Landowners and communities are often forced to close trails, roads, and bridges due to beaver activity that prevents use.
In comic books and in Hollywood movies, arch-villains are often highly mechanized and possess awesome super powers. We watch battles unfold pitting good versus evil as they unleash their devious plans against each other for control of the earth.
"Take a walk along one of Gerry Langdon’s carefully constructed woods roads - through stands of hemlock, past the clearing with the small pond, through well- spaced hardwoods, carefully weeded and thinned - and you almost forget that you’re just minutes from the high- way..." Read more
Read about the White family - homesteaders who live on and work their Sandwich, New Hampshire property as a way of life, but who are also benefiting wildlife and habitats. Written by Malin Clyde, UNH Cooperative Extension for Northern Woodlands Magazine, March 2007.
Over the last year and a half, the Lee Conservation Commission (LCC) has partnered with wildlife specialists from UNH Cooperative Extension and students from the Thompson School of Applied Science to improve habitat for American Woodcock. Mills Reserve borders Little River Park in Lee, NH, tucked between the playing fields and the Little River. The town owned parcel is a reclaimed gravel pit.
Grasslands is a term that applies to many open land habitats. Typically, we think of grassy areas with no shrubs or trees and no agriculture. However, even pastures and hayfields can provide adequate habitat for some grassland species. Their use by wildlife depends on the vegetation height, density, and composition.
Most of us Granite Staters are enamored, maybe even infatuated, with the forests of New Hampshire. It’s hard not to be. They cover about 84% of the state after all, and include a variety of 86 native tree species that blanket the landscape in a patchwork of leaves and needles, bark and branches.
New Hampshire's wildlife habitats and the species they support could be significantly altered if the effects of climate change are not addressed - and NH communities are an important part of the solution! More frequent and heavier rain events resulting in extensive flooding, earlier ice outs on our lakes, more variable stream flows, milder winters and hotter, drier summers....
Fred Ernst owns 670 acres of forestland in Acworth, NH. His interest in managing land for wildlife began during his career in a forest-based industry. As Fred describes it, “We practiced sustainability of forests and encouraging wildlife was a natural part of the process. When I bought the land in Acworth in 2001, the land had been “high graded” [most commercial quality trees removed], which had a lot to do with my ideas for improvement”.
Foundations and stonewalls provide testament to this area’s agricultural past. (Photo by Jim Oehler)
As we walk through the woods we see a 10-15” diameter aspen here and there plus an occasional clump amidst what would otherwise be characterized as a pine-oak-maple stand with some beech, paper birch, and white ash. We see stone walls and tote roads dividing up these woods into clear sections or blocks. And as we approach a small old field, we see a couple of scattered apple trees along the edge that are way past their prime.
Artwork from students who participated in the bird watching study at Woodman Park Elementary in Dover.
In today’s high tech world, children are too often disconnected from nature and have little experience with their natural environment. Schools do not have adequate support or experience to teach environmental subjects or connect students to local natural areas.
Cobblestone Tiger Beetle, an endangered species in New Hampshire.
Last summer I was, as usual, working in my office on my computer when I got an unexpected call. The caller, Peter, was so excited! He had decided to explore a cobble island in the middle of the Pemigewasset River on the last day of his vacation, and he found a Cobblestone Tiger Beetle, one of the state endangered species.