Attendees
Present: Emma Ellsworth/Chair, Ernie Foster/Vice Chair, Malcolm Haith/Secretary, Sasha Dyer, Kyla Hastie, Matthew Sisk, Eve Schlüter/Director (Acting), Tom O’Shea/DFG Commissioner, Nicole McSweeney/Assistant Director of Outreach and Education, Todd Richards/Assistant Director of Fisheries, Joe Rogers/Conn. Valley Wildlife District Manager, Todd Olanyk/Central Wildlife District Manager, Andrew Madden/Western Wildlife District Manager, Nicole Keleher/ Habitat Restoration and Management Program Manager, Jim Burnham/Program Coordinator, Jon Brooks/Wildlife Population Ecologist, Jesse Leddick/Assistant Director of Natural Heritage & Endangered Species, Jody Simoes/Human Dimensions Project Leader, Jen Ryan/DFG Deputy Commissioner, Annalee Tweitmann/DFG Blue Carbon Program Director, Jennifer Sulla/DFG General Counsel, Christine Smith/DFG Assistant General Counsel, Major Kevin Clayton/MEP, Lt. Mike Cody/MEP; Public: Dave Morin, Steve Larivee, Mike Harris
Acceptance of the minutes of the January monthly business meeting
A motion was made by Mr. Foster to accept the minutes of the January business meeting as presented. The motion was seconded by Ms. Dyer; the vote in favor was unanimous.
Chair's comments
Chair Ellsworth extended her appreciation of the MassWildlife staff’s efforts related to the recent hunting laws public listening sessions and shared personal family traditions related to members going hunting. She stated that approximately 11,000 written comments were received via the online form or hard copies mailed in, and she provided reflections on some of the comments received from a wide variety of constituents. The Chair provided an overview of the next steps in process for the Director search, noting that certain processes are being discussed, and the plan is to have a job description finalized and posted for the next board meeting. She also shared some reflections on a landscape conservation article in the recent Massachusetts Wildlife magazine, including that the agency is responsible for conserving 236,000 acres, and the importance of forging relationships with local and national collaborative partners, constituencies, and landowners. Chair Ellsworth also recognized and celebrated the completed acquisition of the Shope property in Templeton, in a collaborative project that included the Worcester County League of Sportsmen, multiple dog training clubs, and Whitetails Unlimited.
Director’s updates
Director Schlüter stated that the hunting laws public listening sessions had been attended by nearly 1,000 people over the five sessions, held in person and remotely, and she reported that nearly 11,000 written comments had been received as part of the outreach effort. Staff are going through the comments and analyzing them for a future presentation to the Board. She also extended her deep appreciation to the staff who organized all of the listening sessions. Director Schlüter reported that she had attended the fishing expo in Marlborough and met Kyler Leslie, who was the co-winner of the 2024 Angler of the Year (youth catch-and-release category) at the show. Noting the upcoming Springfield Sportsmen’s Show in West Springfield, the Director shared her experiences attending a family ice fishing clinic at Lake Chauncey in Westborough, which, despite the snowy weather, still had over 200 people in attendance.
Director Schlüter reported that MassWildlife staff have recently been in the press to make comments on ice safety, the effects of road treatments on various aquatic wildlife species, and articles on coyote behavior. MassWildlife staff were in attendance at a 2-day research symposium on biodiversity held in conjunction with the Department of Recreation and Conservation. MassWildlife Assistant Director for Land and Habitat Emily Myron and Outreach and Marketing Coordinator Michelle Collins participated in the Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow program in early February, and the Director stated that she would ask them to provide a brief report on their experiences at an upcoming meeting.
The Director reminded the meeting that two public hearings would be held on February 23 in Zoom webinars, the first on making the recent deer emergency regulations package permanent and the second on a package of deer hunting regulations proposals. She reported she planned to participate in upcoming meetings of the NEAFWA landscape conservation committee in Hadley and that she will be participating in the Canopy Forestry Forum at UMass Amherst in early March.
