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Restoring Nature:
TNC Completing Road Retirement
Project at Vickie Bunnell Preserve
| The Nature Conservancy is preparing for the final phase of a project to retire a network of old logging roads in its 10,330-acre Vickie Bunnell Preserve in Columbia and Stratford.
Built in the 1990s for timber operations by the former owner, some of the roads climb steeply to high elevations.
In recent years, the Conservancy has removed culverts from some of the roads to restore natural watercourses and encourage natural regeneration of the forest.
The final phase of that work will involve a particularly steep and high stretch (almost 3,000 feet elevation) of just under 1 mile in length. Though that section involved significant cuts and fill, nature is slowly reclaiming the roads.
"What we'll be doing is removing culverts and installing water bars to channel water across the road and reduce erosion," said Wink Lees, TNC's northern New Hampshire land steward. "The area is revegetating well naturally and this work is intended to further encourage this natural recovery by addressing chronic erosion problems at key locations along the road."
The project is supported in part by Sweet Water Trust.
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Some of the former logging roads at TNC's Vickie Bunnell Preserve were built on steep slopes in high elevations. While nature is slowly reclaiming the old roadbed, the Conservancy is taking steps this summer to prevent erosion and stabilize soils.
Eric Aldrich photo.
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Your Land, Your Water, Your Future:
Residents Rally to Protect
Ossipee Pine Barrens
| Against the backdrop of Silver Lake in Madison, near the heart of the Ossipee Pine Barrens, dozens of local residents turned out recently to support a remarkable conservation opportunity.
It was the public kickoff of "Your Land, Your Water, Your Future: The Campaign for the Ossipee Pine Barrens and Silver Lake Watershed." Guided by a core of local residents concerned about water quality, quality of life and the globally rare habitat, the campaign seeks to raise $3.8 million to support the Conservancy's land protection efforts in the Ossipee Pine Barrens.
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Karen Ebel, an Ossipee native and trustee of TNC's New Hampshire Chapter, describes the connection between the pine barrens and underground water supplies. Eric Aldrich photo.
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The event Aug. 4 at the Gibson Center's Silver Lake Landing in Madison gave residents a chance to hear details about the Conservancy's plan to purchase 616 acres -- four tracts in all -- including critical pine barrens habitat, forests that overlay an important acquifer.
The Conservancy has recently purchased tracts in Freedom and Ossipee, and has secured options to purchase two additional tracts in Madison.
Though TNC's main objective is protection of the Ossipee Pine Barrens habitat, this work also helps local communities by safeguarding N.H.'s largest stratified drift aquifer, a steady source of clean drinking water for families and businesses. This work also ensures public access for hiking, fishing, hunting and snowmobiling on designated corridors.
George Cleveland of Tamworth, a member of the Ossipee Pine Barrens Task Force, said that Hawaiians have a term that applies to this effort. Aina, he said, "refers to everything, the land, the earth, the air, the water and even humans. For too long, weve considered the environment and people separate. But they're not, the land and people are one."
The pine barrens campaign is led by a steering committee of several community leaders, chaired by Andrew Lietz and Jack Middleton. Both are from Freedom and are trustees of The Nature Conservancy’s New Hampshire chapter.
For the protection of four important pine barrens tracts, the Campaign seeks to raise $1.5 million through private funding by March 2007 to add to $2.3 million we hope to receive through public funding. The total project cost of $3.8 million includes purchase of the four parcels, project support costs and stewardship endowment.
For more information on how you can help, contact Tiffany McKenna, 603-224-5853, ext. 15.
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NH Chapter Anual Meeting:
Saturday, Sept. 9, 2006
Explore the Wonders of Great Bay at
TNC's N.H. Chapter Annual Meeting
Great Bay is one of New Hampshire’s greatest natural treasures, a unique estuarine system that's less impacted by human activities than most other estuaries on the east coast of North America.
On Saturday, Sept. 9, you can get a unique chance to explore this remarkable estuary as part of the New Hampshire chapter's annual meeting. The chapter's 15th annual meeting will be at the Great Bay Discovery Center in Stratham (formerly Sandy Point Discovery Center). The meeting will be in the adjoining Hugh Gregg Coastal Conservation Center, with registration starting at 9:30 a.m.
The meeting starts with an update about the Conservancy's many conservation accomplishments throughout the state over the past year. The keynote speaker will be Jonathan Adams, an inspiring conservationist and author of the new book "The Future of the Wild: Radical Conservation for a Crowded World."
Adams is a conservation biologist and program director of conservation knowledge and communities with The Nature Conservancy. He is co-author of "The Myth of Africa: Conservation Without Illusion" and co-editor of "Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States."
After the annual meeting, join us on a fun and informative array of field trips:
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See the conservation work being done by the Conservancy in and around Great Bay from the bay itself, aboard the Heritage.
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Tour the uplands and estuary at TNC's Lubberland Creek Preserve.
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Hike into the Great Bay Wildlife Refuge.
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Kayak out on Great Bay to see some of this remarkable estuary.
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Tour the Captain Edward H. Adams, a reproduction of a sailing workhorse that once hauled lumber and other goods around Great Bay in the 19th and 20th centuries. Learn about TNC's efforts to restore oysters to the bay.
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Canoe or kayak on the Powwow River and see the rare Atlantic white cedar swamp that the Conservancy is protecting.
For more information about the annual meeting, call 603-224-5853, ext. 26.
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New Reality Show:
PSNH Camera Shows Nesting Osprey
In addition to providing streaming video of the osprey family, the PSNH website also offers a photo gallery, educational facts about ospreys, an overview of osprey restoration efforts in New Hampshire, and a history of the Ayers Island ospreys.
