Recently I spent the afternoon in the woods with a long-time friend of mine, Charlie Moreno. Charlie and I graduated from forestry school a year apart and have since maintained our connection in shared ideas and philosophy about forestry, even though we sometimes have gone years between visits. We spent the time catching up this chilly fall day while we walked a nearly 400-acre ownership he manages for a family that has owned the land for over 200 years in Northwood, New Hampshire.
We looked at stand after stand of this pine-oak forest where Charlie has overseen harvests and pre-commercial work many times over during the last 20 years. The forest has everything going for it: giant overstory pines, tiny seedlings of many species, an abundant acorn crop to feed many species of wildlife (the signs of which were everywhere), den trees, ample low cover, and two large ponds with several miles of riparian area. How was this exemplary management possible when this forest, in an area of relentless development pressure in southern New Hampshire, should have long since been developed through the pressures of market forces? The answer is simple yet incredibly powerful: stewardship.
The concept of stewardship is so important to us at Northern Woodlands that it is at the heart of our mission. The board of directors and staff of Northern Woodlands completed the process of strategic planning over the last year, and together we developed our new mission statement, which reads:
The goal of Northern Woodlands is to encourage a culture of forest stewardship in the Northeast by increasing understanding of and appreciation for the natural wonders, economic productivity, and ecological integrity of the region’s forests.
This mission is the focus of Northern Woodlands magazine and everything else we do, including Northern Woodlands Goes to School and our other publications work. Our core value is “a culture of stewardship.” Creating or sustaining a culture is very powerful, and being successful in this effort will result in a wide range of benefits for the forest, the forest economy, and our forest-based human communities. There will be a shared language and a common set of expectations for the region’s forests.
There is a reason why so many organizations these days take the step of developing a strategic plan: it works. The process is straightforward. Agree to a mission, the ultimate statement of values that describes what the organization is seeking to accomplish. And then develop a series of measurable goals that, when accomplished, achieves the mission. Everything the organization does is then centered on accomplishing the goals and, thus, the mission. It sounds simple, but it is a very powerful tool. It is a much too common occurrence that organizations stray from their mission, wasting limited resources and not accomplishing what they were created for.
To get to the point of agreement on this mission and ultimately our entire strategic plan, we dug deep to understand the place in which Northern Woodlands works and the challenges we face. We developed a 50-year vision for what we want the forests of the region to look like and how we hope the region’s forest-affected people will work together to nurture this stewardship ethic. We then developed an understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing us so we can tailor our work to be most effective in overcoming these threats and seizing the opportunities.
It sounds kind of dry on paper, but the exercise now has us plowing ahead with our education-based mission with a focus like a laser. At least we hope so. Time will tell if we are being successful and encouraging thousands of people to follow the lead of the Northwood family and embrace the long-term stewardship ethic in managing their land.