Sen. Shaheen Sees Hopeful Signs Trump Will Reverse Plans To Close Bartlett Experimental Forest

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

BARTLETT – Considered a national source for research information on how forests grow, the White Mountain National Forest’s Bartlett Experimental Forest has been on the Trump Administration’s chopping block for over a year.

But on Monday, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, revisited the property where environmental leaders in the state again gathered, and said she is feeling more positive that things are moving in a positive direction.

Of the 77 experimental forests on federal land which help inform industry on logging practices, 55 were set to close. Hubbard Brook experimental forest in Thornton was on that list for closure but is now to remain open.

Shaheen said officials from the Secretary of Agriculture’s office are now moving forward with plans to address some deferred maintenance on a building at the Bartlett facility including a bathroom and bunkhouse.

“The Forest Service gave us an update that under the Great American Outdoors Act they are putting funding into upgrading the bunkhouse, dealing with the bathrooms there that need to be fixed,” she said.

They also talked about the importance of the research done on the property and the continued need for the lab and the conference room to be available for research and collaboration.

“I thought it was a positive meeting. I think the stakeholders who were there felt reassured by the investment,” said the  soon-to-be-retiring Shaheen, who disagrees with the closure.

Meeting with Shaheen on Monday were Matt Leahy, policy director for the Society for the Protection of NH Forests; Jim O’Brien, director of government relations for The Nature Conservancy; Sarah Garlick, conservation director for The Nature Conservancy; Chris Thayer, director of external affairs, for the Appalachian Mountain Club; Mark Ducey, natural resources and the environment professor, at the University of New Hampshire; Mike Morin, NH/VT program director for the Northern Forest Center; Jasen Stock, executive director, of the NH Timberland Owners Association; Steve Fay, a retired soil scientist on the tract and former wildlife biologist and former site manager Mariko Yamasa.

Shaheen said there is no longer operating staff to manage the facility and has had no one there since 2025. The ongoing operating staff is going to be an ongoing need.

The group talked about looking at the model of funding used at Hubbard Brook and there are several partners there that have helped, including a private partner. Shaheen underscored the importance of the work on the tract and how it relates to New Hampshire’s tourism industry, logging and timber and outdoor recreation.

“It is really important to New Hampshire and our culture and our environment and making sure that we have that research that can’t be replaced,” she said in an interview with InDepthNH.org.

In June, U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-NH, also met with United States Forest Service scientists and ecologists on the tract to begin work on a plan to save it and all the information developed over almost 100 years.

The original 2,600-acre footprint was established in 1932 to study northern hardwood silviculture (the art and science of growing healthy quality forests). In 2005 the Bartlett forest was expanded to 5,789 acres to include the upper elevations of the Bartlett watershed.

Research over the last 30 years has also included habitat for amphibians, small mammals, song birds and bats “and has become increasingly important as a site for studies on carbon and nutrient cycling.”

Silvicultural threats, including invasive pests, have been studied to inform landowners on action to be taken to protect value and assets.

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