Wednesday, December 13, 2023

EP 98. 2024 YOUTH FORUM ON CLIMATE ACTION AND CLEAN ENERGY - THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024




Listen to the Podcast here:  https://feeds.podetize.com/54-22U9qr.mp3

Watch on YouTube here:  https://youtu.be/t57YLi3noys


HOSTED BY THE EMERGING CLIMATE LEADERS’ COLLABORATIVE

SAVE THE DATE: THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024


IN THE RAMP-UP TO THE 2024 NEW HAMPSHIRE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY, STUDENTS AND PUBLIC FIGURES WILL EXPLORE POLICIES AND SOLUTIONS FOR BUILDING A ROBUST AND RESILIENT CLIMATE ECONOMY WHILE HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANCE OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING


There's no two ways about it, no generation of Americans face bigger challenges related to the environmental issues and the continuing march of global climate change than youngest members of our population. That's precisely why the League of Conservation Voters of NH, Hubbard Brook Research Foundation and the Irving Institute for Energy & Society at Dartmouth College have joined together to sponsor the  2024 YOUTH FORUM ON CLIMATE ACTION AND CLEAN ENERGY - THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024. The gathering is a youth-focused forum at the intersection of public policy, climate action, and the clean energy economy. Through this public in-person event, NH students will have the opportunity to engage with policy and corporate leaders, celebrated authors and actors, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs to explore opportunities for building an economically strong and environmentally secure future.

Hosted by: Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Irving Institute for Energy & Society at Dartmouth College will host a youth forum at the intersection of public policy, climate action, and the clean energy economy. Through this public in-person event, NH students will engage with policy and corporate leaders, celebrated authors and actors, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs to explore opportunities for building an economically strong and environmentally secure future.

Goal: Providing a non-partisan platform for young business and environmental leaders at a crucial decision point in the presidential electoral process

Date: Thursday, January 18th, 2024 – 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Location: Bank of NH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord, NH 03301

Featured Presenters: NH student panelists, public figures of state & national significance.

Hosts: Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, League of Conservation Voters, Irving Institute for Energy & Society at Dartmouth College.


Sign up to participate here.




Rob Werner


Kate Burgess



Monday, December 11, 2023

EP 97 Skiing Legend Dan Egan takes Over at Tenney Mountain



Extreme Skiing Legend Dan Egan Takes the Reins as General Manager Of a "Reimagined" Tenney Mountain


Show notes:



https://www.skitenney.com/story

Many people from the central New Hampshire area will speak fondly, often wistfully, of Tenney Mountain.  As if it's time had passed. Yet, there is a reason why Tenney has been resurrected time and again over the years. It is because many of the fundamentals of a great family ski area are there, it's just that the formula for its resurrection have not been quite right.

Today, a lot of folks believe that formula may finally have been found and - once again - optimism is bubbling up in the heart of New Hampshire. A combination of local knowledge, ski industry savvy and the financial "juice" needed to confront the dual challenges of restoring Tenney's infrastructure and dreaming big about its future seems to have coalesced with the team of Dan Egan and Steven Kelley - two folks with "just enough crazy in them" to make it happen.

Founded by NH icon Sam Hall - a veteran of the famed 10th Mountain Division during WWII (and division mate with his friend Senator Bob Dole), Sam founded Tenney on a wing and a prayer beginning when he was a Timber Cruiser for the Draper Corporation. The story of those early days are the stuff of legend.  Luckily for us, those early days are preserved in an interview with his two sons by the Plymouth Historical Society.

Memories of Plymouth - The History of Tenney Mountain

Steven Kelley, who purchased Tenney Mountain, is not a skier. Some would see that as a disadvantage but not Kelley, and not Dan Egan

They point to Kelley's successful track record as a builder of high-tech centers along the Rte 128 corridor in Massachusetts and his expertise in the development of cell towers, throughout the region, as evidence that Kelley has the financial wherewithal and the vision to create something very special here, just seven short minutes from I93.

