Birds Birds & Bird Walks

Posted by Rebecca Brown on May 31, 2012

Canada warbler

We’re in a very springlike couple of days between hot, humid, and very dramatic storms and what is predicted as a rainy weekend. Lots of birds are already here and on their nests, and some even have their first brood. On a long early morning run earlier this week through and near ACT conserved land, here’s what my 4-legged companion Wily and I saw and/or heard:

scarlet tanager, yellow-throated vireo, solitary vireo, red-eyed vireo, redstarts (many), yellow warblers (back – after not being around for years), wood thrush; ovenbird; veery, hermit thrush, bluebird, robin, chestnut-side warbler, common yellowthroat, Canada warbler, mourning warbler, Nashville warbler, black & white warbler, magnolia warbler, barn swallow, tree swallow, parula warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, peewee (new arrival), sapsuckers, hairy woodpeckers, flicker, bobolink, song sparrow, savannah sparrow, ravens, crows, bluejays, warbling vireo, least flycatcher, phoebe, alder flycatcher, Baltimore oriole, rose-breasted grosbeak, brown creeper, blackburnian warbler, pine warbler, chipping sparrow.

Blackburnian warbler

I’ve probably missed a few and there were a few I’m not sure of the song. We’ve had an ACT bird walk on conserved land the last few years. This year, it’s June 1 and June 9 on land for an exciting new project – the proposed Easton – Sugar Hill Community Forest. We are dedicated to working with the towns of Easton (where the land is), Sugar Hill, and Landaff (the access is through these towns). We have a purchase & sales agreement on the land and have a year to raise the $650,00 needed for purchase. You can find many more details – and the bird walk information – on a Web site we’ve created for this project: www.townforest.org.

 

 

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Godfrey Memorial Conservation Area Established

Posted by Rebecca Brown on May 2, 2012

Daphne Godfrey on her Lyman farm.

We’ve had the singular pleasure of getting to know Daphne Godfrey over the last several years as we’ve worked with her to conserve her land in Lyman. We were fortunate enough to be introduced to Daphne through the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, who referred her to us. Her neighbor up the road had conserved her land , and Daphne wanted to do the same. And she did! The Godfrey Memorial Conservation Area is now established, thanks to her generosity, vision, and stick-to-itiveness!

Daphne proudly notes that she was born on the 45th Parallel, in Clarksville, NH. She attributes her land ethic and love of wildlife with her father, Harry Hurlbert, a famed North Country game warden and guide. To be a good steward and caretaker of the land was “what you were supposed to do,” she says. “Conservation was always in our mind with Dad.”

Daphne and her late husband, George, bought the 160-acre former dairy farm in the 1960s. “We were gone 25 years after World War II, and I missed my mountains when we worked in Ohio,” Godfrey explains. She and George met at UNH, when she was studying to become a teacher and he was getting his doctorate in poultry genetics. They moved to the Midwest for his work, and always longed to get back to New Hampshire.

They found the perfect spot: a 160-acre hill farm in Lyman with stunning views of the White Mountains, open fields, a surrounding woodlot, and plenty of wildlife. There was even a goldmine. The former Dodge Mine was one of the most active in the 19th century heyday of the Ammonoosuc Gold District. Today the forest has reclaimed the area, making it tricky to find. But a century ago, it was crawling with activity.

Four generations of Godfreys now enjoy the farm. Daphne was careful in planning her conservation agreement with ACT to provide for a site on which her daughters or grandchildren may build their own house. This summer, she anticipates that her grandson Scott, who lives in New Mexico, will visit with his family, and that they will learn about caring for the forest through a careful timber harvest.

The Godfrey Memorial Conservation Area also provides critical habitat for bats. Bats have been know to hibernate in a cave just off the Godfrey property, and the NH Fish & Game Department considers the Godfrey forests and fields of critical importance for bats feeding in the autumn as they prepare to hibernate. A major wintering cave, or hibernacula, is on Gardner Mountain, a couple of miles away from the Godfrey land.  The caves and 1,100 acres of working forestland on Gardner Mountain has been conserved by ACT.

 

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Earth Day and Destiny

Posted by Rebecca Brown on April 23, 2012

By Rebecca Brown

The first Earth Day 42 years ago was planned for the high spring season, when the land – at least in the mid-Atlantic states –  is in the burst of renewal and vibrant color. Sunday, Earth Day, brought much needed rain to the Northeast. Streams and rivers that on Friday were flowing at the barebones levels of high summer now appear replenished. And weeks ahead of regular schedule, our trees and flowers are blossoming, too.  It’s lovely out there – but does raise one question no one was talking about in 1972, which is what climate change is doing to the earth.