Commissioner’s updates
Commissioner O’Shea thanked MassWildlife staff for their responsiveness organizing the public listening sessions on short notice. He thought all of the sessions were very well run and that the comments received will inform the presentation that will be developed to make the agency’s recommendations. He also commented on the anecdotal increase of women commenting on hunting and fishing law and/or regulation changes. He stressed that these public listening sessions were organized to evaluate the possibility of changes in the Mass. General Laws, not in MassWildlife’s regulations. The recommendations that come out of the review and analysis will inform both the Board’s understanding and any possible legislative process moving forward. He also remarked on his and his family’s participation in the February ice fishing event. His general impression was that the public enjoyed themselves and appreciated the use of different kinds of equipment to watch jigging and fish behavior using sonar. A recent DCR-DFG research symposium shows how much collaboration happens across the two organizations and the Commissioner shared some examples of the cross-disciplinary presentations that were given. Related to staffing, Commissioner O'Shea reported that the new position of DFG Biodiversity Officer has been posted and he shared some of the expectations and requirements for the position. He then reflected on the emotional week the Division of Marine Fisheries and the City of Gloucester experienced with the loss of the commercial fishing vessel Lily Jean, with the crew and a federal fishing observer on board, and its impact on the community on the North Shore, noting that the memorial service was attended by many state and community leaders.
Chair Ellsworth moved to dedicate the February 11, 2026, meeting of the Fisheries and Wildlife Board to those who were lost on the Lily Jean. Mr. Foster seconded the motion, and it was passed unanimously.
Law Enforcement updates
Major Kevin Clayton shared his appreciation of the collaborative work of the multiple agencies involved in the Department and introduced Lieutenant Mike Cody and his K9 officer partner, Hank, to the Board. Lt. Cody provided information on the I-90 corridor for which he and K9 Hank provide services, noting that K9 Officer Hank is trained in tracking, evidence recovery, and striped bass detection. Major Clayton also provided the Board with a brief overview of actions connected to ongoing and recently completed investigations.
Blue Carbon: An innovative way to fund salt marsh restoration and protection (Annalee Tweitmann)
Commissioner O’Shea introduced Annalee Tweitmann, DFG Blue Carbon Program Director, reporting that she had worked on salt marsh and coastal resilience in her previous employment. He reported that she engages in ecology work, seed funding, and other traditional and non-traditional funding pathways for developing carbon credit programs, which could help fund other restoration efforts. He stated that Secretary Tepper would like to give the Department support for this effort, especially related to its biodiversity goals. Assistant Commissioner Ryan also described Ms. Tweitmann’s work on the feasibility study and to map out next steps for the restoration and protection of salt marshes and how it will fit into the Department’s bigger climate change and climate goals.
Ms. Tweitmann opened her presentation by reporting that blue carbon is the term for carbon captured by the world’s oceans and coastal systems, including mangroves, seagrass, and salt marshes. She provided a graphic that displayed the carbon cycle in these systems, wherein the plants absorb carbon from the air and store in their tissues, dead leaves and plants sink into the water, sediment is trapped by roots and settles over the dead organic material, plant decay is slowed by lack of oxygen, and over time layers build up and trap the carbon underground. A bar graph showed that sea grass, salt marshes, and mangroves far outpace boreal and tropical forests in carbon storage. She then highlighted the importance of salt marshes, which can store up to ten times more carbon than forests on a per-acre basis, and are also vital as rich sources of biodiversity, act as money- and lifesaving barriers to hurricanes and other coastal weather events, and are important habitat for coastal fisheries species.
Noting that salt marsh restoration contributes to recently developed environmental goals, both for net-zero emissions and statewide biodiversity, Ms. Tweitmann discussed the need to investigate and develop innovative funding mechanisms, such as biodiversity credits, expanding the blue carbon program, and 1% for Massachusetts Biodiversity (on the national model of 1% for the Planet) to restore and facilitate the migration of salt marshes. She then reviewed the parts of the Department’s five-year strategic plan, Connections, that provide the justification and some of the mechanisms for developing a blue carbon incentives program in Massachusetts.
Ms. Tweitmann then outlined the feasibility study she oversaw with a consultant February through December in 2025. She discussed the guiding questions of the study, including whether there is potential to apply carbon finance to support the work; can the Commonwealth create a project under the Verified Carbon Standard, establish its own methodology under another standard, or create and manage its own program; which marsh management actions would be most applicable; the potential scale of the program; the status of market interest in carbon credits; and what additional information is needed to move forward. As background, she briefly explained the carbon market, an innovative funding tool, as it exists, wherein credits for expected reductions in carbon can be sold in a voluntary market to producers who want to meet reduction goals.