His selection of Egan to serve as General Manager is the proof of his serious-minded approach to the challenge. Likewise, Dan Egan has reached deep into the community to build a team with unmatched institutional memory. And they are hitting the ground running heading into the 23-24 season. The chairlifts will be fully operational, 80 new fan tower guns will provide substantial snowmaking and inspirational innovations like guided headlamp night skiing promise to capture the imagination of skiers from all over the northeast. Looking ahead, Egan discusses other plans like a recently approved preliminary plan for a new  $30 million dollar base lodge.

Additionally, Dan has developed a relationship with  world-renowned mountain biking company Gravity 
Magic of Whistler BC. , and plans are underway for lift-access Mountain biking adventures soon.  Summer activities that are planned in the future include disc golf(expected to be introduced this fall), mountain biking, and ziplining.

Dan Egan’s list of accomplishments reads like that of three or more powerhouses combined into one. Inducted into the US Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2016, The Pioneer of Extreme Skiing has appeared in thirteen Warren Miller films over the years. He’s also an author and producer. He authored All-Terrain Skiing I & II and co-authored " 30 Years In A White Haze"  with Eric Wilbur.

As a producer he’s helped create sports films and not all of them are about skiing. His most recent endeavor in filmmaking is "Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story"  a documentary currently in production, analyzing racism in soccer.




As a ski ambassador, coach, and guide, Dan Egan can also be found on the snow at Big Sky, Montana, Valle Nevado, Chile and Val D Isere, France, sharing his knowledge and passion for the sport. He is sponsored by Leki, Big Sky, Elan, and Alps & Meters.



Gravity Logic

Gravity Logic was created in 2007 by the team who helped build the Whistler Mountain Bike Park – the World’s #1 Bike Park. Ever since, GL’s team has assisted other resorts and organizations with creating unique bike park experiences by building trails and infrastructure that attracts riders of all ages, skills, and interests. More info.



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Sunday, October 8, 2023

Ep 96 : The Economic Impacts of Public Investment vs. Tax Cuts Michael Kitch & Garry Rayno

 





Garry Rayno and Michael Kitch have been keen observers of public policy in NH for several generations, and especially the impacts of policies on the economy. Garry has been a lifelong journalist in New Hampshire and Michael began his NH career as a journalist, specializing in business issues, and served in the early 90s as the State Senate Policy specialist on the budget and economic policy. In this podcast we discuss a recent study from Phil Sletten of the New Hampshire Policy Institute on the value and impact of public expenditures and tax reductions highlighted by Garry in an article at InDepthNH.org's news website (below). The study shows a substantial public benefit and return to the economy from public expenditures like the SNAP program and relatively low value to the economy from tax cuts.


Listen here: https://feeds.podetize.com/UOfqub1CY.mp3

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dGusplGp9uo



NH Business Tax Cuts Are Just Trickle Down Economics

ByAugust 5, 2023

https://indepthnh.org/2023/08/05/nh-business-tax-cuts-are-just-trickle-down-economics/

Nancy West photo

Garry Rayno is InDepthNH.org's State House Bureau Chief. He is pictured in the press room at the State House in Concord.

New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute data
By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD — Despite politicians’ claims of business tax rate cuts spurring the state’s economy, a recent study indicates the state’s economy would grow faster by putting additional money in the hands of low- to moderate-income residents.

The Highlander of Benton Heights
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Theissue briefby the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute proposes that business tax rate cuts cost the state between $496 million and $729 million in revenue since they began in 2015.

The brief contends that money would have provided a greater boost to job creation and economic growth by providing services and benefits to low- and moderate-income residents who will spend the money locally.




With the small rate reductions for businesses, particularly large multinational corporations who pay the largest share of the state’s Business Profits Tax, the study shows, a large share of the saved money flows out of state and out of the country as dividends and higher salaries to employees already at the top of the pay scale.

New Hampshire depends on business taxes more than any other state to fund general government operations at 31 percent of all revenues, consequently business tax revenues are critical in paying for state services, according to the brief.


Tamarack Monochrome Under a Platinum Sky
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New Jersey is second with 14 percent.

Since 2015, the business profits tax rate has dropped from 8.5 percent to 7.5 percent and the business enterprise tax rate has dropped from .75 percent to .55 percent.