Given the contentious state of our political affairs, it’s worth recalling that the first Earth Day was a bi-partisan initiative. It was co-chaired by a Democratic senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, and a Republican, Pete McCloskey from California. They imagined a series of teach-ins around the country, and reminiscent of the Occupy movement today, it emerged a series of spontaneous actions on college campuses and in communities all over the U.S.  People were fed up with oil spills, toxic waste, loss of wilderness land, smog, polluted rivers, extinction of wildlife, and many other forms of environmental degradation. It’s estimated that 20 million participated. I can still recall the photos of sad-eyed seals coated with sludge from the massive Santa Barbara oil spill and the unimaginable  burning of a river – the oil-slicked Cuyahoga in Ohio. Both were symbols for the movement.

Those 20 million wanted to do something – and demanded and became part of change at the local and national levels.  Some of the milestone achievements of national policy to repair the damage to the environment and protect citizens’ health were championed under Pres. Richard Nixon: the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency were among them.

There was conviction then that stewardship of our country’s natural resources cuts across party lines, ideological lines, and state lines. There was also agreement that the federal government was the proper enactor of these broad national aspirations. We all breathe, we all need clean water to survive, we all eat the bounty of the land.

And, all politics are local. Spring in the North Country is a reminder of nature’s resources and gifts, and of nature moving at its own pace. Our forest and agricultural soils have been building for 10,000 years. These are priceless resources for our intelligent use. Getting past the quick fix sloganeering of the national political carnival, we can look at what we are doing today to create our future.

Our care for the land – the call of the original Earth Day – is lived through our efforts here. We don’t wait for anyone else to do it. We do it by supporting our local farmers and growers and  by encouraging market incentives to bring land back into production for food and forest products. The “Keep Growing” initiative launched last summer involving a wide circle of partners is focused on using the land in ways that grow the economy, grow community, and protect our air, water, and soil, ultimately building local food and energy self reliance within this interconnected world.

We also care for the land by celebrating the people who use the power of their ownership to leave a legacy and an opportunity or future generation on the land. People like Daphne Godfrey and Bill and Lorraine Hanaway of Lyman, who recently conserved their farm and forestlands, and the Merrill family, who conserved their timberlands on Gardner Mt.

In the North Country, working this closely with our land is one way we control our destiny, regardless of the national political scene. Every day is Earth Day!

Rebecca Brown directs the Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust.More information may be found at www.keepgrowingnhvt.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Season’s Greetings

Posted by Rebecca Brown on December 20, 2011

 There’s still time to make your tax-deductible 2011 contribution to ACT.

Stewart Farm, Sugar Hill & Easton, conserved with ACT.

Solstice and Solitude

We conserve land for many reasons. This fall we completed three projects of particular importance to bats. Bats are an essential part of the natural system that supports human endeavors like farming. And two of our projects this fall are former farms, and the owners hope that these lands with highly productive soils will someday again support livestock or grow food.

The Solstice reminds of us other reasons we conserve land we love.  Though of different origins, solstice and solitude each contains sol. Sol (sun) + stit (stopped) = solstice. Solus (alone) = solitude. We are privileged to live in a place where we’re never far from land that offers the chance to be alone, to enjoy solitude. Places that invite us to open our minds and our hearts, widen our view, feel the enormity of life outside ourselves and scale down our own preoccupations.

Whether it is a mountaintop or a quiet forest or a windblown field, we are offered the invitation to just be, be present with all our senses. To unhook from the electronic din and chatter of our daily routines. There are precious few of these places left, and looking out years and decades from now, one can imagine more and more people seeking and needing these places, the last sane places.

In this season take a moment to look up at the night sky, at the glittering spray of the Milky Way, at dazzling Jupiter, and feel presence of the looming mountains, the sharpness of the air, hear the call of a barred owl or howl of a coyote and perhaps no human sounds at all, just the whispering of the woods, and listen for your heart, feel your own heart beating.

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ACT is Applying for National Accreditation and Invites Your Comments!

Posted by Rebecca Brown on November 9, 2011

ACT has applied for accreditation with the Land Trust Alliance (LTA), the national organization that oversees the operations of land conservation organizations. As part of this process, ACT invites comments on its operations to be sent to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, and independent program of LTA that conducts an extensive review of ACT’s policies and programs.

The LTA accreditation program recognizes land conservation organizations that meet national quality standards for protecting important natural resources and working lands like farms and forests forever.

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission seeks public comment and accepts signed, written comments on pending applications. Comments must relate to how ACT complies with national quality standards. These standards address the ethical and technical operation of a land trust. For the full list of standards see http://www.landtrustaccreditation.org/tips-and-tools/indicator-practices.

