| The electronic newsletter of The Nature Conservancy's New Hampshire Chapter, a monthly roundup of conservation in the Granite State. Feel free to send this along to anyone who might be interested.
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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| The central Powwow River in Kingston supports one of New Hampshire's most extensive complexes of globally rare Atlantic white cedar swamps. Part of these lands are now protected, thanks to a recent deal completed by The Nature Conservancy. Eric Aldrich photo © TNC. |
The Conservancy has purchased 50 acres of ecologically sensitive lands from Peter and Marilyn Coon. It includes more than 3,000 feet of river frontage along the Powwow, with significant portions of exemplary streamside wetlands and nearly all of a large Atlantic white cedar basin swamp. In addition to the ecological values, the land also has tremendous scenic value with its broad swath of grassy marshlands and two prominent islands that emerge from the river.
This is The Nature Conservancy's second phase of land protection in a year along the Powwow River. Last January, the Conservancy, the town of Kingston, N.H. Fish and Game Department and Friends of Kingston Open Space combined efforts to protect 123 acres of uplands that had once been eyed by developers. That piece, owned by the town of Kingston with the Conservancy holding a conservation easement, is across the river from the newly protected lands.
In partnership with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and the Town of Kingston, The Nature Conservancy is involved in a major land conservation effort to protect rare and imperiled biodiversity features in the central portion of the Powwow River watershed. The Powwow River, a tributary of the Merrimack River, is a remarkably diverse non-tidal river system in southeastern New Hampshire. The Powwow watershed is largely forested and intact, but is increasingly threatened with encroachment, development, and fragmentation. Expanding population centers on the border of the watershed, recent residential subdivisions within the watershed, and population and development trends in southeastern New Hampshire pose increasing threats to the area's natural resources.
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| This cedar swamp is part of the complex near the Powwow River in Kingston. Eric Aldrich photo © TNC. |
The Nature Conservancy is focusing its conservation efforts on the central portion of the Powwow River watershed, which contains biological and ecological resources of tremendous local, regional, and global significance. The N.H. Natural Heritage Bureau has found that the central Powwow contains the most extensive complex of globally rare Atlantic white cedar swamp forest wetlands in New Hampshire, an exemplary streamside fen ecosystem, high quality swamp white oak floodplain forests, and productive emergent marshes, all of which overlay one of southeastern New Hampshire’s largest and most productive groundwater aquifers. Atlantic white cedar swamps are a globally rare habitat type that are known to support imperiled species such as the Hessel’s hairstreak butterfly, and which serve as breeding grounds for many birds, including downy woodpecker, brown creepers, veeries, magnolia warblers, black-throated blue warblers, and ovenbirds.
After the Land is Protected:
TNC's Commitment to Stewardship
After months of thorough scientific research, complex negotiations and exhaustive fundraising the land is finally and permanently protected. Hurrah! Time to celebrate, for sure.
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| Great Bay Stewardship Ecologist Joanne Glode takes a GPS reading near the boundary of the Conservancy's Lubberland Creek Preserve. Eric Aldrich photo © TNC. |
But along with the festivities comes a big responsibility of ownership, the commitment to manage lands responsibly.
There are boundaries to post; trash to be removed; ATV issues to address; signs to install; brochures to print; trails to build and maintain; ecological inventories to complete; and ecological landscapes to manage. The list goes on.
And there are stewardship issues on land protected by conservation easements. Around Great Bay, for instance, we're helping landowners protect grassland birds by providing specific information on when and how to mow their fields.
This stewardship business is a commitment taken seriously by The Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy owns and manages the largest private collection of nature preserves in the world. We've earned a reputation as excellent stewards of our landholdings because we've demonstrated a long-term commitment to taking care of our lands.
A principal element of this commitment is our practice of building endowments to fund longterm stewardship responsibilities. These endowments -- funded by generous, forward-thinking individuals and foundations -- are an essential part of each land protection project, including conservation easements. On Conservancy-owned lands, each endowment is at least 20 percent of the land's appraised value. This ensures that as our portfolio of ownership grows, so too does our dedicated capacity to steward these special places.
After all, our collection of preserves and easements isn't just a random sample of open spaces; it's a collection of gems, irreplaceable representations of our natural heritage.
LCHIP Grant Supports
TNC's Fall Mountain Project
In its fifth round of grant funding, the N.H. Land and Community Heritage Investment Program this week awarded $175,000 to The Nature Conservancy for a conservation project at Fall Mountain in Charlestown and Langdon. The LCHIP board approved grants for six other conservation projects around the state.
The Conservancy is working to protect 950 acres on Fall Mountain, which overlooks the Connecticut River. This land includes the entire watershed of a series of mountain-top beaver flowages and three populations of northeastern bulrush, a federally endangered plant. Northeastern bulrush has been found in eight locations in New Hampshire, none of which are protected.
The Conservancy is working with New England Power Co. and the N.H. Division of Forests and Lands on the Fall Mountain project.