New Hampshire, like most other states in the country, has seen its business tax revenue expand significantly since the middle of the last decade and the policy institute sought to determine if the increase was tied to the rate reductions or if it was due to other factors.



“This Issue Brief assesses the extent to which revenue was gained, or lost, by the reductions in the BPT and BET rates. It includes a review of relevant national and multi-state research, a review of factors likely generating the three recent increases in business tax receipts between 2015 and 2022, an assessment of the interaction between the business tax rates and the economy in New Hampshire, and an evaluation of the revenue impacts of the BPT and BET rate reductions between 2015 and 2022,” according to Phil Sletten, Research Director of the institute.

State tax policy since 2015 has been to reduce business tax rates to be more competitive with rates in surrounding states and more recently to eliminate the interest and dividends tax. Republicans claim the two actions will spur the economy, create jobs and produce greater revenue in the future or what is known as trickle down economics, which to date has proven to be an accelerator of pushing wealth to the top tiers while creating greater income disparity.

Sletten cites a number of national studies that argue reducing business tax rates has little effect on the economy except in specific instances like a recession.

Moody Analytics in a 2021 study found a dollar invested in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would boost the size of the overall economy by $1.61, as individuals would spend their benefit on food in the local economy. Unemployment insurance would boost the economy by $1.49 per dollar invested over the same time period, because the money would be used quickly in the local economy.



Moonlight on the Stonehouse
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On the other hand, Moody Analytics estimated a dividend and capital gain tax rate reduction would generate 38 cents for each dollar of revenue, while a corporate tax rate reduction would generate 32 cents, and a business net operating loss tax offset would return 24 cents on the dollar.

“These estimates are similar to Moody’s analyses of the economic impacts of similar policies for 2009 and 2015, when federal corporate tax rate reductions were estimated to generate 32 cents and 30 cents, respectively, per dollar invested,” Sletten writes.

Similarly, the U.S. Congressional Research Service examined top federal income and capital gains tax rates between 1945 and 2010 and found little or no relationship between savings, investments, and growth in productivity, but did identify that the national share of income accruing to labor, rather than capital, decreased with lower maximum tax rates.

The research service also found more income was concentrated for the highest-income households in environments with lower maximum income and capital gains tax rates.

The Tax Foundation in 2013 noted tax reforms in some situations can lead to higher revenues even when individual rate reductions are included, but also said “Can a tax cut pay for itself? Most economists would probably agree that the answer is generally ‘rarely, but usually not.’”


Looking at the impact of rate cuts on the local state economy, the institute’s study cites a National Tax Journal article saying several studies show “no statistically significant negative effects of corporate tax rates on economic growth, while some research suggests higher property taxes have negative impacts.”

Sletten notes the Council on State Taxation, says about half (49.7 percent) of all state and local tax dollars paid by New Hampshire businesses during fiscal year 2021 were property taxes, while just over a quarter (26.0 percent) were paid to the BPT and the BET.

The report gives three reasons for the growth in business tax revenues, the first is from pent up economic activity following the great recession at the beginning of the last decade.

Sletten notes the state had slow economic growth between 2011 and 2013, but began to pick up in 2014 adding jobs which peaked at the beginning of 2016.

“This increase in economic activity, and the timing of other tax receipts, suggest economic growth spurring a rise in business tax revenues preceded the rate reductions that took effect in Tax Year 2016, rather than being enabled by more resources available to businesses after they took effect,” Sletten writes.

The second reason for significant growth in the business tax revenues was a change in federal corporate taxes in 2017 under the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that encouraged multinational corporations to return assets to U.S. affiliate companies, rather than hold them overseas.

Business tax revenue in New Hampshire between fiscal years 2017 and 2019 grew 26 percent, while federal data shows combined state corporate tax revenues increased nationwide by 34 percent.

Neighboring states also had similar revenue growth rising 44 percent in Maine, 34 percent in Massachusetts, and 35 percent in Vermont, according to the brief.

The third reason for the increase in business tax revenue according to Sletten was the economic rebound from the pandemic due to federal stimulus money to states and individuals and skyrocketing corporate profits.