To learn more about the accreditation program and to submit a comment, visit www.landtrustaccreditation.org. Comments may also be faxed or mailed to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, Attn: Public Comments, 112 Spring Street, Suite 204, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. Fax: 518-587-3183. Comments on ACT’s application should be received by Dec. 31, 2011.

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Gardner Mountain Conserved for People, Wildlife, Timber

Posted by Rebecca Brown on October 27, 2011

Gardner Ridge is the signature backdrop of Lyman, N.H.

1,100 acres protect key habitat, working forest, recreation 

A significant portion of Gardner Ridge in the Connecticut River valley, the scenic backdrop for Lyman and critically important wildlife habitat, has been conserved. Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust and The Trust for Public Land announced that the conservation easement on the 1,081 acres encourages timber management, protects important habitat, and guarantees public access, but restricts development not related to agriculture or forestry.

This property has been managed for timber for many years, and the current owner, the Merrill Family Trust, wished to see the property conserved rather than developed. In 2004 a wind farm development along Gardner Ridge was proposed and rejected by Lyman voters. Around the same time, the late John Merrill offered the town the opportunity to buy the land. Several residents approached Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust (ACT), the North Country’s land conservancy, for assistance in how to accomplish a purchase. ACT enlisted the help of The Trust for Public Land, a national conservation organization that has brokered many similar projects.

Working together, the residents, ACT, and TPL proposed a community forest for Lyman, but residents voted down a bond for purchasing the property in March of 2009. TPL and ACT then pursued an alternative conservation strategy, conserving the land with an easement but keeping it in private ownership.

The land has now been sold to a new owner, who will operate it as a commercial working forest subject to the conservation easement. Continued forestry will be done on a sustainable basis and will continue to support New Hampshire’s rural economies. ACT will manage the easement.

“Land protection projects often take a lot of time and work, as this one did,” said ACT Executive Director Rebecca Brown. “I’m sure we all wish John Merrill had lived to see this happen. It’s a great tribute to him and his family, and a tremendous gift to people everywhere who care about seeing our landscape conserved for future generations.”

“Gardner Mountain is a remarkable Lyman landmark worthy of protection,” said J.T. Horn, project manager for The Trust for Public Land. “Our sincere thanks to the Merrill Family, New Hampshire’s LCHIP fund, our other funding partners, and the Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust for seeing this project through to the end.”

Gardner Mountain includes some of the most important wildlife habitat in New Hampshire. Paddock Mine, an abandoned copper mine on the property, is now home to the second largest bat hibernacula in New Hampshire. Bats are under severe stress from a new and mysterious disease known as White Nose Syndrome, which is causing high mortality rates among several common species of bats. New Hampshire Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believe that conservation of the Paddock Mine hibernacula is a critical part of the response to White Nose Syndrome in New Hampshire.

“We appreciate the work that ACT and The Trust for Public Land and have done in protecting this land,” said Emily Brunkhurst, wildlife biologist for the NH Fish and Game Department. “Conserving this hibernacula provides a safe wintering habitat for bats who survive white-nose syndrome and their offspring. As you enjoy this newly conserved land, please help save our bats by staying out of the mine to allow them to hibernate without disturbance.”

Lyman is a rural community that set goals to maintain its heritage of agriculture, forestry, and open recreational access. The property contains a significant portion of the Gardner Ridge, Lyman’s scenic backdrop with western views from the church and fields in the center of the Town. The property will also remain open to pedestrian access for hiking, cross-country skiing and hunting. Visitors will be able to enjoy the dramatic views from the property toward Mount Moosilauke and the Kinsman Ridge in the White Mountain National Forest.

Funding for the $600,000 project came from the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP), Open Space Institute – Saving New England Wildlife Fund, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation – Upper Connecticut River Mitigation and Enhancement Fund, the McIninch Foundation, Fields Pond Foundation, the Byrne Foundation and many private individuals.

 

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Celebrate Wildlife Conservation at Fall Supper

Posted by Rebecca Brown on October 24, 2011

Everyone is invited to ACT’s Fall Celebration at the Horse & Hound Inn in Franconia Saturday Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. We will celebrating some significant land conservation projects – one we can tell you about now, and one we’ll let you know about as soon as the ink is dry  - hopefully in on 10/25. A third project completion may be announced as well. All three provide what NH Fish & Game ranks as the best habitat in the state for threatened bat. All are in Lyman.

Daphne Godfrey, her grandson and his wife, and her great-grandchildren on the family land in Lyman, N.H.