Providing an overview of the salt marshes in Massachusetts, Mr. Tweitmann reported that there are about 47,000 acres of them, over half of which are protected and most of which are currently ditched for increased agricultural yields or to control mosquitos. Discussing the possible management techniques to retore the marshes, she highlighted trio restoration, a method that combines ditch remediation (filling in old ditches to restore the integrity of the marsh), runneling (creating small channels to reduce impounded water and promote revegetation), and the simultaneous creation of small marsh islands (for state-listed saltmarsh sparrow nesting habitat), which is highly applicable in Massachusetts because so much of the marshes is currently ditched. To assess the feasibility of the methods available, Ms. Tweitmann’s team need a focus area, and they chose the Great Marsh on Massachusetts’ North Shore, which comprises 16,000 acres of salt marsh and is the largest expanse of salt marsh north of Long Island. They built a carbon model for the Great Marsh, began implementation of the available restoration methods, and gathered emissions reduction and carbon removal data. Their preliminary results showed significant improvements in both emissions reductions and carbon removals. They also found the market interest in buying carbon credits to be robust for a project with state underwriting, and potential buyers include corporations such as Shell, Microsoft, Apple, Disney, and Salesforce.
Returning to the key questions that guided the feasibility study, Mr. Tweitmann reported that there is the potential to apply carbon finance to salt marsh restoration, the project should be created under the Verified Carbon Standard (as opposed to a standalone state project), the trio method is widely applicable, the scale of the program could expand to 40,000+ acres, the market interest in the carbon credits created is positive, and there is still a lot of information needed to move forward. In particular, she highlighted gaps that remain in the science behind carbon capture and reduction and ongoing funding needs and sketched the next steps for the project, which include developing pilot projects on priority parcels and enrolling landowners; designing a financial project under the Verified Carbon Standard; and structuring an adequate proponent team, recruiting implementation partners, and designing the incentives for participation.
After questions and comments from the members, Chair Ellsworth thanked Ms. Tweitmann for her ongoing work and her excellent presentation.
Confirm March business meeting date and time
After a brief discussion, the Board members confirmed Wednesday, March 18, 2026, at 1:30 p.m., for the March business meeting, at the Field Headquarters and on Zoom.
Members’ comments
Matthew Sisk shared his appreciation of the staff for organizing the public listening sessions and that the Mayor of Braintree has asked for a trout stocking as an Earth Day event.
Sasha Dyer shared her appreciation of staff related to the recent listening sessions, her recognition of the diverse perspectives in the responses received, family experiences with tick borne illnesses, and her attendance at the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Hunting Heritage Hall of Fame banquet.
Ernie Foster shared reflections on the attendance of falconers at the public listening sessions, comments received from farmers and landscape property owners, and comments received about wearing safety garments during non-hunting times as well.
Kyla Hastie thanked the staff for the public listening sessions; discussed the importance of understanding the science and social science of the research the agency is doing; and spoke about a commenter who learned other perspectives at the listening sessions, working with hunters to help control the deer population in a community, and sharing the woods safely.
Executive session
Mr. Haith made a motion to move to executive session for the purpose of discussing potential land acquisition projects whose negotiations might be compromised by discussion in open session and to not return to open session afterward. Mr. Sisk seconded the motion. There was a roll call vote.
Mr. Sisk: Yes
Ms. Dyer: Yes
Mr. Foster: Yes
Ms. Ellsworth: Yes
Mr. Haith: Yes
Ms. Hastie: Yes
The vote in favor was unanimous, and the open session ended at 2:35 p.m.
Two parcels were presented to the Board for consideration. Both parcels were unanimously approved in roll-call votes.
Adjourn
There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made by Ms. Hastie and seconded by Mr. Foster. The vote in favor was unanimous, and the meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Malcolm Haith
Secretary
List of documents presented to the Board in its February business meeting packets
February agenda
Draft January business meeting minutes
Executive session packet