Till The Cows Come Home
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But the brief notes the reductions to rates are not enough on their own to drive job growth, as a corporation owing $1 million in business taxes would see a reduction of about $33,000, not enough to pay for a new employee.

“Controlling for economic growth in New England shows there is no statistically significant relationship between the BPT rate and overall economic growth in New Hampshire relative to New England,” Sletten writes. “The BPT rates between 1970 and 1997 only appear to explain 0.7 percent of the variation in the difference between New Hampshire’s economic growth and overall economic growth in New England, and there is not a statistically significant relationship between BPT rates and economic growth.”

Sletten said their analysis indicates the rate reductions at a minimum prevented the state from collecting $496 million and a maximum $729 million, noting the entire mental health budget for the Department of Health and Human Services during the same time period was $517.5 million.



The additional “revenue could have eliminated the Statewide Education Property Tax in its current form for one or two years, which may have provided more effective economic stimulus for the New Hampshire economy than corporate tax rate reductions,” he said. “Alternatively, the state could have doubled the state budget contribution to the University System each year as early as 2019, or doubled the current budget of the Veterans’ Home starting as early as 2018, with additional funds remaining in future years relative to the growing impacts of the tax rate reductions over time.”

The governor, like others before him, likes to take credit for cutting taxes and growing the economy, but the study done by the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute indicates there are far better ways to spur growth and create jobs.

Programs for the poor and middle-class residents would produce much more economic activity as would making serious reductions in property taxes including those for businesses with half their state tax burden property taxes.

But that has not been the “New Hampshire Advantage,” which these days appears to be an advantage to a very small percentage of the state’s residents who really don’t need any help from the state’s taxpayers.

Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.

Distant Dome by veteran journalist Garry Rayno explores a broader perspective on the State House and state happenings for InDepthNH.org. Over his three-decade career, Rayno covered the NH State House for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Foster’s Daily Democrat. During his career, his coverage spanned the news spectrum, from local planning, school and select boards, to national issues such as electric industry deregulation and Presidential primaries. Rayno lives with his wife Carolyn in New London.



Phil Sletten
Research Director
New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute

Phil Sletten is research director at the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, where he conducts research and analysis on the State Budget, State revenues and expenditures, the economy, and the economic security of Granite Staters, with a focus on those with low and moderate incomes. He previously served as a performance auditor for the NewHampshire Office of Legislative Budget Assistant. Phil earned a Bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College in Iowa and holds a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Wisconsin, and is also a graduate of Leadership New Hampshire. He joined the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute in 2016.



Longview Pumpkins and Flowers
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Our Time Comes
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I See the Way
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Wind on the Floodplain Forest Floor
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Tuesday, August 1, 2023

The Super Sanctuaryist: Meade Cadot and the Harris Center for Conservation Education

Meade Cadot, Courtesy Harris Center for Conservation Education


Meade Cadot served as the Harris Center's Executive Director from 1975 through 2009. 

In 2008, after 33 years and the successful creation of a SuperSanctuary of conserved lands, Meade handed the Executive Director reins to Laurie Bryan and became “Senior Naturalist"— emphasis on the Senior. At the end of 2012, he retired from his role as Senior Naturalist and Land Program Director. He continues to spend time at the Harris Center — working on land protection and outings, and sharing his considerable wisdom with the rest of the Harris Center staff — as their first-ever Naturalist Emeritus.

Meade also served as a faculty member in Antioch University New England’s Environmental Studies Department for 34 years. Lifetime awards include:

  • Monadnock Conservancy’s Abe Wolf Award
  • New Hampshire Audubon’s Tudor Richards Award
  • co-winner of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forest’s first Sarah Thorn Award
  • first-ever recipient of New Hampshire Audubon’s Meade Cadot Award
  • Antioch University New England’s Horace Mann Award
  • Antioch University New England’s Community Excellence Award
  • NH Fish and Game’s Ellis Hatch Award
  • Silver Lake Land Trust’s Stewardship Award
  • EPA’s New England Region Lifetime Achievement Award
Meade and his wife Sandy Taylor live in Hancock.


