Volunteer Opportunities: February 2012 Archives
Coos County Forester Brendan Prusik organizes seedlings for schools:
It is time to order seedlings for distribution to school children! Seedlings are supplied by the NH state nursery from surplus stock for
distribution to classrooms. The intent is to give children an opportunity to take a tree home, plant it and learn about how trees are used by humans, and wildlife.
If you are a forester or volunteer, willing to visit a classroom for this purpose, please let me know. You can choose your favorite classroom or I will match you up with an interested teacher. If you are a teacher and would like to involve your classroom in this event, just let me know and I will attempt to match you up! Supply is limited so let me know by the end of February or sooner!
We will release a story about this in the spring, including the names of all those who volunteered their time. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you!
Brendan Prusik - Email: Brendan.Prusik@unh.edu
Coös County, Forest Resources Educator, UNH Cooperative Extension
629A Main St., Lancaster, NH 03584
603-788-4961
To Members of the New Hampshire Conservation Community,
Marielle Livesey is a GIS intern for the New Hampshire Chapter of The Nature Conservancy who is working on a project in association with the New Hampshire Geographically Referenced Analysis and Information Transfer System (NH GRANIT) to update New Hampshire’s Conservation and Public Lands GIS data layer. This statewide data layer describes two acre and larger parcels of land that are mostly undeveloped and are protected from future development. This important dataset is used across New Hampshire by many organizations, agencies, and communities as an essential tool for conservation and planning initiatives.
If you are on a Conservation Commissioner in a town that has protected land in recent years, but it isn't yet reflected in the GRANIT data (you can check by looking at the conservation lands layer in the GRANIT Data Viewer Tool here), please get in touch with Michelle to see how you can help with this important project:
Marielle Livesey
GIS Intern, The Nature Conservancy
22 Bridge Street, 4th Floor
Concord, NH 03301
marielle.livesey@tnc.org
(603) 224-5853, Ex. 26
Jim Oehler of NHFG is looking for a few experienced birders in or around Northwood and the "NALMC Neighborhood" who would be willing to visit patch cuts at Forest Peters Wildlife Management Area and Northwood Meadows State Park to record breeding bird usage this June.
This summer will be the third growing season since a tree harvest for the habitat patches at Forest Peters and the fifth growing season for a patch cut at Northwood Meadows State Park. It will be interesting and useful to start learning if the cuts are attracting some of the young forest habitat species that these cuts were targeting. Contact Jim at james.oehler@wildlife.nh.gov or 271-0453 if you or someone you know is interested.
State Wildlife Grants in Jeopardy:
What would New Hampshire look like without funding for wildlife conservation?
By John Kanter, Nongame and Endangered Species Program Coordinator
Take a Survey, Win a Hat! Win one of 5 “Wild NH” embroidered turtle caps! Just tell us more about you and your ideas for supporting conservation efforts. Complete the survey by February 15 at www.wildnh.com/nongamesurvey. Thank you! |
It’s no secret that serious cuts are being made to government programs on every level. Because of proposed cuts to State Wildlife Grants – federal funds that make up more than half of the N.H. Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program’s budget – the work of our dedicated staff is at risk. In the U.S. House Interior Appropriations bill, the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants program is slated for a 64% cut for FY12 – that’s on top of a 31% cut to the program last year. In a sagging economy, cuts are understandable. But the proposed slashing of State Wildlife Grants (SWG) is wildly disproportionate – and would jeopardize a 10-year investment in nongame wildlife conservation.
What would the consequences be of deep funding cuts for New Hampshire’s wildlife? Without funding, Karner blue butterflies, terns and plovers, all of which depend on intense management, would quickly disappear. Little brown bats and New England cottontails would continue to decline. Land conservation projects would no longer have access to maps of the state’s priority habitats. Even if enough funds remain to help the most critically imperiled species, the Wildlife Action Plan’s strategies to halt declines in wildlife populations and habitats – and prevent the need for more listings and expensive recovery efforts – will need to be shelved.
You might have read about the results of the Pine Barrens and Karner blue butterfly restoration effort in the latest issue of the Nongame Program’s Wildlines newsletter. It’s a case study in how reviving a species and bringing back habitats takes time, money and people. It drives home the point that even with a well-funded, ten-year effort supported by hundreds of volunteers, much remains to be done to ensure that the butterflies will persist in the wild.
Too often, people contend that there is a stark choice to be made – between jobs and the environment, for example, or people versus wildlife – but the truth is that wildlife and conservation are a net benefit to the economy. Wildlife-related recreation brings in $520 million annually to New Hampshire and supports 4,000 jobs. Moreover, conservation can only succeed with dedicated and well-trained biologists. The Nongame Program has eight staff members, and several more people working under contract at UNH, N.H. Audubon and the Natural Heritage Bureau, which receive significant funding from SWG.
Our program is successful largely because of 10 years of federal funding through State Wildlife Grants. Despite our amazing volunteers, donors and partners, our ability to maintain and build on that success will be severely compromised if SWG takes major cuts in the new Congressional budget. I’ve written before about the need for long-term, dedicated funding for nongame and endangered wildlife – it’s always been a goal, but with SWG in danger, it’s more important than ever.
To that end, we need to rejuvenate the Teaming With Wildlife coalition here in N.H. This national grassroots effort of organizations and individuals helped bring about State Wildlife Grants 10 years ago. Perhaps together we can create a solution to the volatility that seems to mark wildlife conservation funding; please take our survey at www.wildnh.com/nongamesurvey and share your ideas. Thanks for helping ensure that wildlife and habitat conservation funding stays off the endangered list!
Take a Survey, Win a Hat!
Win one of 5 “Wild NH” embroidered turtle caps! Just tell us more about you and your ideas for supporting conservation efforts. Complete the survey by February 15 at www.wildnh.com/nongamesurvey. Thank you!
