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Making Connections: The Nature Conservancy's story of conservation in New Hampshire has just gotten a lot more compelling. Working with Heartwood Media of Manchester, the Conservancy has completed a new video that makes a strong case for conservation in New Hampshire and beyond. "Heroes of All Sizes: Protecting the Last Great Places in New Hampshire" is a 10-minute video that uses interviews and stunning visuals to describe TNC's work in New Hampshire. It focuses on protection and restoration of the Great Bay estuary, Ossipee Pine Barrens, and Ashuelot River watershed in southwestern New Hampshire, but also touches on TNC's national and international conservation work. Among those featured in the video are Daryl Burtnett, TNC's state director; Patience Chamberlin and Cyrus Sweet, TNC trustees in New Hampshire; Duane Hyde, director of protection; Joan Graf and Bobbie Sweet, volunteers; Peter Wellenberger, Great Bay Estuarine Research Reserve Manager; Doug Bechtel, director of conservation science; Jeff Lougee, Mount Washington Valley program manager; Aside from Heartwood Media, other partners in production of the video include the N.H. Fish and Game Department and N.H. Public Television (offering video of places where TNC is working from the award-winning N.H. Wildlife Journal TV series) and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. Heartwood Media filmed on location in Great Bay before editing the video. The video debuted at a Nature Conservancy event in October. View the video online from Heartwood Media.
It's Official: Now that 950 acres of important habitat have been permanently protected and donated to the state as a state forest, it’s time to celebrate. That was the message Sept. 28 when dozens gathered in Langdon for a formal dedication of Fall Mountain State Forest. Joining representatives of The Nature Conservancy and the N.H. Division of Forests and Lands today were local and state officials to celebrate the new state forest and to recognize a good example of conservation. “This is an incredible day for everyone interested in the conservation of our natural resources,” said Sean O’Kane, Commissioner of the N.H. Department of Resources and Economic Development. “We take our role as stewards of public lands very seriously and are thrilled to accept the donation of this new state forest. We look forward to maintaining the integrity of these lands and to preserving them for the benefit of generations to come.” <<Learn more about this conservation success story.>> The Coastal Resources: The Nature Conservancy and its partners will hold an informational meeting on October 17 in Newington to discuss a land conservation plan for New Hampshire's coastal watersheds. The meeting is at 7 p.m. at the Newington Town Hall. At the meeting, the public will have the opportunity to learn more about the conservation plan, ask questions and share information and advice. The state of New Hampshire, acting through the N.H. Coastal Program and the N.H. Estuaries Project, has initiated a 14-month effort to develop a comprehensive, science-based land conservation plan for our coastal watersheds. To undertake the work, the state has engaged a partnership of The Nature Conservancy, Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, Rockingham Planning Commission and the Strafford Regional Planning Commission. The partners will rely primarily on existing geospatial data to conduct cutting-edge computerized mapping and analysis of the large coastal watersheds. <<Learn more about the N.H. Coastal Watershed Land Conservation Plan>> Volunteers Needed: If you can make it, please join The Nature Conservancy and New Hampshire Fish and Game Department on Saturday, October 29, to help clean-up a newly acquired tract of conservation land in Durham. The property is central to over 1,000 acres of protected land in Great Bay's Crommet Creek watershed. Volunteers are needed to help haul out scattered piles of construction debris and other junk located along the extensive trail system on the property. We'll start at 9 a.m. and hope to finish by early afternoon. Tools and snacks will be provided. For more information, contact Joanne Glode, TNC Great Bay Stewardship Ecologist at 603-772-2203 or jglode@tnc.org.
See TNC's Work: Looking to explore some of New Hampshire’s remarkable natural places? Now’s the time – the air is cool, clear and crisp and the colors are astounding. Here are a few Nature Conservancy preserves in New Hampshire worth a visit this fall. Sheldrick Forest – Wilton Green Hills Preserve - North Conway Explore other TNC fall hiking destinations in New Hampshire, including Otter Brook Preserve, Ossipee Pine Barrens, Warwick Preserve, Manchester Cedar Swamp, and Lubberland Creek Preserve.
A Nutty Topic: After two years of very poor production, New Hampshire's red oaks are finally putting out a good number of acorns. Amounts vary from place to place, according to biologists at the N.H. Fish and Game Department who keep track of such things. But throughout much of the southern two-thirds of the state, particularly the Monadnock Region, red oaks are dropping buckets of acorns. But even moderate or average amounts comes as tremendous news for many wildlife species, according to Mark Ellingwood and Andrew Timmins, both biologists at N.H. Fish and Game. Acorns and beech nuts are important food sources for white-tailed deer, black bear, red and gray squirrels, chipmunks, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, and blue jays, among others. These fatty, nutritious nuts are appropriately called hard mast; soft mast includes berries and apples. Hard mast, especially acorns, help black bear and deer accumulate a thick layer of fat that gets them through winter. South of the White Mountains, red oaks are a major source of hard mast. Prevailing in the north are beech nuts, berries, apples and mountain ash. After closely keeping track for more than eight years, Fish and Game biologists find that New Hampshire's overall nut production pretty much follows the trends throughout the Northeast. So, if it's a terrible red oak acorn year in New Hampshire, usually it's poor throughout the region, Ellingwood said. Experts still aren't certain why one year's acorn crop may be poor, and the next year's is be the mother load, but some expect that the weather plays a part. Spring conditions, for example, may not allow pollination, thus hampering seed production. Red oak acorns take two years to develop. So the ones dropping this fall started growing in 2003. And unlike white oaks, which grow acorns in a year, red oak acorns aren't at the tip of the limb, but further back, where the previous year's limb started growing. Aside from wind and rain, squirrels and blue jays help drop acorns to the ground. The nut-burying habits of squirrels -- squirreling, if you will -- also play an important part in role in oak production. Some of those buried seeds become the next year's seedlings ... and ultimately the next acorn producers. "When we look at forests on the regional scale for conservation planning, we pay attention to wildlife food sources like oak and beech because they are important for many of the wide-ranging species that rely on large forest ecosystems," said Doug Bechtel, director of conservation science for The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire. "We're also concerned about the health of those those forests. We need to make sure common species like red oak remain common and healthy to ensure the wide range of other species that depend on them."
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