** Note **  The sale of artwork shown on this page and at our galleries serve to defray the costs of producing this and other podcasts. Signed original and limited edition prints can be found here.  The pieces are also available in unsigned open edition at special open edition prices, here.


Grace for the Rain
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"Meade's Tall Tales" 


A Phone Call to Fairbanks, and How a Jail Site Drew the Line
Meade Cadot

In June of 2003, I co-led an Antioch Field Studies trip to Alaska. Midway through our itinerary, we were staying at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. I vividly remember receiving a phone call around

midnight(!), while watching students playing frisbee with plenty of light for the occasion. It was a rather frantic call from Michael Iselin, a Harris Center easement donor, who, with his wife, Alouette, and mother, Kia, had protected fully half of the shoreline of Center Pond in Nelson. In a very excited voice, Michael explained that a developer named Ranger Curran had just purchased a large tract of land along Lead Mine Road, abutting the parcel where the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music is located, and furthermore, Ranger’s purchase came with a Phase I, 16 house-lot development plan nearly ready to take to the planning board.
Till The Cows Come Home
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Michael was sure this would not be good for Apple Hill and would be “an environmental and financial disaster” for town as a whole. “What can be done to stop it?” he asked. First, I blurted out, “But Michael, I’m in Fairbanks, Alaska!” Then I said I’d give it some thought. As soon as I got back, I hastily arranged a meeting with Bud French and Bert Wingerson of the Nelson Conservation Commission and a couple of other concerned townspeople to discuss how we might minimize the financial and environmental impact of development on this 225 acres, with its approximately 2,000 feet of road frontage.


The outcome of the meeting was a strategy and the formation of a close partnership between the Harris Center and the Nelson Conservation Commission. Given our uncertain financial resources and the developer’s expectations, we decided that, realistically, our best hope was to propose to Ranger Curran that he sell us a conservation easement—one that would still allow four single-family house lots to be located along the road, but not in a 172-acre conservation zone protecting the ridge line above the road and beyond that, the biologically diverse and scenic Black Brook Swamp and stream valley. What would such an easement cost, and would Ranger agree to such a deal? 


For this question we enlisted the help of real estate appraiser John Newcombe and an attorney, Tom Hanna, who had worked with Ranger on other legal matters and so could convey to him our proposal and rationale behind it.  John came up with a value range for the conservation easement of $60,000 to $90,000, and Tom took the offer to Ranger. Well…he accepted the offer(!)—albeit at the high end of the range—because the rationale behind it was really a “win-win” for both buyer and seller. It was a win for Ranger because he would thereby avoid a lengthy and expensive battle with the town (such as the previous owner had experienced), and he also would avoid the road building and other infrastructure costs that would be incurred in creating a 16 house-lot subdivision. 


But we weren’t out of the woods yet. With a $90,000 price tag and associated costs, we had to quickly raise a hundred grand. Fortunately for all, the conservation commission had just received a bequest named the Partridge Fund, and the commission voted to contribute $25,000 from that fund. Apple Hill stepped up with a $5,000 contribution and pledged to protect their abutting 48 acres by conservation easement, and a very generous anonymous donor offered to match $20,000  of additional donations. To close the deal within the agreed upon time, we borrowed from our Spoonwood Fund. By the end of 2004, we had received all the donations needed to replenish the fund and give a cheer for partnership’s success!

Longview Pumpkins and Flowers
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I received another “out-of-the blue” call in 2004—this one from Sharon Rousmaniere, wife of Jim, then editor-in-chief of the Keene Sentinel, which had run a number of stories about Cheshire County’s desire to move county jail operations to a new building complex closer to Keene. But to where? That was the reason for the call. The chatter around town and in the Keene City Council was that the county was considering buying a 46-acre tract on Beech Hill, which slopes down to and includes flood-plain forest along the north branch of the Ashuelot River. This would entail an expensive access bridge across the river to Route 101 near the Keene-Marlborough town line, but the asking price per acre was relatively low. 


