Just about the time that this magazine reaches your mailbox, Northern Woodlands will be hopping the Connecticut River to take up residence in Lyme, New Hampshire. Our nonprofit’s new headquarters is a Greek Revival house on the village common, circa 1868, that for many years served as the home of The Lyme Timber Company. It’s sited in walking distance of both public lands and privately owned, managed forests where the landowners maintain trails for the community. From the front porch, you can see the town store, which sells local syrup and books by biologist Ben Kilham, the nationally known bear researcher and a Lyme resident. A few miles up the road is the Dartmouth Skiway, and a few miles farther and through the woods is the Appalachian Trail, wending its crooked way into the White Mountains.
In other words, although our address has changed, we still work in a place where people and trees live cheek to bough, and the connections between daily life and the wooded landscape are not just easy to find but undeniable.
The purchase of this new office reflects our Board of Directors’ profound commitment to the future of Northern Woodlands, as well as the generosity of a number of other supporters. At our May 2017 board and staff retreat, we identified new office space as a critical need. Within a month, board member Bob Saul stepped forward with a remarkable offer to help cover the down payment to purchase an office. Some generous souls – who prefer not to have their names in print – agreed to help us. More board support arrived through gifts from Black Hills Timber, LLC and the Emily Landecker Foundation. There was intensive work by our finance committee, multiple last-minute meetings, and support from board members who reviewed the site and worked through various practicalities. I had so many calls on my cell phone with our board president, Richard Carbonetti, that my four-year-old boy began imitating me on his “hand phone,” sternly shushing me when I interrupted and informing me he was “talking with Carbo.”
Even with all of this effort and support, 2018 will be a stretch year for the nonprofit. But others are stepping in to make the transition easier. The ECHO Charitable Foundation, the Larsen Fund, and the Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation have provided support, and there have been unexpected gifts from Arthur and Aurelle Locke, and also Chris Kueffner and Lynn Stoddard. All told, it’s gratifying how many people have come together so quickly to make the aspirational actionable.
Although I’m excited about how the move will increase the capacity of our nonprofit to do good work, I want to acknowledge a cost along the way. For the past 24 years, the town of Corinth, Vermont, has been Northern Woodlands’ home. We’ll miss our neighbors, the friendly folks at the next-door post office, and long “walking meetings” along Tenney Road. Corinth is where Virginia Barlow and Stephen Long founded Vermont Woodlands in 1994. It’s our point of origin, and as such, it will always be part of who we are.