 Watch the LiveCam
The Ayers Island ospreys hatched two fledglings in early June, which have been growing at the usual, rapid rate. In recent weeks, both the male and the female adult ospreys have been active in hunting to help feed the chicks, which need a lot of food for their growing bodies
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N.H. Wildlife Action Plan:
Critical Habitats & Associated
Species in New Hampshire
Note: This is a regular glimpse at the N.H. Fish and Game Department's newly approved Wildlife Action Plan. To learn more about the plan, click here.
How does the plan decide what's "critical"? Click here to find out.
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Lake
Bald eagle
Common loon
Osprey
Round whitefish
Sunapee trout
Riverine
Cobblestone tiger beetle
Puritan tiger beetle
Dwarf wedge mussel
Brook floater mussel
Eastern pond mussel
Shortnose sturgeon
Swamp darter
Banded sunfish
Tessellated darter
Brook lamprey
Round whitefish
Finescale dace
Atlantic sturgeon
Redfin pickerel
Bridled shiner
Redbelly dace
Wood turtle
Louisiana waterthrush
Bald eagle
Common loon
Osprey
Floodplain forest
Jefferson salamander
Northern leopard frog
Wood turtle
Red shouldered hawk
Cerulean warbler
Eastern red bat
Silver haired bat
Marsh/Wet Meadow & Shrub Swamp
Banded bog skimmer
Eastern ribbon snake
Blanding's turtle
Spotted turtle
Northern harrier
Least bittern
Pied-billed grebe
Common moorhen
Great blue heron (rookery)
American bittern
King rail
Black duck
Sedge wren
Eastern red bat
Silver haired bat
Vernal Pools
Jefferson salamander
Marbled salamander
Eastern ribbon snake
Northern Bog
Hoary comma
Mink frog
Spruce grouse
Rusty blackbird
Palm warbler
Northern bog lemming
Salt Marsh
Willet
Semipalmated sandpiper
Common tern
American bittern
Black duck
Short-eared owl
Seaside sparrow
Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow
Saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrow
Sand Dune
Piping plover
Least tern
Semipalmated sandpiper
Coastal Islands
Common tern
Roseate tern
Black guillemot
Purple sandpiper
Arctic tern
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Sand Plain/ Pitch Pine
Karner blue butterfly
Pine pinion moth
Phyllira tiger moth
Pine barrens itame
Sleepy duskywing
The cora moth
Wild indigo duskywing
Barrens xylotype
Broad-lined catopyrrha
Frosted elfin butterfly
Persius dusky wing
Pine barrens Zanclognatha moth
Fowler's toad
Eastern hognose snake
Smooth green snake
Black racer
Eastern box turtle
Whip-poor-will
Common nighthawk
Eastern towhee
Extensive Grassland
Northern leopard frog
Black racer
Smooth green snake
Northern harrier
Upland sandpiper
Eastern meadowlark
Horned lark
Purple martin
Vesper sparrow
Henslow's sparrow
Grasshopper sparrow
Early Successional
Black racer
Smooth green snake
American woodcock
Ruffed grouse
Eastern towhee
Golden-winged warbler
New England cottontail
High Elevation Spruce Fir
Spruce grouse
Bay breasted warbler
Bicknell's thrush
Pine marten
Canada lynx
Acadian Spruce-Fir Forest
Spruce grouse
Three-toed woodpecker
Rusty blackbird
Purple finch
Bay breasted warbler
Hoary bat
Northern bog lemming
Pine marten
Canada lynx
Alpine
White Mountain butterfly
White Mountain fritillary
American (water) pipit
Cliffs
Peregrine falcon
Golden eagle
Caves/mines
Small-footed bat
Eastern pipistrelle
Northern long eared bat
Indiana bat
Ledge/ rocky outcrops/ scree
Timber rattlesnake
Small Unfragmented Habitat Mosaics
Red shouldered hawk
Cooper's hawk
American woodcock
Ruffed grouse
Whip-poor-will
Veery
Wood thrush
Canada warbler
Cerulean warbler
Large Unfragmented Habitat Mosaics
Goshawk
Black bear
Bobcat
Canada lynx
Wolf
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This is a regular glimpse at the N.H. Fish and Game Department's newly approved Wildlife Action Plan. To see the plan in its entirety, click here.
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With your support ...
Working together, we can ensure the diversity of life on Earth and enrich the quality of life in New Hampshire now and for future generations.
You can make a significant impact by helping us preserve and steward land now, which will improve the quality of life for you, your children, your grandchildren and for the future of life on Earth. Please consider:
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A life-income gift (charitable gift annuity)
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Including us in your will
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A gift of stock or mutual funds
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A gift of land
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Becoming a volunteer
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Introducing us to others
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A gift of cash
For more information, contact Tiffany McKenna, director of philanthropy, at 603-224-5853, ext. 15.
Click here to find out how you can help The Nature Conservancy's conservation efforts in New Hampshire and beyond.
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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.
Since establishing its first preserve here in 1964, The Nature Conservancy of New Hampshire has helped protect more than 265,000 acres of ecologically significant land and currently owns and manages 28 preserves across the state.
The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire:
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22 Bridge St., Fourth Floor, Concord, N.H., 03301. 603-224-5853.
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Great Bay Office: 112 Bay Road, Newmarket, N.H., 03857. 603-659-2678.
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Northern New Hampshire Office: 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.
To subscribe: click here
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Visitors to the Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) website, psnh.com, can now watch live, streaming video of an active osprey nest located at PSNH’s hydroelectric station at Ayers Island in New Hampton. Two osprey chicks were hatched at the nest in early June. 
