Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Forest Stewardship Plan for 2023 – 2032

AXE THE ATTACK ON WORKING FORESTS & RECREATION TOURISM

The Forest constitutes the “single most important land resource for the tourism and recreational economy of Pittsburg, Coös County… a community that is dependent on tourism and outdoor recreation for more than half of its economic activity, and the Property is a significant resource for the tourism and recreational economy for the State and region.” - Easement Preamble

Summary of the Issue

In 2014 the Forestland Group, which more recently merged with Bluesource Sustainable Forest Company to form equity investment group Aurora Sustainable Lands, purchased the 145,872-acre tip of New Hampshire. Aurora Sustainable Lands is now the State of New Hampshire's largest landowner, owning 3% of its land. The company's mission is to "remove and store carbon" by growing trees longer on behalf of a single company in California to "offset" their pollution. Aurora’s “carbon-first” management approach cannot maintain a balanced ecosystem for the region's timber and tourism industry sustainability, wildlife habitat diversity, or properly execute the $30M taxpayer conservation easement to protect the land as a working forest, recreation, and open space.

The State of NH, specifically the Departments of Natural and Cultural Resources and Fish and Game, have jurisdictional and oversight authority over the easement and the 10-year land management plan. The agencies rejected the first plan offered in January 2024. A revised plan was provided by Aurora in July 2024 and is currently under consideration. The Coös County Commissioners and the directly impacted towns of Pittsburg, Clarksville, and Stewartstown oppose both 10-year plans for several economic, environmental, and recreational reasons. See the proposed plans, responses, and other support material below.

Coös County has a century-long history of economic reliance on the timber industry and the forest which is reflected in the conservation easement purposes, terms, and conditions spearheaded by then-Governor Shaheen and Senator Gregg. Aurora’s plan is “fundamentally incompatible” with the easement and land management plan. The conservation easement explicitly limits what the landowners can and cannot do, and the 10-year management plan drives those terms. This is not a property rights issue for the landowner because they acknowledge in the carbon report that they were aware of the easement's legal requirements. As of today, Aurora is not cutting or in compliance with its present agreement with the State about maintaining historic harvest levels, nor does it appear they intend to do so willingly.

In summary, the state must hold Aurora to the terms of the easement. The property was being harvested at an average annual rate of 40,000 cords before the property was registered with the California Air and Resource Board carbon offset program. Under Aurora’s management that has plunged to under 20,000 cords because Aurora does not want to operate a productive working forest. The State must act on Aurora’s non-compliance.

Area of Impact Map

“Responsible forestry plays a large part in New Hampshire’s long and proud tradition of environmental stewardship. As proposed, the plan would have detrimental impacts on sustaining traditional forest use, and conservation of wildlife habitats, and take a serious economic toll on the North Country. In rejecting this plan, New Hampshire is protecting our treasured outdoors and its traditional use for future generations of Granite Staters.”

Governor Chris Sununu

(IndepthNH article quote May 31, 2024)

" Aurora Sustainable Lands and its carbon-first forest management plan is inconsistent with the terms of the easement as negotiated with former Governor Shaheen and Senator Gregg. They need to start cutting now."

Mark Brady, Coös County Administrator

“We’ve lost 20 percent of the logs we used to get from the tract and now our workers are down to four days a week. This has a multiplier effect on the region’s economy and is a real issue. I have to go as far as New York to source wood.”

Richard Roy, Family-Owned Milan Lumber

"Coös County is economically destabilized. Tourism has attempted to help offset the logging industry, but does not have an equal impact due to its dependency on natural resources, weather, landowner/business cooperation, and effectively market itself given limited capital resources."

Butch Ladd, North Country Chamber of Commerce

Jobs / Businesses Innovation

Every forest job directly creates 2.3 jobs downstream. Removing cords of wood from production equates to the removal of logging companies and their employees. Every time you remove cords of wood you also remove the mill processing and retail workers at businesses such as family-owned White Mountain Lumber in Berlin and Milan Lumber Company, as well as the ripple effect on the distribution, construction, and manufacturing workforce. The question also needs to be raised, if our lumber companies have to drive further to access similar materials to operate how is carbon truly being "offset"?
These loggers have wives and children who work in the tourism service industry supporting the many lakeside properties, cabins, cottages, motels, campgrounds, shops, and restaurants. If these hospitality workers move to be with their families due to the loss of logging jobs it would create a tourism "amenity trap" for the thousands of people visiting the area in both summer and winter. The loss of this workforce cumulatively leads to the economic loss of tourism businesses closing.
With the rise of new innovative developments of sustainable "green" products from working forests, why should a legacy industry be starved out when it could spur new sources of economic stability and still meet Administration carbon goals? It would be more economically productive than carbon sequestration. The following initiatives have gained great support from federal agencies: cross-laminate timber (CLT) to reduce carbon emissions from steel production, scrap wood to create non-carcinogenic insulation, and other biomaterials, bioenergy, and wood modification products.

Town of Pittsburg sign for Indian Stream Republic

Cultural Heritage/Municipal Services

The proposed plan threatens a historical way of life for generations of families and will have a more detrimental impact on lower-income families. Three towns survive on the timber tax revenue generated from this area for municipal services. Without these revenues, students and seniors will not have the necessary support, public and safety maintenance resources, and municipal jobs decrease. Offering a small one-time payment to the Selectman, like Aurora did, to negate all future planned revenue is an example of how Aurora thought they could buy off the community and ignore the federal/state requirements.

Tourism Access/Habitat Management

Coös County tourism provides $340M to the state's coffers. Thousands of people visit the northern tip of New Hampshire each winter and summer. Pittsburg is known as the "snowmobiling capital of New England." It is a destination for outdoor activities year-round, including hiking, biking, and exploring the Connecticut Lakes Region.

The project area is a protected working forest conservation easement with the following purpose:

conservation of productive forests on the property;
sustaining traditional forest uses including forest management activities and permitted recreational activities;
conserving water resources, biological diversity, fish and wildlife habitat, and rare plants and animals;
conserve the unusual natural habitat type known as the high-elevation mountain spruce-fir forest, which supports rare animals and pockets of mature forest stands located above 2,700 feet in elevation;
guarantee permitted public access to the Property to recreate in designated areas; and
retain property as an economically viable and sustainable tract of land, conducive to ownership by a private timberland owner or timberland investor for the production of timber, pulpwood, and other forest products.

The lack of enforcement of this easement would be a dereliction of state duty.

Taxpayer & State Budget Impacts

A diversified economy is crucial for long-term success in rural communities.

Coös County taxpayers demand that the State enforce its statutory duty to uphold the conservation easement and avoid further economic destabilization.
This project is not just a North Country issue. Once a precedent is set with a project as such, future communities across our state will likely be impacted if more carbon credit programs infringe on our public resources.
There will be a negative fiscal impact on our State budget:
- - Impact on State GDP and Tourism Revenue
  - Loss of skilled workers, increasing the unemployment rate
  - Loss of Business Profits Tax Revenue
  - Loss of Property Taxes businesses close