Marcia Hayward: Laconia's Steve Fay leads community effort to save forests

To The Daily Sun,

I’ve often wondered if a single person is capable of bringing about change? Laconia’s Steve Fay proved that it is possible.

When the Trump administration decided to close New Hampshire’s Hubbard Brook and Bartlett Experimental Forests, Steve Fay, who is a retired U.S. Forestry Service soil scientist and ecologist, mobilized Research Wildlife Biologist Mariko Yamasaki, the NH Timberland Owners Association, and the Society for the Protection of NH Forests to work as collaborators in saving the forests.

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest is located in Thornton and North Woodstock, has been a center for hydrological and ecological research since 1955. Research conducted there led to the groundbreaking discovery that acid rain was causing widespread forest decline, findings that helped shape an amendment to the Clean Air Act in 1980s. In 1988, the National Science Foundations designated it a long term site, recognizing its importance as one of the nation’s premier environmental research forests.

Barlett Experimental Forest is located in the Saco Ranger District of the White Mountains National Forest. It was established in 1932 for research on the ecology and management of northern hardwoods. Over its rich 90 history, the research on the Bartlett Experimental Forest has been instrumental in understanding forest response following disturbance and providing reference data for field and remote sensing studies aimed at understanding nutrient recycling. growth, and carbon storage.

Steve led several field trips to both forests. His efforts and those of his collaborators paid off. With a bipartisan effort of Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Gov. Kelly Ayotte, they convinced the head of the USDA to keep Hubbard Brook operating.

The status of Bartlett is an unknown. However, Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander and Congressman Chris Pappas filed a bill in Congress to block closure of any experimental forests without consent by Congress.

Steve is an inspiration.

Marcia Hayward

Laconia