We are very proud to announce the completion of our work with Daphne Godfrey, who permanently conserved her 160-acre former dairy farm and woodlands in Lyman. Congratulations to Daphne and her family, who give a tremendous gift to the people of Lyman and the region, and to the many species of wildlife which call her land home. Mrs. Godfrey first approached us about three years ago, and we’ve worked with her, her two daughters, and grandson to create a conservation easement that protects the great natural resources of her land (including vital bat habitat) and ensures that her heirs may have their own homes there if they wish.

For the Horse & Hound event, please RSVP to Martha Evelyn at 823-5747. We hope to see you there!

 

 

 

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ACT ‘Salon’ Celebrates Weeks Centennial

Posted by Rebecca Brown on August 1, 2011

Join the Discussion – Bold Ideas for the Next Century

One hundred years ago the North Country faced a pivotal moment. Our forebears united across boundaries of geography, politics, and financial interests to win passage of the Weeks Act, which led to the creation of the White Mountain National Forest. Their actions guaranteed that the forest – the economic, ecological, and spiritual foundation of the region – would remain. They had a bold idea and audacious vision.

 One hundred years later, what is our bold vision? 

This question will be discussed as part of the Weeks Centennial Celebration, White Mountains Cultural Festival: Eight Days of Weeks.  ACT and the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire (AANNH) are hosting the discussion on Saturday, August 13 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the home of ACT trustee Rosalind Page and Tom Simpson in Lisbon overlooking Pearl Lake. Wine and light fare will be served.

Well known author Nathaniel Tripp of Barnet, Vt. will lead the discussion. His most recent book, Confluence, focuses on the Connecticut River. According to a review in the Valley News, ”This is a powerful book. It will work on your psyche the way a really good poem does. Mainly what will stick with you though is the author’s powerful, articulate voice, at times kind and humorous, at times outraged.”

The question of what the future holds for the North Country is addressed by ACT Executive Director in the essay “The Rediscovery of the North Country.” The essay may be downloaded here.

Space is limited and reservations are required.  For an optional donation of $60 is requested, $100 for couples, you will receive a  limited-edition hard-cover copy of the new book Beyond the Notches: Stories of Place in New Hampshire’s North Country.” Please call ACT at 603-823-7777 or e-mail us at rbrown@aconservationtrust.org  for directions and reservations.

Beyond the Notches

 

 

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Public Event: Keep Growing! – August 7, 2011

Posted by Rebecca Brown on July 20, 2011

Keep Growing is a new initiative aimed at building a local food system and revitalizing the agricultural economy in northern New Hampshire and Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. On Sunday August 7 join ACT and our partners in kicking off the movement.

Keep Growing: Sowing the Seeds of Our Local Food Movement is a free public event at the Colonial Theater in Bethlehem, N.H. on Sunday Aug. 7 from 5 – 7 p.m. Watch the short film, Ladies of the Land, about four women whose career changes into farming change their lives. Participate in a panel discussion about local food and agriculture in our region, and enjoy locally grown and prepared light far courtesy of the Littleton Food Coop and Meadowstone Farm. For more on Keep Growing, visit the Web site www.keepgrowingnhvt.org.

Here’s Meadowstone Farm manager Sam Brown and chef Jenny Johnson talking about what might be served at the Keep Growing kick off.

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Landowner Workshop – July 22, 2011

Posted by admin on July 18, 2011

Landowner Workshop on Managing Fields and Forest Land – for wildlife and income.

Friday, July 22

9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Post Road, Sugar Hill

This free workshop for landowners focuses on managing the kinds of habitats that many people have here in the North Country: fields, wooded wetlands, and forest at various stages of growth. The Friday, July 22 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. workshop will follow the life cycle of woodcock, the iconic spring bird, to illustrate how various habitats are used by wildlife, and how a land management may be considered across a larger landscape.

The workshop will be led by wildlife biologists Will Staats and John Lanier, and UNH county foresters Dave Falkenham and Brendan Prusik.

The workshop starts at 9 a.m. at the home of Doug and Martha Evelyn on Post Road in Sugar Hill with a short slide presentation on habitat change and the particulars of woodcock. We will then head into the field, first in the adjacent meadow where bobolink are now nesting, and then into an alder swamp, where habitat restoration is planned. We will then walk through forest where near term timber harvest is an option, and end up in a forest with longer term high-value timber is maturing and wildlife management options abound.

The day will be very interactive with the emphasis on participants learning from direct observation the kinds of management strategies wildlife specialists and foresters use. Walking will not be difficult, but anticipate it may be wet and/or buggy. Please bring a lunch and water. Dogs are welcome. The session will end at 2 p.m. The land we will visit is all owned by ACT and is encouraged for public recreation and educational use.

Space is limited to please register by calling ACT at 823-7777 or e-mail rbrown@aconservationtrust.org. Copies of “Good Forestry in the Granite State” will be available at the workshop.

 

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