This winter, NH Audubon is partnering with forestry & wildlife professionals to conduct a timber harvest at the Willard Pond Sanctuary to enhance habitat diversity for birds and other wildlife as well as the forest’s resilience to climate change. Join us for a walking tour of the active timber harvest to learn about this project and see timber harvesting equipment in action. During our walk we will discuss why this timber harvest is happening, the process used to plan and implement the timber harvest, and how birds and other wildlife are expected to respond. This walk is ideal for anyone interested in learning more about any aspect of timber harvesting and it will be particularly helpful for folks interested in learning how timber harvesting can be used to benefit a variety of bird species. This is an active timber harvest so the route for the tour will be on uneven ground and will be hilly and slippery in some areas. This tour will be lead by Jeremy Turner (Meadowsend Consulting Co.), Matt Tarr (State Wildlife Habitat Specialist, UNH Cooperative Extension), Mike Gagnon (Hillsborough Co. Extension Forester), Marc Nutter (NH Audubon Conservation Program Director). NH Licensed Forester and SAF CEUs will be provided.

Bios:
Jeremy Turner: Jeremy has been working with NH Audubon for over a decade, helping to manage our forests with birds and climate resilience in mind. You can see his great work on the Kensan-Devan Wildlife Sanctuary. More about Jeremy can be found on the Meadowsend website.

Matt Tarr: Matt is a professional wildlife biologist and NH Licensed forester. As State Wildlife Habitat Specialist for UNH Cooperative Extension he works throughout NH in close partnership with the NH Fish & Game Department to assist private landowners and communities improve habitat for wildlife. His specialties include planning commercial timber harvesting to improve forested wildlife habitat, shrubland and young forest ecology & management, field management to benefit vertebrate & invertebrate wildlife, wetlands wildlife ecology, the role of native and invasive plants as habitat for wildlife, and bird ecology & identification.

Mike Gagnon: Mike is an Extension Forester and Field Specialist in Natural Resources for the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension in Hillsborough County. Mike works primarily with communities and private landowners to help assist and educate them on forest resource issues to help them better meet their stewardship goals. Mike’s work also focuses on management of invasive nuisance vegetation within the Natural Resources team at Extension. Mike is a NH Licensed Forester and NH Licensed Pesticide Applicator and works as part of the Extension Pesticide Safety Education Program team. Mike has an associate degree in forest technology from the Thompson School of Applied Sciences at UNH, and a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in natural resources & forestry from the University of New Hampshire.

Cover photo: Walking through the seed cut of the Kensan-Devan Wildlife Sanctuary in 2021, Phil Brown and Jeremy Turner appreciate the early successional habitat that was created in this patch cut. Wildlife snags were also left to encourage insects and cavity nesters.