ALLENSTOWN, April 17 – The school buses began arriving at Bear Brook State Park at 8:30 a.m., and they kept coming over the next two hours until 750 middle-school and high-school students were walking from exhibit to exhibit at the 3rd New Hampshire Forest Career Field Day. The weather on Thursday was sunny and windy. Exhibitors from 50 companies, nonprofits, and government organizations held down their literature with rocks and fielded questions from students about everything from soil science to law enforcement to boat building to arboriculture. Young people were engaged in log-sawing competitions, climbing trees using harnesses and ropes, driving logging equipment, learning the rudiments of surveying, and picking up logs with a crane.

One of the event’s organizers, Cheri Birch, program director for the N.H. Timberland Owners Association (NHTOA),  notes that it is so important for students and the general public to be made aware of forest and wildlife management, natural resources (water, soil, air, timber), conservation, harvesting laws, fish and game management, arboriculture, forest products and operations, equipment and sawmill technology and engineering, and the benefits of a healthy and diverse forest. Providing opportunities like this where students also can participate in hands-on activities and take part in conversations with exhibitors to learn about the many and varied career opportunities that may be available to them is so rewarding to witness. One teacher told Birch he firmly believes the event helped to positively change the course of the lives of many students.  Several exhibitor company representatives noted that many students they spoke with are interested in coming to work for them. Some students may work as interns, some will be hired, and others are planning to seek more information.  

“I wanted to take a moment,” one teacher wrote to Birch after the event, “to thank you for helping to make it possible for students from my school to join the event today. It was a remarkable program. The amount of work that went into it was evident, and I’m sure there was so much more behind the scenes. This kind of learning is so impactful for students, and I believe firmly the event helped to positively change the course of the lives of many students.”

Companies who sponsored the event included Milan Lumber Co., HHP, P.R. Russell, as well as 28 other companies, nonprofits, and the UNH College of Life Sciences (a full list of the sponsors can be viewed at nhtoa.org/events/2025-nh-forest-career-field-day/

NHTOA’s partners organizing this event were UNH Cooperative Extension, N.H. State Parks, and N.H. Division of Forests and Lands.

For more information, contact communications director Bill Chaisson at bchaisson@nhtoa.org.

NHTOA

54 Portsmouth St.

Concord, N.H. 03301

info@nhtoa.org | 603-224-9699