Granite State Division

Chair

Chris Hinz
Term: 1/1/26 – 12/31/26
christopherjhinz@gmail.com

I am a forester with Bay State Forestry Service, NHLPF# 511. I am based out of Keene, NH and primarily service Cheshire and Sullivan County. I also hold a license in Massachusetts #477 and service parts of Franklin, Worcester and Middlesex counties. I am an NRCS Technical Service Provider and hold a pesticide license in both NH and MA. I primarily work directly with private landowners to achieve their goals and objectives, their ‘vision’, for their land, whether they’re focused on wildlife, forest health, long-term management, invasive species control or a combination of several goals. I received my Associates Degree in Forestry from the Thompson School of Applied Science at UNH in 2010 and my B.S in Forestry from UNH in 2012. My interests include a wide variety of activities including, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, softball, and golf to name a few. Generally speaking, if the sun is out, so am I. 

Chair Elect

Debbie Goard
Term: 1/1/26-12/31/26
deborah@seltnh.org

Debbie is the Stewardship & Land Engagement Director for the Southeast Land Trust of NH (SELT) where she oversees both the Easement Stewardship and Land Management programs. Combined within the Stewardship Department, these programs care for over 29,000 acres, including nearly 300 conservation easements and 47 fee-owned Preserves. She has held a NH forestry license since 2010. Debbie received a MS in Forest Engineering from Oregon State University as well as a BS in both Forestry and Biology from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. Prior to working at SELT she was the Strafford County Forester with UNH Cooperative Extension and a Watershed Forester with the Kansas Forest Service. Her free time is spent baking, gardening and, after 8 years as a volunteer soccer coach, enjoys watching her daughters play sports from the sidelines.

Immediate Past Chair

Matthias Nevins
Term: 1/1/26 – 12/31/26
mnevins@meadowsendco.com

Matthias is a Forester with Meadowsend Consulting Company, based in New London, NH. As a licensed professional forester (NHLPF#518), Matthias works closely with family forest owners to achieve their stewardship objectives and deepen their connection to the land and our working forest economy. Matthias has a B.S. in Conservation Biology from St. Lawrence University (’12) and a M.S. in Forest Science from the University of Vermont (’19). Matthias is also a licensed forester in the state of Vermont, a NRCS technical service provider (TSP), and a Certified Tree Farm Inspector. His interests and hobbies include recreating outdoors through the seasons, fishing, biking, playing too many sports, and spending time with family.

Secretary

Sam Taylor
Term: 1/1/25- 12/31/26
staylor@manchesternh.gov

Sam Taylor is the watershed forester for Manchester Water Works, where he has worked since late 2022 managing forests in the Sucker Brook and Massabesic Lake watersheds. Prior to joining Water Works, he worked with the State of New Hampshire, Division of Forests and Lands as the forestry and wildlife program forester for the NH South Region. Sam holds an A.A.S. in Forest Technology from the Thompson School at UNH. He has served as GSD-SAF secretary since 2016.

Treasurer

Steve Junkin
Term: 1/1/25 – 12/31/26
sjunkin@forestsociety.org

Steve has served on the GSD-SAF committee in the role of treasurer from since 2014. He has been an SAF member since 2002 and is currently employed with the Society for the Protection of NH Forests. His role there is Field Forester assisting with the management of the 65,000 acres of fee lands owned by the Forest Society. He has held a forestry license since 2009 and calls Northwood, NH home. Steve obtained his forestry education from the University of New Hampshire. His free time is spent hunting, fishing, hiking with his wife and two dogs and cooking up tasty food in the kitchen. He squeezes in additional free time volunteering with easement monitoring duties for a local land trust, Bear-Paw Regional Greenways.

