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The electronic newsletter of The Nature Conservancy's New Hampshire Chapter, a monthly roundup of conservation in the Granite State. For more information on this and other projects of The Nature Conservancy, visit http://nature.org/newhampshire. About this e-newsletter |
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| Conservancy staff and partners are updating the conservation blueprint for the North Atlantic Coast Ecoregion. The ecoregion extends as far south as Delaware. |
Conservation by Design:
Updating a Conservation Blueprint
for the North Atlantic Coast Ecoregion
Things don't stay static in nature, and the same is true for conservation. We're always finding more information, new technologies and different ways of conserving the diversity of life on earth.
With that in mind, a scientific team of Conservancy staff and partners are updating the conservation blueprint for the North Atlantic Coast Ecoregion, one of the six major ecoregions in the Northeast. The North Atlantic Coast Ecoregion extends from the central Maine coast south to Delaware.
This "conservation blueprint" for the North Atlantic Coast Ecoregion was completed in 1999 and was among the first that followed the Conservancy's innovative new approach, Conservation by Design. The first step is always to set priorities, and our ecoregional plans accomplish that by laying out the most critical sites for biodiversity conservation by TNC and our partners.
The update involves the same comprehensive approach, but with the benefit of improved GIS technology, new science and conservation planning methods, and more information on plants, wildlife and natural communities from natural heritage programs from the ecoregion's eight states.
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"We'll be pulling together experts from TNC and an array of organizations and agencies to gather information, identify conservation targets and set goals," said Douglas Bechtel, director of conservation science for the Conservancy in New Hampshire. "We'll assess regional threats to those conservation targets, such as habitat fragmentation or pollution, and suggest region-wide strategies for eliminating those threats. We’re very excited that this demonstrates our on-going goal to update plans as new science becomes available to guide our work."
Part of this process involves creating an alliance or a network of people who share the same goals, said Jay Odell, the Conservancy's Great Bay marine ecologist and leader of a team focusing on the plan's marine component. "During the next two years we’ll define the Conservancy’s marine conservation strategy for the North Atlantic Coast, and collaboration to add value to the efforts and plans of other conservation groups and agencies will be critical."
A big help in the process comes from the natural heritage and nongame wildlife programs in the various states, Bechtel said. They supply much of the raw data that drives the plan.
Click here for more information on the Conservancy's Conservation by Design.
New Funding Source Proposed for LCHIP
Proposal would restore LCHIP funding to $6 million a year.
There's some exciting possibilities for LCHIP, the state's popular Land and Community Heritage Investment Program. Rep. Neal Kurk has proposed a new source of dedicated funds for LCHIP and the concept is already getting good reviews at the Statehouse.
Kurk, who chairs the House Finance Committee, will sponsor legislation to replace the current electricity consumption tax with an electricity production tax. The measure would have no net financial impact on New Hampshire citizens, ratepayers or on the state's general fund. It would restore about $6 million a year in funds, allowing LCHIP to award grants to organizations and local communities seeking to protect and restore New Hampshire's natural and historic places.
"This is a good solution to funding a valuable and popular program that protects New Hampshire's most cherished places," Kurk said. "It funds LCHIP without an additional burden to ratepayers or taxpayers."
 These wetlands and surrounding uplands in Durham are among some of the lands protected recently by the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership. The partnership has protected 6,504 acres around Great Bay since 1984. |
Habitats and Key Links Protected in Durham and Exeter
Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership
has protected 6,504 acres since 1994.
Important habitat for waterfowl, songbirds, white-tailed deer and many other species are now permanently protected in Durham and Exeter, thanks to transactions recently completed by the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership. The latest transactions bring the total amount of land protected by the innovative partnership to 6,504 acres around Great Bay since 1994.
In Durham, the partnership last month closed a deal that protects 63.7 acres in the upper watershed of Crommet Creek. The land includes an important wetland complex with good habitat for waterfowl, including black ducks, a species in decline. The parcel is adjacent to other lands protected by the town of Durham and the partnership. The tract was sold by the Kitfield family to The Nature Conservancy and will be transferred to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, which will manage it for wildlife. The property will be open to the public for hiking, hunting and nature observation. The transaction also involves an additional 3.8 acres and a historic house with two apartments that The Nature Conservancy will sell.
The partnership also recently protected an adjoining 209.8 acres in Durham. The partnership secured the conservation easement on Winecellar Farm, protecting headwaters of Crommet Creek, part of a large beaver flowage, upland fields and oak hickory forests. The property is also an important link with other lands protected by the partnership.
In Exeter, the partnership recently completed a deal protecting 35 acres near the Squamscott River. The land off Newfields Road will continue to be owned by Arthur and Helen
Harrington, but a conservation easement has been purchased by the partnership and transferred to the Rockingham Land Trust. The tract includes fields, wetlands, forest and forested wetlands. The land is adjacent to land protected and owned by the town of Exeter and will be open to limited public access, such as hunting and hiking.
"We’re excited to support the partnership’s efforts to conserve the lands around Great Bay and are hopeful this conservation easement will lead to further protection along the Squamscott River," said Brian Hart, executive director of the Rockingham Land Trust, a regional land conservation organization serving greater Rockingham County.
