Carol Foss’s employment with NH Audubon began in the summer of 1973, when she oversaw the collection of paper for recycling at a tractor-trailer in Concord’s South End several days a month, assisted Educator Edwina Czaikowski with exhibits for Audubon’s fledgling nature center in the old firehouse at Odiorne Point State Park, and helped paint the walls at our then newly purchased headquarters on Silk Farm Road. This led to a position as Resident Naturalist at Paradise Point during the summers of 1975 and 1976. She became the year-round Education Director in 1977 and shared those responsibilities with new ones as Director of Wildlife Programs in 1980 after the passage of the NH Endangered Species Conservation Act. Fast forward 50 years, and she is still here, currently serving as Senior Advisor for Science and Policy. Carol’s work ethic and well-known commitment to sound science have enabled her to bring people together to achieve significant conservation successes.

A long career has provided numerous opportunities to participate in many significant conservation initiatives. Spearheading the NH Endangered Species Program in partnership with the NH Fish and Game Department, participation in the Lake Umbagog Study Team (fondly referred to as LUST), which led to the establishment of the Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge, overseeing fieldwork to document wildlife values of priority areas for land protection around Great Bay, working with industrial foresters to protect Osprey nest sites (when there were only 11 known pairs in the State, all in Coos County), and building NH Audubon’s Conservation Department into a respected research team were hallmarks of her early years with the organization. A Lifetime Achievement Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency (New England) in 2009 recognized her leadership in wildlife research and conservation but didn’t begin to signal the end of her commitment to New Hampshire’s environment. More recent endeavors include leading long-term research on the declining Rusty Blackbird, playing a key role in the expansion of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System into New England, and leading NH Audubon’s environmental advocacy efforts.

In addition to the amazing contributions Carol has made over her long career at NH Audubon, she is also welcoming, thoughtful, and kind to colleagues, trustees, volunteers, members, and visitors alike. She especially enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for beaver ponds and spruce-fir forests with young biologists getting their feet wet (literally and figuratively) with Rusty Blackbird fieldwork. As a lifelong resident of Penacook, she has lent her skills to many other efforts, including Nevers Band, the Penacook Historical Society, the Concord Planning Board, co-founding Collaborative Solid Waste Strategies (CSWS), and bird research in the jungles of the Peruvian Amazon! Her love of New Hampshire’s North Country helps to ground her and remind her of what she loves most about New Hampshire and why she works so hard to help protect our birds, wildlife, and landscape.