As we celebrate 30 years of publication of Northern Woodlands, we also celebrate, with thanks, Elise Tillinghast’s leadership of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education for the past 12 years. Throughout that time, she has worked with staff and others to build our organization’s financial stability and creative capacity.
Numbers during Elise’s leadership tell of a thriving enterprise. In a period when many magazines have disappeared, Northern Woodlands enjoys a current print run of approximately 16,000. Our online audience now reaches more than 800,000 individuals a year, and in just the past five years, our e-newsletter subscriptions have more than doubled to 13,000 readers. Our annual operating budget has increased from roughly $550,000 to a little less than $800,000, while our net assets have increased from $212,000 to nearly $2.2 million.
But these numbers tell only part of the story.
Elise has managed or written several publications on behalf of the nonprofit and connected organizations, most recently overseeing the publication of A Guide to Forest Carbon in the Northeast. In response to a board gift and challenge, she led the acquisition of our white-frame headquarters building on the Common in Lyme, which has given the Center an inviting home in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont. There, the staff has initiated concerts and talks and is in the process of installing a native plant pollinator garden.
Elise and the staff have cultivated working relationships with a dazzling range of writers, artists, topic specialists, and others to diversify and deepen the reach of Northern Woodlands as a voice for forest stewardship. While maintaining the popular weekly Outside Story series, they have developed additional series that reach new audiences, including Community Voices, This Week in the Woods, and the monthly Reader Photo Gallery.
Elise’s passion for excellence in the pursuit of our mission animates all her work. Attentive to many different voices in the world of forestry and forest stewardship, she routinely ranges from generating plans for the future of the organization, to attending to day-to-day practicalities of running the nonprofit, to editing our magazine. All this she does with infectious enthusiasm and a sparkling sense of humor.
Elise, you have now set the table for Northern Woodlands going forward. From all our directors, thank you very much, and best wishes as you venture forth.
Robert Cowden, President, Board of Directors
Center for Northern Woodlands Education