NESAF Representative

Lindsay Watkins
Term: 1/1/26-12/31/27
lindsay.watkins@unh.edu

Lindsay is a Field Specialist in Forest Resources (AKA County Forester) with the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, where she provides education and resources to support individuals, communities, and professionals in the stewardship of their forests and trees. Before joining Extension in 2023, she worked as a consulting forester and arborist in the San Juan Islands in Washington, but she has long considered New Hampshire her “chosen home state” and previously lived and worked in the White Mountains. She has an M.S. from the Field Naturalist Program at the University of Vermont and a B.S. in Natural Resources from Cornell. She is a New Hampshire Licensed Forester and an ISA Certified Arborist and considers herself a well-rounded “Professional Tree Nerd.”

Newsletter Correspondent

Connor Breton
Term: 1/1/26- 12/31/26
Connor.R.Breton@dncr.nh.gov

Connor is a forester with the NH Division of Forests and Lands, serving under a cooperative agreement with NH Fish and Game to meet habitat objectives on state lands and wildlife management areas. Connor grew up, studied, and developed as a forester in NH. He attended UNH from 2012-2018, earning a B.S. in Environmental Science and an M.S. in Natural Resources (Forestry). Prior positions held were with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Southeast Land Trust of NH (SELT). Out of the woods, he enjoys being with family, camping, and riding motorcycles.

Policy Chair

Charlie Levesque
Term: 1/1/26-12/31/26
levesque@inrsllc.com

Charles is founder and President/Partner of Innovative Natural Resource Solutions, LLC (INRS) and is a NH licensed forester. INRS is a forest and natural resource consulting firm with offices in New Hampshire and Maine that works at the intersection of forestry & forest sustainability, land conservation, the forest products industry and renewable energy. He was the contract Executive Director to the North East State Foresters Association since 1997 – and coordinator of NEFA’s Securing Northeast Forest Carbon Program until 2024. Previous to founding INRS, Mr. Levesque was executive director of the Northern Forest Lands Council, The Trust for NH Lands and NH Timberland Owners Association. Early in his career he worked as a forestry consultant and for forest industry in northern Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont and for the USDA Forest Service in Montana. Levesque is graduate of the University of New Hampshire. Levesque has been a third-party lead auditor under SFI, Tree Farm and FSC since the late 1990s. He has audited on over 40 million acres in North America. He has served on the national board of the Society of American Foresters, on NESAF and Granite State Division and numerous other non-profit, industry, civic and local government boards. He was a town moderator for many years. He has been making maple syrup for 39 years. He and his spouse have two grown sons. He lives in Antrim, NH.

Education Chair

Tim Fleury
Term: 1/1/26 – 12/31/26
tim.fleury@unh.edu

Tim is the UNH Extension Merrimack County Forester.

Awards Chair

Matt Chagnon
Term: 1/1/26-12/31/26
matt.chagnon@unh.edu

Matt retired in 2019 after 39 years of teaching in the Forest Technology program at the Thompson School of Applied Science at UNH. He earned an AAS from that program in 1979 and continued at UNH to earn a BS (1986) and MS (1988), both in forestry. Matt is a past chair of the Granite State Division of SAF and served six years on SAF’s Committee on Forest Technology School Accreditation. He was the 2016 recipient of NESAF’s Ernest M. Gould, Jr. Technology Transfer Award. Matt is a member of the NH Timberland Owners Association and served on the board of directors. He is still active as a co-owner of Granite State Lumberjack Shows, producing the lumberjack events for the nationally televised Stihl Timbersports. Now that they are retired, Matt and his wife Rose spend a lot of time on their woodlots and with their grandchildren.

Science & Technology Chair

Ranjit Bawa
Term: 1/1/26 – 12/31/26
Ranjit.Bawa@unh.edu

Ranjit is faculty in the Dept of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of New Hampshire. His research examines the interactions between human and environmental systems, focusing on how land use decisions shape natural resource management and ecosystem resilience. He earned his doctorate from University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and is originally from the greater Boston area.

Tree Farm Committee Representative

Vacant
Term: