[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S18035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO PAUL O. BOFINGER

 Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure today to 
rise to pay tribute to Paul O. Bofinger, president of the Society for 
the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, upon his retirement. Paul has 
served the New Hampshire conservation community loyally for 30 years as 
an intelligent and clear voice of reason and stubborn common sense. 
Upon graduation from Cornell University in 1953 and the University of 
Michigan in 1955, Paul has been actively involved in the New Hampshire 
conservation debate. Paul's profound insight and powerful influence on 
New Hampshire environmental policy has helped to create the special 
tradition of balance and consensus building that we are proud of in New 
Hampshire.
  Over the past three decades Paul Bofinger has received numerous 
awards and honors including the American Foresters John Artson Warder 
Medal, the Nature Conservancy's Conservation Achievement Award, the 
University of New Hampshire Granite State Award, and the Audubon 
Society of New Hampshire Tudor Richards Award. Paul received a 1982 
Governor's Award of Distinction and was named 1994 Forester of the Year 
by the Granite State Division of the Society of American Foresters. He 
is a Franklin Pierce College Honorary Doctor of Human Letters, and a 
recipient of the Chevron Conservation Award. Paul Bofinger served in 
1984 and 1985 at Harvard University as a C. Bullard Fellow.
  Paul's leadership assured the success of the New Hampshire Land 
Conservation Investment Program and the creation of the majestic Lake 
Umbagog National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Under his presidency, the 
New Hampshire Forest Society has become one of the premier land trusts 
in the Nation. During the past several years Mr. Bofinger and the New 
Hampshire Forest Society have contributed greatly to the work of the 
Northern Forest Lands Council. He has positioned New Hampshire as a 
leader in the regional effort to protect the traditional land use 
patterns of the great Northern Forest for the benefit of future 
generations. Through Paul's stewardship of New Hampshire conservation 
policy, his strong commitment to the development of broad consensus-
based groups, and his disciplined approach to conservation policy 
through respectful dialog, New Hampshire's forest conservation and land 
use process has become a model for the rest of the country to learn and 
benefit from.
  Mr. President, I ask that my colleagues join me in congratulating 
Paul Bofinger on an exemplary career as a leader of New Hampshire 
forest conservation and a voice of wise moderation. I wish him good 
fortune and Godspeed as, upon retirement, he pursues new life 
challenges.

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