"These recent transactions illustrate the importance of building linkages among protected lands, " said Robert Miller, Great Bay project director for The Nature Conservancy. "With limited dollars available for land protection, we need to make sure we're doing the best possible conservation we can. Connecting conservation lands and protecting ecologically significant places like these is a way of getting the best bang for the buck. "
Funding for the Exeter project comes from a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for protecting significant habitats around the Great Bay watershed. Funding for the Durham projects comes from The Nature Conservancy and from NOAA.
In other partnership news, three parcels previously protected by the partnership were transferred last month from The Nature Conservancy to partners. All three are in Durham's Crommet Creek watershed.
Two of the parcels are important waterfowl habitat (both 92 acres) and were transferred to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department with conservation easements retained by The Nature Conservancy.
The other is a 95-acre parcel that includes upland forests and large beaver flowages. This tract was transferred to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, with a conservation easement to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
With The Nature Conservancy as lead acquisition agent, the partnership also includes the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, Ducks Unlimited, Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Natural Resources Conservation Service, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
For more information on the partnership, visit www.nature.org/newhampshire.
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www.conservenewhampshire.info:
Get the facts on Congress's promise: the Conservation Trust Fund
The Nature Conservancy has joined an effort to raise awareness about the Conservation Trust Fund, which provides federal funds for an array of important conservation programs. The new campaign's website, www.conservenewhampshire.info, has information about the trust, candidates' positions and how you can get involved. Aside from the Conservancy, the campaign also involves the Wilderness Society, League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, Appalachian Mountain Club, Citizens for New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage, and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
Created by Congress in 2000, the Conservation Trust Fund is a dedicated federal budget fund that supports a suite of the land conservation, recreation, wildlife protection, and historic preservation programs in New Hampshire and throughout the nation. Among them are the Land and Water Conservation Fund, State Wildlife Grants, Forest Legacy, North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, and Payment in Lieu of Taxes Program.
When it was passed in one of the greatest bipartisan environmental achievements in recent memory, the CTF was supposed to be a $12 billion, six-year commitment to conservation. For Fiscal Years 2001 and 2002, Congress kept its promise by fully funding the Conservation Trust Fund at its dedicated levels of $1.6 billion and $1.76 billion, respectively. But in January of this year, the new leadership for the 108th Congress, after minimal debate, dismantled the $12 billion Conservation Trust Fund after only two years of a six-year commitment. The result is devastating shortfalls in land and water resources, recreation opportunities and wildlife preservation, green spaces, historic preservation, and wilderness.
And the downward spiral continued into the FY 2004 appropriations process. The Conservation Trust Fund was cut by about $450 million in the Interior Appropriations bill, with additional cuts in the Commerce-Justice-State bill. The fully funded dedicated level for the Conservation Trust Fund in FY 2005 is $2.24 billion. The Administration is currently piecing together its budget proposal for FY 2005 and Congress will start its own budget and appropriations process in March of 2004.
Bipartisan groups of senators and representatives have signed letters supporting the Conservation Trust Fund, including New Hampshire's own Senators John Sununu and Judd Gregg, and Representatives Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley.
To learn more about the Conservation Trust Fund, visit www.conservenewhampshire.info.
 Despite chilly temperatures, last year's hike at Otter Brook Preserve was astounding for brilliant skies and wildlife tracks. Kim Faulkner, above, trecks across Bolster Pond. |
Upcoming TNC Field Trips
Join us and see why the Conservancy protects these great places
Saturday, February 7
Ossipee Pine Barrens – 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Conservancy’s Jeffrey Lougee leads this fascinating tour of the Ossipee Pine Barrens. Learn about the process that formed this unusual ecosystem and about the Conservancy’s efforts to carefully restore fire here. The tour is an easy ski or snowshoe. Bring lunch and water. For more information and to register, call 603-356-8833.
Saturday, February 7
About The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy's mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The Conservancy has protected more than 98 million acres of valuable lands and waters worldwide. The organization accomplishes its mission through the efforts of state and country chapters, which are responsible for protecting and managing conservation land, and for raising operating and capital funds to support their programs.
Established in 1987, The Nature Conservancy of New Hampshire has helped protect more than 119,000 acres of ecologically significant land and currently owns and manages 26 preserves across the state.
The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire:
22 Bridge St., Fourth Floor, Concord, NH, 03301. 603-224-5853
Great Bay Field Office: 167 Exeter Road, Unit 1A, Newfields, N.H. 03856. 603-772-2203
Green Hills Preserve: P.O. Box 310, 2760 White Mt. Hwy, North Conway, NH 03860. 603-356-8833.
About This E-Newsletter
Granite State Glances is the electronic newsletter of The Nature Conservancy's New Hampshire Chapter. It is distributed via email on or around the 15th of every month.
You can subscribe by clicking here.
All subscribers (email addresses) on this list are kept confidential and are not shared by The Nature Conservancy.
For questions about this e-newsletter, contact Eric Aldrich, The Nature Conservancy, NH Chapter, 603-224-5853, ext. 26.
Otter Brook Preserve - 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Gather your snowshoes and join Roger and Ann Sweet and the Conservancy’s Eric Aldrich for this winter tour of Otter Brook Preserve. See signs of black bear and other wildlife. During last year's outing we saw fresh otter tracks. Co-sponsored by the Harris Center for Conservation Education. For more information and to register, call 603-224-5853, ext. 26.
