Pivotal NEFF Leader Robert Perschel Retires

This spring, I announced my plans to retire as Executive Director of New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) by the end of the year. I’ve spent 45 years as an environmental professional, and I’m glad that in this final stretch, I have been able to help NEFF step fully into a regional leadership role on forest-based climate solutions. After 12 rewarding and exciting years at NEFF, it feels like the right time to turn NEFF’s reins over to a new Executive Director: Ryan Owens.

Our $30 million Climate-Smart Commodities grant has allowed NEFF to put together a spectacular team, and I know NEFF’s forestry leadership is in place to carry the organization forward in implementing climate-smart forestry across the entire region. Ryan will be able to take advantage of a solid programmatic path, great momentum and terrific supporters to keep this going. I’m not leaving the conservation forestry space, but this transition will give NEFF new creative energy to keep the innovative spirit of its work going.

For me, this change will provide a chance to concentrate on personal writing projects and spend more time with my one-year-old granddaughter and family.

— Bob Perschel

Robert Perschel’s leadership has utterly transformed NEFF.

When he was hired, much of NEFF’s small staff worked in land conservation and stewardship—crucial components of the organization, make no mistake—while NEFF offered little in the way of programs and outreach. Bob had a vision for NEFF, however, and set out to grow and transform its programming into a sophisticated vehicle for natural climate solutions that complemented the carbon storage potential of NEFF’s conserved working forests.

Thanks to Bob’s ability to inspire others and see his visions through to completion, NEFF began to grow its staff and launched 10 initiatives over time, almost all nested under the umbrella of natural climate solutions—though some overlap with the conservation of working forests (an opportunity to spread climate-smart forestry) and with habitat restoration (rooted in climate-smart forestry).

These programs further NEFF’s mission in new ways, and, indeed, they led NEFF to expand its mission statement when Exemplary Forestry and climate change mitigation had clearly become fundamental components of NEFF’s work. And just like that, Bob had reshaped the very foundation of NEFF.

The Years Before NEFF

Bob walked a long path to reach NEFF, though forests and forestry were a recurring theme on it. Throughout his career, Bob has worked for the forest industry, had his own forestry consulting business, co-founded the Forest Stewards Guild, and fully embraced the nonprofit world with positions at The Wilderness Society and Northern Forest Alliance. He finds two of his professional experiences from before joining NEFF particularly meaningful.

Northern Forest Alliance

Both NEFF’s Bob Perschel and Andrea Colnes were involved in the Northern Forest Alliance (NFA), which had the ambitious vision, “To achieve a sustainable future for the 26 million-acre Northern Forest, in which its wildlands are permanently protected, its forests are sustainably managed, and its local economies and communities are strong and vibrant.”

Over the course of about 15 years, the NFA delivered game-changing results: driving a shift toward sustainable forest management across the four-state region, securing millions of acres of newly protected wild and working forestlands through innovative fee and easement programs, and beginning to support an economic transition for the region’s forest-based communities.

Bob describes the days he spent at NFA as “momentous,” and fundamental to establishing the course of conservation and forestry in New England.

“I now believe it is eminently possible to complete most of the Alliance’s vision in the next few decades,” Bob said. “I look at NEFF’s work over the last 12 years as an extension of the Alliance days, as NEFF and a few others have provided the continuity of the NFA vision. The future is ours, and the dream is very much alive.”

Millions of acres of land were conserved in the decades following Bob’s time at NFA, and NEFF’s 339,000-acre Downeast Lakes Forestry Partnership easement in Maine contributed to that tally.

Land Ethic Program

Bob has an undergraduate degree in psychology from Yale, and this shouldn’t surprise anyone who reads his letters in the NEFF newsletter, where he often ties together his thoughts on forestry, climate, human cognition and emotion, creativity, art and writing. When he worked for The Wilderness Society, he had an opportunity to bring several of these areas of interest together into one program.

“I created a Land Ethic Program to honor the environmental ethics of Wilderness Society founders like Aldo Leopold,” said Bob. “The goal of our program was to explore the maxim that if human beings don’t change their connection to the natural world, we won’t be able to achieve a balanced human-nature interface and we certainly wouldn’t be able to reach our wilderness or any of our conservation goals.”

