Editor’s Note: We recently hired Elise Tillinghast to be our new Executive Director. Those of you who live in the Upper Valley may know her from her work in area non-profits; regular readers of the magazine will probably recognize her name as a contributor. (Here’s a story she wrote for us on her misadventures in a women’s chainsaw class.)
If you don’t know Elise, you soon will. I’ve asked her to say a few words here. And I’d ask you to join me and the rest of the staff in welcoming Elise to our tribe.
Hello! My name is Elise Tillinghast, and I’m delighted to introduce myself as the new Executive Director of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education.
I moved to New England about seven and a half years ago. Prior to that time, I had a fairly nomadic existence, working first in public relations and later as an intellectual property attorney. In 2005, my husband Tig, dogs, and I decided that it was time for a lifestyle change. We fell in love with Thetford, Vermont, and bought an old farmhouse there. With the house came a hundred mostly wooded acres.
Like so many new landowners, I’ve since made the journey from bemused observer to proud steward of what I now understand to be an endlessly complex working landscape. Northern Woodlands played an important role in that transition. It helped me understand and participate in timber harvest decisions. It continues to point out books I should read and invasive plants I should smite. It has inspired my interest in everything from wood pellets to the secret lives of snow fleas.
As the new Executive Director, I’m excited to have the opportunity to take part in this grand endeavor that was started by Ginny Barlow and Steve Long eighteen years ago. What makes Northern Woodlands stand out, among many great organizations working on forestry stewardship issues, is the way that it reveals and reinforces connections among the diverse interests – economic, environmental, recreational and others – that are all essential to the long-term sustainability of our northern forests.
Thanks for your own interest in Northern Woodlands. I look forward to meeting you in person, and in the meantime, welcome hearing from you. I can be reached at the Northern Woodlands office most days and via email.
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