild partnered with Jemez Mountain Electric Coop to insert community surveys into electric utility bills to all residents in the appropriate areas.

Please download the Greater Cuba CWPP here. For further questions please contact Eytan Krasilovsky at eytan@forestguild.org