The Forestry and Wildlife Program offers many program opportunities - providing quality and accessible education to all our constituents. In March alone, our programming reached hundreds of natural resource and industry professionals, municipal and community leaders, and private landowners. Here are a few highlights:

The interest in the annual Black Fly Breakfast held March 13 at Canterbury Woods Country Club was so great we had to rent additional chairs to accommodate the foresters, loggers and industry professionals that wanted to attend. The packed agenda included updates on New Hampshire forestry events, market challenges, a primer on combating climate change with carbon, and new wood energy projects in the state.

Christmas tree growers, foresters and landscape professionals gathered March 19 and 20 at Keene State College for the biennial Christmas Tree Pest Management Course. The 73 participants learned from 17 industry and research professionals in two day-long sessions aspects of diagnostic skills and pest management techniques for growing healthy, marketable Christmas trees.

Municipal and community leaders toured New Hampshire facilities using wood biomass for their heating systems. The NH Wood Biomass Heating Project, a partnership of federal, state and private agencies, promoted the use of biomass heating systems in municipal, county and school buildings. From March 25-27, community leaders visited Hanover High School, Lyme Town Garage, Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield, and Merrimack Valley High School in Penacook to learn about conversions to wood heating systems. Interested participants have the opportunity to develop a proposal to help fund a feasibility assessment examining the possibility of conversion to biomass heat in their building or district.

Educating landowners about the wildlife habitat on their land has resulted in a new series of publications produced with support of the NH Fish and Game Department and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. The NH Wildlife Action Plan: Habitat Stewardship Series brochures include practical information with pictures and text explaining how to identify habitat types, describe the major threats to the health of those habitats, and offer information about wildlife species that depend on each habitat. Initial response to these brochures has been very positive, and requests from landowners continue.

The result of these programs is a growing network of people informed about the importance of forests, forest products and wildlife to the future of New Hampshire.