Sharon knew that there was a quiet residential neighborhood on Beech Hill and was very concerned about the impact on the whole area. But why did she call me and the Harris Center? Our nearest SuperSanctuary lands were in Nelson, many miles away. Well, she had asked every other potential protector, but for reasons I won’t go into here (read politics), even the most logical ones had declined. In those days, Harris Center trustees were great supporters and cheerleaders, as always, but were not so involved in deciding what projects to undertake. After what Sharon must have considered a long pause, I surprised even myself by saying, “OK” to defending that neighborhood—even though we were already in the midst of two other projects requiring fundraising!  Why did I do it?


For one thing, I knew people in the neighborhood, including Keene YMCA basketball buddy, Gary Kinyon, and figured he’d agree to be our pro bono attorney for the deal, and he did. Another at that time was Antioch graduate student Sue Mansfield, an assistant in my Antioch Field Mammalogy class. Sue was quite remarkable in that at midlife, she had taken a strong interest in wildlife behavior, particularly that of the black bear. In her extensive wanderings around Beech Hill, Sue had discovered a white oak stand right in that 42 acres, of a size not found on the SuperSanctuary side of the Monadnock Region. And right up her alley, she had found in those white oaks, several substantial “bear nests,” in spite of the proximity to downtown Keene! Black bears, of course, don’t lay eggs, but they do make a nest-like structure in the course of climbing an oak, reaching out for and stripping branches of  acorns (but not leaves), stuffing the depleted branches beneath them, and thereby creating a feeding platform. Bears (and other acorn eaters) prefer white oak acorns over red oak—and, anyway, that particular year most red oaks had failed to produce acorns. So despite the Keene location, more than one bear had been drawn to the stand for pre-hibernation feasting.


But now time was of the essence. So I met with a small group of neighborhood activists who agreed to quickly canvas the neighborhood for contributions and pledges, almost overnight coming up with 54 donors. Soon after the emergency campaign had begun, we raised more than $60,000 and purchased the land before the county could get it together to make a concrete offer. Harris Center trustees were very happy about the campaign’s success but more than a bit apprehensive about where I might go next for a project…Vermont? A directive ensued—something like, “Meade, we are supposed to be a local land trust. You’ve got to draw a sensible line around the outer limits of the SuperSanctuary.” So I did—the first one, manually! Although that boundary has been extended outward a number of times to make logical expansions of the SuperSanctuary, it is now always done by vote of the full board!                                                                              

Denouement: The county eventually did build a nice new jail complex—but in a much better location. And though that 42 acres didn’t “make it” to SuperSanctuary status, it’s a lovely piece of land with great habitat, not only with a white oak stand but also, down along the river, uncommon flood plain forestland with black ash. So…the land was given, deed restricted, to Antioch University New England Graduate School as a field study site for Environmental Studies classes.  

Wind on the Floodplain Forest Floor
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WOL's Nest
Meade Cadot

In the spring semester of 1975 I was resident naturalist
at the Willard Pond Audubon Sanctuary and teaching
classes for the Antioch New England grad school then
located at what is now the Aldworth Manner in
Harrisville. I was familiar with the goings and grounds of
what we called Harris House because I had helped
Edwina Cjaikowski with a couple of teacher workshops
there. Antioch decided it should move from rural
Harrisville to the City of Keene, so its experimental
summer day camp, called the Wol’s nest, needed a new
home, and I thought I might make a match. So I arranged
for Ty Minton, founder and co-chair of the environmental
studies department, to meet at the Harris Center with
volunteer director, Cecil Lyon. After a walkabout and
short discussion, there was a hand shake and that
summer day camp program has part of the Harris Center
ever since! This began a long and very productive
collaboration between the two young organizations.
Many Antioch grad students interned with the Harris
Center and the pick of the litter later joined our
staff—including Janet Altobello and Susie (Spikol) who to
this day are the brains, heart and soul of our school and
community and family programs and much more.