Under this land ethic work, Bob engaged with writers, poets, artists, religious figures, ethicists, scientists, and practitioners like foresters; he convened a groundbreaking conference at Yale called “The Good in Nature and Humanity” and published The Land Ethic Toolbox.

Bob planned to continue in this field until it became clear climate change had arrived and that Bob had inadvertently developed a specific skill set that was greatly needed: how to practice sustainable forestry in a climate emergency, and how to lead that change. He decided to go back to work with the Forest Stewards Guild to help, and then later applied at NEFF.

Bob Joins NEFF

Several NEFF staff and Board members had met or were familiar with Bob before he joined the organization because of his presence in New England’s land conservation and forestry fields. Once Bob accepted the Executive Director position, that previous experience boosted NEFF’s credibility, and also gave Bob credibility with the public, NEFF’s supporters, and NEFF’s staff and Board.

According to current long-time NEFF staffers, once Bob set up his office in NEFF’s Prouty Woods headquarters in 2012, it didn’t take long for staff to discover two key facts about him: he is an excellent manager who values his staff and their opinions, and he is a man with a vision.

Bob has always been good with and supportive of NEFF’s staff, and quickly after his hiring, he set up an office open-door policy so staffers were always welcome to talk things through with him, spend time as a group with him, or just say “hi.” No matter how many new projects Bob has undertaken in the intervening years, he remains a very approachable and supportive boss.

“The best thing about the actual day-to-day job at NEFF is seeing staff blossom in their work and accomplish things they maybe didn’t even envision when they started,” said Bob.

He supported staff members who wanted to try their own new ideas, and indeed encouraged everyone to try new things as NEFF itself worked to grow and change at an organizational scale. NEFF’s creative environment and Bob’s open-door policy led to many a brainstorming session in Bob’s office where he would break out a marker and start jotting down and mapping out plans on his whiteboard to help himself and a group of staff members figure out their next steps.

Bob’s passion for forestry and land conservation came through in those brainstorming sessions, but staff members also picked up on it because of how often he took to the trails in the nearest woodland.

“Bob loves being in the woods, and we’ve always had fun going out with him and hearing about why foresters do what they do,” said Penny Flynn, Development Manager and a NEFF staff member since 1995.

“In Bob’s early years at NEFF, it was really helpful when he started providing interesting explanations of forestry in layman’s terms for staff without forestry backgrounds, and in the context of that day’s walk. Those sorts of walks have remained popular with all of the new staff we’ve hired over the years.”

These walks also demonstrate the kinds of communications and outreach efforts Bob has long championed and that now underpin much of NEFF’s work on natural climate solutions. Before NEFF can get key audiences to invest in, champion and use NEFF’s 
30 Percent Solution, staff must address these challenges: key audiences must first know climate-smart forestry exists, and second, NEFF must make climate-smart forestry and its benefits comprehensible and engaging to key audiences.

“This is good work to be involved in and I believe we’re providing the NEFF community with ways to make a difference in the climate crisis,” said Bob. “NEFF has demonstrated how a relatively small group of supporters and practitioners can show the world how New England’s forests can contribute, and each of us are close enough to be a measurable part of the progress, tree by tree, acre by acre, landownership by landownership. Let’s keep it going.”

What’s Next?

While Bob does plan to stay involved in NEFF’s 30 Percent Solution however he can be helpful, he’s ready to turn his attention to observing the world and writing. He already has two interconnected projects ready to go.

First, Bob wants to complete a book he started on Environmental Leadership about 20 years ago that he made significant progress on before returning to his climate-change and forestry work. Bob’s time with the Guild and NEFF has since provided him with more real-world leadership experiences, and he’s ready to finish the book. His second project is simply doing more writing, particularly poetry.

“I’ve had experiences that are hard to describe, and personal reactions to events like climate change that I feel are best addressed through poetry or prose-poem forms,” Bob said.

An Example of Bob’s Writing

In May of 2024, I joined 70 foresters from Europe for the ProSilva annual meeting in Slovakia. ProSilva is a collaborative of foresters working to introduce close-to-nature forestry on the continent and a sister organization to the U.S. Forest Stewards Guild, which I co-founded. Each year, ProSilva visits a different country, and I joined the Slovakia meeting as the U.S. representative.

