The Executive Committee (EC) is made up of volunteer forestry colleagues from all over New England. The EC are all SAF members in good standing and work together to serve the New England members. If you would like to contact NESAF, please find an EC member below appropriate to your question. General questions can be directed to our Chair or the website administrator.
Vinyard Haven, MA
Chair
Adam Moore
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
moore@sheriffsmeadow.org
Adam R. Moore has been the Executive Director of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation in Martha’s Vineyard since 2008. Prior to his service with Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, Adam was the Executive Director of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association from 2001 to 2008, the Land Superintendent for the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission from 1998 to 2001, and a forester for Connwood Foresters from 1996 to 1998. Adam is the author of A Year on Martha’s Vineyard, published in 2015. He earned a Master of Forestry degree from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in 1995 and a B.A. in biology from Yale College in 1992. Adam was introduced to Martha’s Vineyard by his wife, Melissa. He and Melissa reside at Quansoo Farm and have four children – Madeleine, Isabel, Ingrid and Huck
Hardwick, VT
Immediate Past Chair
Diana Frederick
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
diana.frederick66@gmail.com
Diana retired as a State Lands Stewardship Forester for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation in the Barre Office. She started with the Dept. as a Protection Technician (Insect, Disease & Fire Control) before moving to State Lands management. Diana earned a BS in Forestry in 1979 from the then UVM School of Natural Resources. She served the Green Mountain Division as treasurer, chair-elect, chair and past chair in the late 1980s. Diana and her husband live in Hardwick, VT where they own 30 acres of forested and open land. They are members of the VT Woodlands Association and are enrolled in the State’s UVA Program. She has 2 grown daughters and 2 young granddaughters she loves to spend time with.
Chair-Elect
Dr. Mark Ashton
Term: 1/01/23-12/31/23
mark.ashton@yale.edu
Chelsea, ME
Secretary
Mallory Bussell
Term: 01/01/23-12/31/23
mallory.bussell@gmail.com
Mallory is the operations manager and Maine licensed professional forester at Two Spruce LLC in Windsor. She has spent her career specializing in timber harvesting and forest management for private and commercial landowners in coastal, central and southern Maine. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Forestry from University of Maine Orono in 2012 with a minor in Business Administration. Mallory has been NESAF secretary since 2016 and is an American Tree Farm inspector. Mallory has attended SAF regional leadership trainings in Maine (2017) and Pennsylvania (2018). She is currently participating in the regional session of the Vermont Forest Business School. She spends her time bringing back the fields and forests on her 95 acres in Wellington, exploring with her labrador and photographing the beautiful off-the-beaten-path places in Maine.
Thetford Center, VT
Treasurer
Donn Downey
Term: 01/01/23 – 12/31/23
donn@forestmetrix.com
Donn is a consulting forester and the forestry lead for Forest Metrix with an unruly mutt who chases him around the woods.
Antrim, NH
Board of Director Representative from District Six
Karen Bennett
Term: 1/1/22 – 12/31/24
Karen.Bennett@unh.edu
Karen retired in 2019 after a 40-year career with UNH Cooperative Extension helping New Hampshire landowners and foresters care for their land, first as a County Forester and then as the State Extension Forester. She specialized in private lands management, providing education to landowners, land managers, conservation volunteers, and public decision-makers. She was pleased to have been the
project manager and editor for Good Forestry in the Granite State and to co-direct the Northeast Silviculture Institute. She’s served on the boards and committees of many conservation and forestry organizations. She is an SAF Fellow She lives with her husband, Andras Lazar, in Antrim. Her favorite activities are tending her vegetable, fruit, and flower gardens, and spending time outdoors with her grandchildren, Milo, Hazel and Ari.
Pembroke, NH
Website Administrator
Wendy Weisiger
Term: 4/1/2015 – 12/31/23
wendy.weisiger@gmail.com
Wendy works as the managing forester for the Society for the Protection of NH Forests overseeing 60,000 acres of conservation land on 200 properties. She has been employed there as a forester since 2004. She holds a BS in Forestry from the University of NH and is a licensed NH professional forester and SIT. She has served as the Granite State Division chair, attended the 2018 SAF Leadership Academy and in 2016 she was awarded the NESAF Mollie Beattie Young Forester Leadership Award.
Jericho, VT
Forest Science Coordinator
Alexandra Kosiba
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
Alexandra.Kosiba@uvm.edu
Ali is an Assistant Professor of Forestry and Extension Forester at the University of Vermont. She focuses on climate change, climate-adaptive management, forest carbon, and forest health. Prior to working at UVM, she was the Climate Forester at Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. Ali received her MS and PhD degrees in Forest Science from UVM.
Etna, Maine
News Quarterly Editor
Matt Russell
Term: 6/2023 –
nesafnq@gmail.com
Matt Russell is a forest analytics consultant with Arbor Custom Analytics LLC based in Bangor, Maine. His work involves forest carbon assessments, growth and yield modeling, and independent research. He spent eight years in Minnesota where he conducted forestry research, teaching, and Extension work. Matt holds a PhD in Forest Resources from the University of Maine (2012) and an MS in Forestry from Virginia Tech (2008).
