Discover How the White Mountain National Forest was created

BETHLEHEM, N.H.—The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, the Ammonoosuc Chapter of the N.H. Audubon Society, and naturalist Dave Govatski will present the free program, “The Weeks Act and the Creation of the White Mountain National Forest,” at The Rocks Estate Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.

The program is timely, as the Weeks Act was passed February 15, 1911 and signed into law by President Taft March 1. The Act enabled the protection of eastern watersheds from further development and exploitation and made possible the long-term effort to replant and restore eastern forests that had been decimated by logging.

The program will use historic photographs and glass slide images from a century ago to document the rise of the forest conservation movement in New Hampshire. The movement to protect the forests followed extensive forest fires resulting from destructive logging of White Mountain forests.

Govatski, a local naturalist and historian, will lead the discussion. He is Secretary of the Weeks Act Centennial Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of WhiteMountainHistory.org. He retired as a forester from the White Mountain National Forest and has a strong interest in forest conservation.

Govatski will explain why the protection of navigable rivers was key to passage of the Weeks Act, one of the most important forest conservation laws in United States history. Govatski will share a 1915 Forest Service map of the “White Mountain Region” (before it became a National Forest), showing which parcels of land had already been purchased when the Weeks Act became law.

The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests played a key role in securing the passage of the Weeks Act.

The free program is part of the Bretzfelder Park Family Educational Series.

Owned by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (http://www.forestsociety.org/), Bretzfelder Park is managed in cooperation with the town of Bethlehem. The Park was bequeathed to the Forest Society in 1984 by Helen Bretzfelder in memory of her father, Charles, and includes a classroom, educational trails, a pond, and several picnic sites.

The next program in the series is titled “The Impact of North Country Community & Collaboration on The Weeks Act of 1911” and will be presented Feb. 23 by Rebecca Weeks Sherrill More. For more information and a calendar of events please visit http://www.therocks.org/, email us at info@therocks.org, or call 603-444-6228.