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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 Click here for N.H. Chapter's Spring '04 Newsletter (PDF - 477 K) |
The Connecticut River is the backdrop for the New Hampshire Chapter's annual membership meeting. This is the river's view from TNC's Silverweed Seep Preserve in Plainfield.
Sign up for the meeting and field trips happening June 5 at the Student Conservation Association in Charlestown.
Lora Gerard photo © TNC.
"Conserving the Connecticut River:
Rich Past, Bright Future"
TNC's New Hampshire Chapter Annual Meeting
Saturday, June 5, Charlestown, N.H.
This year's annual membership meeting of the Conservancy's New Hampshire chapter is Saturday, June 5 at the Student Conservation Association along the mighty Connecticut River in North Charlestown. Help us celebrate conservation success throughout the state, particularly the Fall Mountain project.
The keynote speaker will be Walter Wetherell, editor of This American River and author of The River Trilogy. He has received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, two O. Henry Awards, the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, and most recently, the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Strauss Living Award.
Also joining us will be Kim Lutz, director of the Conservancy's new Connecticut River Conservation Program. Lutz will co-lead a canoe/kayak trip on a scenic stretch of the Connecticut River.
There will also be staff-led field trips to:
- the Ashuelot River, where the Conservancy and partners are working on a conservation initiative to protect some of the watershed's most ecologically important places;
- TNC's Warwick Preserve in Westmoreland, the New Hampshire Chapter's first preserve and site of several uncommon wildflowers; and
- nearby Fall Mountain in Charlestown, where the Conservancy is working to protect 950 acres, including the habitat for the federally endangered northeastern bulrush.
For more information, and a registration form, click here.
New Report on Oceans is
Energizing Conservation
A new report on the world's oceans is shaking things up and getting people talking about the dire need for ambitious conservation measures.
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The Nature Conservancy applauds the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy for focusing new attention on the importance and plight of our nation's oceans and coastal areas.
"Our oceans and coasts are in trouble, and this country must take immediate action to turn the tide," said Lynne Hale, director of The Nature Conservancy's Marine Initiative. "The Commission's draft report comes at a critical time in our nation's history. We cannot continue with business as usual.
"We are pleased that the Commission explicitly recognizes that the protection of biodiversity must be an underlying principle of this nation's ocean management policies," Hale said. "At the same time, the Conservancy understands that humans depend on oceans for countless resources. Human use of ocean resources can—and must—go hand in hand with ocean conservation."
The commission spent 2 1/2 years studying 4.4 million square miles of ocean, coastal areas and the Great Lakes. It urged balancing the need for ocean conservation measures with people's needs and adoping an ecosystem-based approach for managing the ocean's resources.
Andy Rosenberg, a professor at the University of New Hampshire's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, served on the commission and said it should remind people to "think globally and act locally."
"I think the message from the report is that ocean issues are local issues," Rosenberg told the Associated Press. "We are hoping there is a local and regional response that says We need to do a much better job. We need to start getting people together to think about how to manage."
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The report comes out at a good time, according to Jay Odell, Great Bay marine ecologist for the Conservancy's New Hampshire Chapter. "It comes out right when we're in the midst of updating the Conservancy's "conservation blueprint" for the North Atlantic coast ecoregion," Odell said. "This report is really energizing the marine conservation community up and down the coast. And the goals of the commission really mesh with the goals that TNC has identified for the North Atlantic coast."
A Rare Sight: The Ringed Boghaunter
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| A Rare Sight: A ringed boghaunter dragonfly emerges from its nymph stage at TNC's Durham Point Sedge Meadow Preserve in Durham. The Conservancy's Great Bay Stewardship Ecologist Joanne Glode took this photo while recently monitoring the globally rare dragonfly with Michael Marchand, a biologist with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program.
Only three other sites in New Hampshire are known to support this globally rare dragonfly. It is one of the earliest dragonflies emerge in the spring and has very particular habitat needs, according to Marchand. The Durham preserve was protected in 2000 specifically to safeguard the ringed boghaunter's habitat. Joanne Glode photo. |
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"Great Bay's Great Birds"
Monday, May 17, 8 a.m. to noon.
Join Conservancy staff and bird expert Steve Mirick for a birding tour of Great Bay. This is a good chance to see some of Great Bay's remarkable birds -- from raptors to waterfowl -- and learn why TNC and partners are protecting their habitats. Meet at 7:45 a.m. at the Durham town office parking lot.
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| The long-spurred violet is one of the many wildflowers you may see at TNC's Warwick Preserve in Westmoreland. Eric Aldrich photo. |
Preserve Profile:
Warwick Preserve, Westmoreland
Warwick Preserve is on the southwest shoulder of Butterfield Hill in Westmoreland in New Hampshire's Monadnock Region. Its many high rock outcrops provide exceptional views of the Partridge Brook watershed and the Connecticut River valley to the west.
Residual limestone materials in the bedrock have helped enrich the soil here. In combination with the preserve's rough terrain and 60-plus years of undisturbed forest growth, the soils have fostered a rich diversity of plant life. Among the plants and wildflowers found here are broad beech fern, millet-grass, spotted wintergreen, spring beauty, maidenhair spleenwort, Dutchman's breeches and long-spurred violet.
Warwick Preserve was a gift to The Nature Conservancy in 1965 from Ruth C. Warwick and her daughter, Louise C. Hunninen. It was The Nature Conservancy's first preserve in New Hampshire.
Directions: Follow Route 63 for 3/4 of a mile northwest from Westmoreland village, or 1/2 mile southeast from Park Hill village.
Warwick Preserve will be the site of one of four tours during the New Hampshire Chapter's annual meeting, June 5. For details, click here.
Support The Nature Conservancy
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 121,000 acres of ecologically significant land and currently owns and manages 30 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.
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.
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You can help support the Conservancy's efforts in New Hampshire and beyond. To become a member of The Nature Conservancy, click here, or call 603-224-5853.