Weare, NH
Membership Chair
Susan Francher
Term: 1/1/23-12/31/23
francher@comcast.net
Susan (a.k.a Forest Diva) is the retired Administrator for Planning & Community Forestry, NH Forest Legacy Program Coordinator in the NH Department of Natural and Cultural Resources at the State of NH Division of Forests and Lands. Susan is the 2016 recipient of the James W. Toumey Outstanding Achievement in Service Award. Susan also served as general chair for the 2018 NESAF Annual meeting.
Oakland, ME
Awards Chair & NESAF Archivist
Ken Laustsen
Term: 1/1/20 – 12/31/23
KALaustsen@twc.com
Ken is a retired Biometrician from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, Bureau of Forestry, Forest Health and Monitoring Division where he spent nearly 20 years. Prior to that he worked for Great Northern Paper Company in Millinocket, Maine as a Woodlands Analyst, Operations Forester, and Staff Forester. He has been a SAF member since 1974. He is a SAF Fellow, has served as a SAF Certification Review Board Committee member, a SAF Forest Technology School Accreditation Committee member, and the 2020 Tri-Chair for the Providence National Convention. He is a Maine licensed forester and SAF Certified Forester, USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory & Analysis, Techniques Research Band Member, Statistics Band Member, and was awarded the USFS Director’s Award for Excellence, 2001. Ken holds a B.S. in Forest Management from the University of Maine, 1974 and an M.F. in Forest Management, University of Maine, 2010.
Stratham, NH
Continuing Forestry Education Contact
Andrew Fast
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
Andrew.fast@unh.edu
Andy has been a County Forester with the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension since 2008. He has experience in a range of land management related positions in the northeast and western United States with the U.S. Forest Service, Marin Conservation Corps, and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. He has a M.S. in Natural Resource with a concentration in Forestry from the University of New Hampshire.
East Hartland, CT
Grants Chair
Mel Harder
Term: 1/1/2023 – 12/31/2023
mel.harder@snet.net
Mel, who resides in CT, has been a consulting forester since 1973, working in all the New England states. He has been NESAF grants chair beginning in 2010, and served as CTSAF rep and correspondent for 9 years. After serving in the US Navy as a radar operator attached to NORAD, he earned a BS of Forestry from the University of Connecticut in 1969 and an MS of Biology from the University of Southern Connecticut in 1971. Prior to starting as a consulting forester in 1973 he was staff ecologist at the Talcott Mountain Science Center in Avon CT
Policy Chair
Susan Romano
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
susanromano2017@gmail.com
Susan Romano is a retired professor of forest/wetland ecology and GIS spatial analysis who failed retirement and now owns Saddleback Mountain Environmental, licensed as both a forester and a wetland scientist. Susan previously worked for Western Illinois University where her teaching and research centered around the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. She has a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from Southern Illinois University, a M.S. in Botany from Western Illinois University, and a B.S. in Forest Resource Management from Southern Illinois University. Susan’s husband, Mike Romano, is happily retired, and their son, Tyler, shares his talents in GIS and as a biologist with his work at Saddleback.
East Haven, CT
Connecticut State Representative
Frank Cervo
Term: 1/1/22 – 12/31/23
frankcervo@gmail.com
Frank is a Service Forester with Connecticut DEEP. Previously, he was the Forest Manager for the Yale Forest School. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Forestry from the Yale School of Forestry. He serves on the board of the Eastern Connecticut Forest Landowners Association and is a Property Steward for the Wolf Den Land Trust. He is also a member of the Forest Steward’s Guild and the Connecticut Interstate Fire Crew.
Yarmouth, ME
Maine State Representative
Carol Redelsheimer
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/24
carol.redelsheimer@gmail.com
Orange, MA
Massachusetts State Representative
Joelle Vautour
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/24
joelle.vautour@gmail.com
Joelle works as a State Lands Management Forester for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Bureau of Forestry. She began her career as a private consulting forester and has a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst.
Durham, NH
New Hampshire State Representative
Ted Howard
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
ted.howard@unh.edu
Ted is professor emeritus at the University of New Hampshire where he served as academic administrator and faculty member for forty years. He has previously served in leadership capacities for the Granite State Division and the New England Society of American Foresters. He holds a BS in Natural Resources (UMaine), Master of Forestry (Duke), and Ph.D in Forest Management (Oregon State University).
Foster, RI
Rhode Island State Representative & Elections Coordinator
Paul Dolan
Term: 1/1/22 – 12/31/23
pcdolan1@verizon.net
Paul has been a member of SAF since 1976. He is a SAF Fellow, past NESAF Chairman, and has held positions in Yankee Division and the Rhode Island Chapter. Paul is the retired Rhode Island Deputy State Forester. Presently, he is the Area Director for Rhode Island Resource Conservation and Development Council and the Coordinator for the Rhode Island Envirothon.
Essex Jct, VT
Vermont State Representative
Jess Wikle
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/24
jessica.wikle@uvm.edu
Jess Wikle is the manager of the UVM Research Forests and a faculty member in the UVM Forestry program. She is a PhD candidate at UVM focusing on climate-adaptive silviculture and earned a Master of Forest Science degree from the Yale School of the Environment in 2018 and a B.S. in Forestry from UNH in 2009. Prior to attending graduate school, she worked as a consulting forester in CT and MA.