Spirit Pony in an Old Soul



Fred Murphy Goes Fishing
Meade Cadot

From the mid 1970s to early 1980s The NH Department of Transportation, with

help from the NH Fish and Game Department, conducted a legally mandated

Environmental Impact Study of the several corridors being considered for a Route

101 Bypass of Dublin Village. John Kulish and I volunteered to help determine

which game and furbearers were present and would be impacted by each of

these corridors. This entailed traveling each one on snowshoes and recording the

tracks and other signs we found. On each excursion, one or two NHFG biologists

would join us—most often the Deer Project Leader, Joe Wiley. Fred Murphy, the

NHDOT’s “Highway Environmentalist,” was also always along for the trek. Fred’s

credentials for such a title were a bit thin, and the truth is, he really wanted to see

the bypass built.

By 1981 the powers that be had decided a modification of the “B” Corridor was

the way to go. The “B-3” Corridor did go around Dublin Village—way

around—well up into Harrisville, close to the Cobb Meadow Wetland along Brush

Brook. So one January day in 1981 we set out on snowshoes to survey the section

of the corridor along the Brush Brook, which had been declared not a trout

stream, and hence of less recreational value. Fred Murphy was a cheerful Irish

bloke and rather big, and the day was—for January—rather warm. As we trudged

along the edge of the brook, one of Fred’s snowshoes broke through the ice down

into the stream water. And when he quickly hoisted the snowshoe up and out the

water, on top of the snowshoe came a little brook trout! The bypass wasn’t built

in the B-3 Corridor…. In fact, it wasn’t built anywhere—but that’s another long

story and beyond the scope these tales.


The Harris What????
Meade Cadot

Mr. or Mrs. Harris where art thou? In truth we were incorporated in

1970 as the Harris Foundation and named after founder Eleanor Brigg’s

beloved cat companion at the time. As I recall, “Harris” was a stray cat

Eleanor had adopted, found in an abandoned “brown stone” in New

York City. The name stems from the cat’s coat resembling Harris

Tweed—and so, in round about terms, we were named for an island off

the coast of Scotland! In the early years, while I was still working for

NH Audubon and living at Willard Pond, Cecil Lyon was volunteering as

Director. Quoting Cecil, in an early issue of The Harris Hearsay, “Not

long after I retired from the foreign service, Eleanor asked me to be a

director for the Harris Foundation. I was actually flattered and pleased.

However, when I realized that she mean THE director, I felt slightly

stunned and totally inadequate.” Actually, Cecil did a fine job of getting

the ship of Harris underway. One way he did so was to bring in experts

in their fields to speak on behalf of the Harris Foundation. The most

notable of these was Dr. Margaret Mead, in the Spring of 1974. Here’s

another quote from The Harris Hearsay: “I had considerable difficulty

tracking her down, but eventually did so by telephone in New York. Her

schedule was so full that it was about a year before she could fit us in.

When she did, she arrived clutching a shepherd’s long crook, rather like

an ancient prophet. Eleanor met her at the airport and escorted her to

our house. We were having a pre-luncheon sherry in the warm spring

when Mead says, “I don’t know who arranged this lecture. My

secretary, I suppose. However, you are a foundation. Foundations give

away money. I know, I have one. So I’ll have to charge you. At this

point, Eleanor, knowing that Dr. Mead’s customary fee was in the

thousands, turned pale. I knew our annual budget was less than such a

fee and felt my heart miss a few beats. I explained that we were a

small foundation, just starting out and didn’t have much money and

you said as you were in Hancock, you wouldn’t charge us anything. This

I thought at the time because Dr. Mead’s daughter had a house in

Hancock. After a long agonizing pause, Dr. Mead said, ‘Oh, did I? Then I

won’t’ “. (End quote.) I was among the invited guests at this

“reception” and heard that exchange. So when I was hired the

following Fall, one of the first things I suggested to the board was a

name change! But change to what? “Environmental Education” was a

buzzword back then, but the word “environmental” was being greatly

overused. I mentioned at least one example—an advertisement for a

household cleaner, great for “environmental surfaces”. Without much

further lobbying, everyone agreed on, “The Harris Center for

Conservation Education”. And though it took a generation for Harris

“Foundation” to fade into the past, the new name stuck!

