Over the years, the Thomson Family Tree Farm in Orford has hosted hundreds of tours, from school kids, international conservation organizations, elected or appointed state and national officials, along with many other groups.

Recently we had the pleasure of hosting Commissioner Sarah Stewart, who oversees the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and Patrick Hackley, the newly appointed director of the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands.

The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources has five divisions, Forests and Lands, Parks and Recreation, the New Hampshire State Library, the Division of Historical Resources and the State Council on the Arts. “Our five divisions are dedicated to protecting, promoting and managing a wide variety of New Hampshire’s natural, recreational and cultural resources,” Stewart said.

We invited Stewart and Hackley to spend a day last summer on our certified tree farm in Orford to see and learn what many New Hampshire forest landowners do on their property and how willing they are to share their lands with both the general public and state agencies.

An example would be opening our property for snowmobiling, which falls under the Division of Parks and Recreation’s Bureau of Trails. In New Hampshire there are 7,200 miles of snowmobile trails, of which 82% are on private properties such as ours. The remainder are on state, federal and nongovernmental organization land.

On our tour, we drove on the road system, which is used in the winter for snowmobiling, cross country skiing and snowshoeing.

Snowmobiling alone brings into our state’s economy around $600 million, direct and indirect, which points out how important the relationship is between private landowners and state agencies.

In addition, those same private trails and roads that provide recreational access also serve as the transportation network for a thriving forest products industry generating more than $1.5 billion in economic revenue and employing more than 7,000 people.

There are many other activities that happen on these lands, such as hunting and fishing, along with many other recreational actives. This past year, with COVID-19, we saw a large increase in hiking in the forest and on trails.

We enjoyed hosting Commissioner Stewart and Director Hackley on our tree farm and showing them what New Hampshire private forest landowners are doing and sharing with the state.

We also agreed to continue to keep lines of communication open and work together to improve relationships with three very important industries — forestry, recreation and tourism — which are critical to both forest landowners and our state’s economy.

I encourage readers to visit the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources website to learn more: dncr.nh.gov.

The Thomson Family Tree Farm looks forward to seeing other state officials who may want to get out of Concord and tour a tree farm.

Tom Thomson, of Orford, is a tree farmer and forestland owner.