Cohen: Celebrating Earth Day With Collective Action

By MICHAEL COHEN, InDepth NH

As everyone who is committed to protecting our environment knows, every day is Earth Day.

Protecting our planet, our state and our communities’ natural environments, is a year-round task. The NH Association of Conservation Commissions (NHACC) and each of its member commissions, are working every day to protect and conserve land and natural resources and to promote the use of the outdoors for recreation, building community, and economic health.

NHACC helps town conservation commissions to take on environmental challenges in their community and to protect local natural resources important to environmental and human health. This year, on April 22, many commissions have organized community events to promote 2026 Earth Day and celebrate the importance of our environment. Earthday.orgoffers resources to make the most of Earth Day.

As a Board member of the NH Association of Conservation Commissions, I’m fortunate to meet the dedicated volunteer conservation commissioners from every part of the state. The Association has over 200 Town conservation commissions overseeing a range of natural areas which support diverse habitats and wildlife. Each commission is authorized through NH legislation, Chapter 36-A of the New Hampshire revised statutes to assure “the proper utilization and protection of the natural resources and for the protection of watershed resources". To that end, towns protect and manage the biodiversity and natural resources and promote the public use of natural areas for low-impact outdoor recreation consistent with conservation.

New Hampshire commissions conserve, manage, and monitor almost 180,000 acres of land in towns throughout NH, which benefits clean water, clean air, wildlife, and people. These acres represent diverse habitats, including alpine ridge, oak-pine forests, marsh and shrub wetlands, vernal pools, and grasslands.

Protecting natural resources is a cause that a majority of NH residents support. To hunters, hikers, bikers, skiers, wildlife watchers, anglers, and gardeners, the conservation ethic represents cross-cutting values we all hold close. These values lead us to protect and build upon our conservation heritage, not only for today, but for the future; our children and grandchildren deserve the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful environment.

In its recently approved Strategic Plan, the NHACC is taking steps to make our organization more effective, to strengthen our network of conservation commissions by enhancing training, technical assistance, and educational resources for dedicated volunteers. The Association is committed to help towns meet their conservation goals.

Everyone can help assure NH’s natural resources are protected and conserved. This Earth Day:

• Join with others in your community to celebrate and participate in your town’s activities
• Join the volunteers on your local conservation commission.
• Thank a conservation commissioner
• Join with others throughout New Hampshire to celebrate.

Coming together with others can be a fun and meaningful experience. Working together, we will continue to have wild places and open spaces that provide a beautiful, healthy, natural environment for future generations.

Michael Cohen, MA, CAGS

Amherst NH

Michael@mjchealthsolutions.com

Michael J. Cohen is a principal consultant at MJC Health Solutions, LLC. Prior work experiences have included serving as an Executive Director of a community mental health center and a statewide mental health education and advocacy organization, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, NH. His work experiences have led to an extensive understanding of how best to meaningfully engage community in shared agenda setting and solution-making for action.

Michael currently serves on the Boards of the NH Association of Conservation Commissions and NH Audubon and on the Policy Committees of NH Healthy Climate and NH Center for Non-Profits and is a member of the Contributing Board of the NH Health Cost Initiative.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.