An after note: For the rest of the century, I kept a running list of all the
erroneous names we were given in correspondence. This list is long,
but here are an illustrative few—from “close” to not!
The Harris Center for Nature Conservation
The Harris Center for Conservation Ethic
The Harris Center for Continuing Education
The Harris Center for King’s Highway
The Harris Center for Conservative Education
The Harris Center for Construction Education
The Harris Education and Treatment Center


The Power of One 
Signed Original    Open Edition Prints



How a Still Life Moved
Meade Cadot

When I first met Henry Fuller he was already retired (as a Wall Street stock
broker) and living in the house he’d inherited from an uncle. It’s a grand place,
overlooking the hillside meadow just above the village of Nelson. More than once
I was invited to visit—sometimes for a party (he was a wealthy, life-long
bachelor)—but sometimes just to talk, admire the view, and chat about the Harris
Center’s land protection efforts in Nelson, which in his neighborhood began in the
early 1990s. Henry’s land had lots of road frontage, with more than 1,300 feet on
scenic Center Pond.
By 1994, he had decided how his land should be protected in perpetuity,
and it was a little complicated. Over the course of two years he gave us
conservation easements on most of his 100-plus acres, including his 46-acre
house lot with all the pond frontage. Then, in his estate plans, he left the house
lot and another 17 acres to Dartmouth, 13 acres to the Currier Gallery of Art in
Manchester, and 18 acres to the town—all protected by the conservation
easement given to the Harris Center. (He gave an additional 9 acres to the town
for its cemetery.) The result was that we ended up with 94 acres to monitor, split
among four fee owners. Back in those days, I didn’t push hard for stewardship
contributions to be given with easements, but Henry did make contributions
annually, totaling $5,000 between 1995 and 2000.
By summer of 2001 Henry was deceased, with a lion’s share of his huge
estate going to his hometown favorite cause, the Currier Gallery. His bequest, the
Currier’s largest ever, included a prized collection of 60 works by noted 19th-

century American painters, his collection of paperweights(!), and $20-million for
the Currier’s art purchase endowment!
Meanwhile, also by 2001, Mrs. Virginia Baker had become a strong
supporter of the Harris Center and the SuperSanctuary. (I called her the Harris
Center’s fairy godmother.) That year there was a fire in her house that was
successfully brought under control, but she realized that it could have destroyed
an important piece of art given to her by her grandmother-in-law for her
wedding. Entitled “A Royal Dessert”, it is an 1881 still life by Irish-born painter
William Michael Harnett. He became a leading late-19 th -century American painter
and was the subject of a major exhibition in 1992 which traveled to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in
Washington, D.C. So, “A Royal Dessert” was considered quite valuable and hadn’t
been on public display since it was exhibited in 1883 at the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston.
By 2004, Mrs. Baker had an ingenious plan to give the painting a safer
home and wider audience—and give the Harris Center a huge boost, too. Knowing
the Harris Center wouldn’t be the best place for such an important piece of art,
she donated it to the Currier, but not in full. Instead, in 2005, she gave the Currier
25 percent interest and donated the other 75 percent interest to us! Well…the
Currier was hard pressed to exhibit 25 percent of a painting. So after about a year
of negotiations and appraisal work, we received a check, drawn from the Currier’s
“Henry Melville Fuller Acquisition Fund,” for $412,500(!)—half for our general
endowment and half for SuperSanctuary land acquisitions.

So, although Henry’s $5,000 for conservation easement stewardship was
“small potatoes” relative to his means, the ingenious way “Mrs. B” served up a
Royal Dessert enabled both the painting’s move to the Currier and the move of
more than $400,000 of Fuller fortune back to the Monadnock Region for support
of the SuperSanctuary!



Last Farm in Nashua


"BosWash"


Briggs Preserve 




North Branch Contoocook River

North Pond to Skatutakee Mtn

Robb Reservoir 

Robb Reservoir aerial 

Sponwood Pond October aerial 





Lupine Chapel on Birch Street
 Signed Original    Open Edition Prints


Lupine Wind in a Bird's Paradise
 Signed Original    Open Edition Prints



Three Larches in a Bog - Warren NH
 Signed Original    Open Edition Prints



Chapel of the Woods Arch
Signed Original    Open Edition Prints