Other projects awarded LCHIP grants include:
- Bath/Claremont, NH Farmland Conservation Initiative: $100,000
- Canterbury, Gold Star Sod Farm: $378,000
- Hampton, Hurd Farm: $100,000
- Lee, Flag Hill Winery: $220,000
- Randolph/Gorham, Moose River: $65,000
- Rochester, Gagne Farm: $300,000
To date, LCHIP has awarded $16.5 million to 118 projects in 88 communities. For more information, visit www.lchip.org.
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| Deep inside her hood, Claire McBane counts waterfowl near Adams Point on Great Bay. McBane is one of several volunteering for a winter waterfowl survey, coordinated by the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Eric Aldrich photo © TNC. |
Scoping Out Great Bay's Waterfowl
Regardless of howling winds, arctic temperatures or pounding rain, volunteers have been aiming binoculars and spotting scopes out across Great Bay this winter, in search of waterfowl.
This is the 13th year that volunteers have kept detailed track of wintering waterfowl on Great Bay, a survey coordinated by the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and administered by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
The information they collect supplements Fish and Game's aerial wintering waterfowl survey (done once each winter) and other research projects involving waterfowl and Great Bay's habitats, according to Brian Smith, a Fish and Game marine biologist and research coordinator for the reserve.
"This information gives us a good idea of where the birds are throughout the winter and the number and diversity of species that rely on Great Bay for wintering habitat," says Smith. "Over time, it provides an index of variability."
Among the usual winter species are canada geese, black duck, common goldenye, greater scaup and bufflehead. Their numbers vary, depending on the winter's severity. This winter, for instance, much of Great Bay is locked up in thick ice and the numbers and species diversity are down.
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| Greater Scaup are among the waterfowl that rely on Great Bay during the winter. Eric Aldrich photo © TNC. |
But come March, the numbers and species jump dramatically, giving birders a real treat. "We start seeing ring-necked ducks, pintails, widgeons, green-winged teal, hooded mergansers, and many other species," Smith says.
Great Bay's importance as a waterfowl habitat is one of the major reasons The Nature Conservancy is involved in efforts to protect key lands around the bay. In fact, Great Bay's designation by the North American Waterfowl Management Plan as a special focus area has been one of the driving forces behind the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership. Since 1994, the Partnership has protected more than 6,000 acres around the bay.
For information on participating in next year's winter waterfowl count, contact Fish and Game's Region 3 office in Durham, 603-868-1095.
The Audubon Society of New Hampshire is also recruiting volunteers for wildlife surveys that will help efforts of the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership. Audubon's surveys focus on the Cocheco River in Dover, and Follett’s Brook in Durham, Lee, and Newmarket. For information contact Pam Hunt or Laura Deming, ldeming@nhaudubon.org, at the Audubon Society, (603) 224-9909.
There are several training sessions around New England this spring. This spring's training date for New Hampshire is Sunday, March 21, at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in Woodstock. Trainings run from 10 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m.
For more information, contact Chris Mattrick the New England Wild Flower Society, 508-877-7630 ext. 3203 or cmattrick@newfs.org.
Saving Special Places - 2004
Statewide Conservation Conference: April 17
"Conservation Tools for a Growing State" is the theme for this year's land conservation conference, which will be Saturday, April 17, at John Stark Regional High School in Weare.
This year's conference will feature many new workshops of interest to people involved in land trusts, conservation commissions, and the myriad of conservation activities going on in New Hampshire. Workshops will cover the nuts and bolts of securing easements, protecting land, working with landowners, land stewardship, ATV issues and many other topics, according to Dijit Taylor of the Center for Land Conservation Assistance.
This year's keynote speaker is Daryl Burtnett, state director of The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire, who'll discuss "Land Trust Ethics: Why Best Intentions Aren't Good Enough." There will also be a plenary session entitled, "Conservation Easements on Trial," in which three well-known New Hampshire attorneys will stage a mock trial challenging a conservation easement.
The conference is sponsored by the Center for Land Conservation Assistance, the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Community Conservation Assistance Program and the Piscataquog Watershed Association.
Participation is limited to the first 300 registrants. For more information, visit www.spnhf.org (where information will be posted by March 1).
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.
And Another Volunteer Opportunity:Help Stop Invasive Plants!
The Invasive Plant Atlas of New England is looking for a few good women and men to help gather data on invasive plant species in your local area. The data being gathered is being used to create a web based invasive plant atlas, conduct scientific modeling for each species, and establish an early detection and rapid response network for the region. Volunteers are wanted from each New England state. Volunteers are provided with specialized training and workshops to hone identification skills. Volunteers collect data from identified local natural areas. The information collected is recorded on an easy to use data collection sheet and submitted either electronically on the IPANE website or in paper form.The Conservancy still needs to raise an additional $212,200 to complete this effort. To find out how you can help, contact Tiffany McKenna, the Conservancy's director of philanthropy in New Hampshire: 603-224-5853, ext. 15, or tmckenna@tnc.org.Powwow River Ecosystem Gets Additional Protection
The Nature Conservancy has recently protected 50 acres along the Powwow River in Kingston, including a large basin of globally rare Atlantic white cedar and some of New Hampshire's best streamside wetland ecosystems.