During one trip to an old age beech grove, I was listening to the local foresters’ description—via translator—of how they like this grove best and would come to it and lie down under the trees. When I heard the translator call out loudly, “lie down,” this poem began to write itself under the beech trees.

LIE DOWN: A FORESTER’S DIRECTIVE

Lie down and let the falling leaves cover your garments
If you time it right
You can disappear
In minutes
This isn’t shinrin-roku,
Or the next big thing to settle your mind
No one does this
It doesn’t have the dry husk of ritual
If it’s a forester’s communion
It’s not your first
And while it may be your last
That’s not for you to decide.
Take your marking gun and Biltmore stick
Set them on the altar of a rock
Remove the paint- stained orange cruising vest
Fold it, neatly, like a flag
Place it on the ground
Make strange signs with your hands
Asking the sympathetic ash
To drop her leaves, first and fast
Lie down in a shallow place
Stare up through the yellow branches
Into the blue sky
Wait
Breathe, the rhythm of the small things
It’s all around you
All around you

Robert T Perschel | May, 2024 | Myjava, Slovakia

Bob’s Legacy

Bob Perschel has been a godsend to the New England Forestry Foundation. In his 12 years at the helm, NEFF has grown from a successful regional land trust to a regional and national leader in promoting sustainable, climate-smart forest management as well as large-scale land conservation. Bob’s vision of Exemplary Forestry has struck a chord, and it was key to securing the Climate-Smart Commodities grant that has raised our efforts to a new level.

Under Bob’s leadership, NEFF has also been accredited by the Land Trust Alliance, increased the acres it conserves via ownership by 50 percent, cemented strong partnerships both regionally and nationally, helped launch two new creative financial vehicles that promote land protection—the Exemplary Forestry Investment Fund and the Pooled Timber Income Fund—and developed a superb staff of talented and dedicated professionals. Personally, I have developed a deep respect for Bob and value his friendship. He will be missed.

– Board President Rick Weyerhaeuser

Additional Testimonials

I have been fortunate to have worked with Bob over the years in many different situations, but the most memorable was way back when he was Chair of the board of the Northern Forest Alliance. Bob was Chair, Walter Graff from AMC was Vice Chair, and the two of them together were real super heroes! They pulled together a group of organizations at a time when such alliances weren’t as prevalent as they are today. And as a part of the success, a number of major national funders were attracted to the alliance, many of whom continue to be involved today. The long-term impact can be seen in so many subsequent land protection projects that probably would not have happened, especially in Maine, if not for the ground breaking work of the Alliance.

– Andrew Falender | Former President | Appalachian Mountain Club

Over the last few decades, Bob has been a role model for me. I have tried to learn from and follow his thoughtful connection to forests and the people who depend on them. I remember clearly how he integrated his on-the-ground experience as a forester with the policy insights from his time at The Wilderness Society during our efforts to develop science-based, practical guidance for forest biomass retention.

– Alexander ‘Zander’ Evans, PhD (he/him) | Executive Director | Forest Stewards Guild

My partnership with Bob has been profoundly important and rewarding. When Bob and I began advocating for a ‘Say Yes to Wildlands and Woodlands’ mindset, stemming from our joint efforts with Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities, many questioned our approach. They wondered why NEFF was collaborating with NEWT and vice versa. Bob, more than anyone, understands that a holistic approach to land conservation—embracing both expanded wildlands and well-managed woodlands—is crucial for a resilient future for wildlife, people, and the planet. Our world isn’t zero-sum—we need both, and Bob deeply believes in this vision. His passion for wild forests is genuine, not mere lip service. It has been an immense honor to collaborate with Bob for nearly a decade, amplifying our shared message, and I will sincerely miss our partnership.

– Jon Leibowitz | President and CEO | Northeast Wilderness Trust

For 35 years, I have worked with, observed, and appreciated Bob’s vision and tenacity on behalf of forest health. Beginning with Northern Forest Alliance and recently through the Maine Mountain Collaborative and Exemplary Forestry Investment Fund, Bob has advocated for the importance of well-managed forests. This is a difficult topic with a broad array of strongly held views. It takes courage and commitment to remain in this field for decades and to make a difference as Bob has done.

– Karin R. Tilberg | President/CEO | Forest Society of Maine