Forest Society honors Steve Fay, Mariko Yamasaki with 2026 President's Award

CONCORD — At its 125th Annual Meeting the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has awarded its prestigious 2026 President’s Award to Mariko Yamasaki and Steve Fay, two retired U.S. Forest Service employees who have led a fierce coalition to save the Bartlett Experimental Forest from federal closure.

The award recognizes individuals who have served the Forest Society’s conservation mission in an extraordinary capacity. For the past six months, Yamasaki, a research wildlife biologist, and Fay, a soil scientist and ecologist, have spearheaded a broad coalition of New Hampshire organizations pushing back against Washington, D.C. plans to shut down several U.S. Forest Service Experimental Research Forests.

"The long-term future of the Bartlett Experimental Forest is still uncertain," said Jack Savage, president of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. "However, the fact that we have seen the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service being forced to answer questions about Bartlett during Congressional hearings is the direct result of the impassioned advocacy backed by a mastery of the subject matter that Mariko and Steve brought to this campaign. They could have retreated into their retired personal lives. Instead, they have been the leaders of this effort."

Located within the White Mountain National Forest, the Bartlett Experimental Forest has operated as a "living laboratory" for over 90 years. It provides land managers with critical, long-term data on forest management practices, carbon sequestration, and wildlife responses to environmental changes. The sudden announcement by the federal administration in April 2026 that it planned to close the facility sparked immediate backlash from regional conservation groups.

The Forest Society’s managing forester, Wendy Weisiger, noted that regional foresters rely on Bartlett's research daily. The defensive coalition built to protect the forest includes the Forest Society, AMC, The Nature Conservancy, the NH Timberland Owners Association, the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, and the Northern Forest Center.

Both award recipients have left a permanent mark on the landscape they are fighting to protect. Yamasaki revolutionized how New England foresters integrate wildlife considerations into silvicultural decisions, proving that habitat health depends on the complex size, structure, age, and connectivity of forest patches. Meanwhile, Fay successfully championed the physical expansion of Bartlett, adding diverse forest types and soils that vastly expanded regional scientific knowledge of how forests function.

The Forest Society honors Yamasaki and Fay for their selfless service to New Hampshire’s forests, to forest science, and to all who benefit from the vital knowledge they continue to protect.

For more information, visit forestsociety.org.