Our Forestry and Wildlife Program staff is busy getting the word out on habitats identified as critical to species at risk as defined by the NH Wildlife Action Plan. Grasslands are one such critical habitat on the decline in New Hampshire.

Whether we call them hayfields, pastures or grasslands, open fields in New Hampshire are becoming increasingly rare. The most common grassland habitats in New Hampshire are agricultural fields. Without farmers using these lands for agricultural purposes, they would quickly revert to forest.

Grassland habitats are featured in our Habitat Stewardship Brochure series, extremely popular with landowners and municipal officials. The Hayfields as Habitat workshop builds on the information in the brochure. The workshop targets farmers, landowners and land managers who work with open fields and are already acting to maintain this important resource.

Participants will learn to recognize wildlife that depend on fields, discuss the challenges of balancing agriculture and wildlife habitat management, and learn about cost-share programs available to farmers and landowners to help pay for management practices beneficial to wildlife, such as mowing.

The workshop is offered twice, on July 16 at the Rockingham County Farm in Brentwood or July 18 at Prescott Farm, Audubon Center in Laconia. The workshop cost is $10. Pre-registration is required. New Hampshire licensed foresters will receive one CEU for attending. The registration brochure and workshop information is available on the Forestry and Wildlife Program web site.

The workshop is co-sponsored by NRCS, NH Fish and Game and NH Audubon Society.