1-877-398-4769, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m, or email anytime answers@unh.edu

Looking for energy answers?

Today's media-saturated environments bombard us with so many messages about energy, it's hard to know what to believe and how best to invest our energy dollars.

Our research has told us that New Hampshire residents are out there looking for information about tightening up their homes, buying more energy-efficient appliances, investigating renewable energy sources, and taking advantage of government financial incentives for making energy improvements.

In the process, they're running into a lot of misinformation and conflicting messages. Some have fallen prey to scams.

UNH Cooperative Extension's Energy Answers program can help

We've staffed our toll-free Info Line in Manchester with volunteers trained to answer energy-related questions or refer callers to experts and other outside resources who can.

Energy Answers aims to empower decision-making by connecting callers with the best New Hampshire-specific information from experienced energy professionals throughout the state.

We'll stress the primary importance of energy conservation and energy efficiency. For example, a lot of people don't understand the many things they can do to reduce their electric and home-heating bills that cost little or nothing.

If you're ready to move on to more extensive energy-conserving or renewable-energy projects, we can help you decide when and why it makes sense to hire an energy professional and how to find an experienced, competent service provider.

And if you have questions and concerns about climate change, we can help you understand the ways reducing your energy use helps the overall environment.

Call us! 1-877-398-4769, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m, or email anytime answers@unh.edu

Photo credit: Pumping the insulation in, iLoveButter. Some rights reserved

Workshop trains small-town K-9 officers to assess and document dogs' skills

Twenty K-9 handlers and their dogs gathered October 26 at the N.H. Police K-9 Academy in Newington for a workshop on using geospatial technology to assess the scent-tracking skills of the dogs.

"It was the first time I'd worked with police officers and the first time I'd worked with a group who had such specific ideas about what they wanted me to do. It went extremely well," says Shane Bradt, UNH Cooperative Extension geospatial technology specialist, who taught the workshop.

"We had gorgeous weather and a lot of fun. The group made tremendous strides in their use of GPS and their mapping skills."

Police K-9 Academy supports small-town K-9 units
The New Hampshire Police K-9 Academy, a nationally accredited K-9 training site on the grounds of the Pease Air Force National Guard base, allows small-town K-9 units to train by holding training sessions every Monday year-'round.

"Most towns can't afford to be without an officer for the 12 weeks it takes to go through the State Police K-9 training," says Mark Ericson, who chairs the board of the Working Dog Foundation, a non-profit that founded, operates, maintains, and raises funds for the Academy.

Since its founding in 1995, the Foundation has raised more than $200,000 to purchase dogs, bullet-proof vests for police dogs, and to retrofit police cruisers for qualifying police departments in New Hampshire, Maine, and northeastern Massachusetts.

Erickson says the Foundation purchased 10 GPS units, two computers, and the mapping software, but, "We soon found ourselves behind the 8-ball. We found there was more to this GPS stuff than we'd realized. We started looking around for someone who could teach us to use it. We're lucky we found Shane."

Officers learn to use high-tech tracking and mapping equipment
During the morning session, Bradt taught the handlers to "take points," to mark a trail, and to navigate using the hand-held GPS units.

"I put together short manuals on the specific GPS units they were using," said Bradt. "Most GPS units have similar functions, but each has different buttons and menus to learn. It's fairly simple, once you figure out which buttons to click."

"They asked very specific questions, like, 'What if I'm tracking in the woods at night and catch the bad guy, how do I notify my partner where I am?', Bradt says. "The answer: 'You collect a way point that records your GPS coordinates; the unit has a built-in radio which sends your partner the point where you're located.'"

"After lunch, we went back outside to work with the dogs," Bradt says. "The officers worked in pairs, each with their own dog. One would lay down the trail; the other would track him with his dog. Then they'd reverse roles.

"Afterwards they went to the computers to download and map the data they'd collected and project their tracks and trails onto the computer monitor. I installed free GIS software and loaded high-resolution aerial photos on the computers for the officers to map their tracks. We were able to see buildings and roads clearly, even cars in parking lots."

"It was a lot more chaotic than I'm used to," says Bradt with a laugh. "I'm usually the one doing all the talking. I'm not used to workshop participants taking that much initiative. These people all know each other and train together. They had specific things they wanted to learn, and helped each other do more and more as the day wore on. By the middle of the afternoon, I was standing on the sidelines and they were teaching each other.

Objective GPS records replace hand-drawn maps
John Usher, head trainer at the Academy since 1995, says, "It was originally my idea to bring GPS to the Academy. Small towns often incorporate large areas of woods. In addition to its other benefits, GPS technology could prevent officers from covering the same area twice during searches, more accurately set a point if you found evidence somewhere out in the woods, and help officers get out of the woods at night."

Retired from the Dover Police Department after 21 years, he now works full time on the Kittery, Maine, police force and part-time as dog handler for the Strafford County Sherriff's Department. Usher says police departments use the highly-trained dogs "to track and catch bad guys," as well as to find lost people. Some dogs are cross-trained to sniff for drugs and other substances.

"We purchased the GPS units and the computers, but found we needed to put A and B together," Usher says "Shane was a great find. He did a great service for us and we had a great time. He stayed eight or nine hours, making sure everyone knew how to use the equipment and even said he'd make himself available in the future."

"It was exciting to download both the scent trail and the path of the dog and actually see the tracks [projected onto a map]," Usher says. "We'd been evaluating the dogs by hand-drawing maps from memory on graph paper." In addition to providing objective validation of handlers' understanding of their dogs' skills, the GPS units will provide a standardized record of each dog's tracking skills that could stand up in court," Usher says, adding that he hopes to raise the funds to purchase GPS units for each Academy team (officer and dog) to use at home.

View a slide show of the daylong training event. Click on "Show info" in upper left of photo to see captions.

UNH Cooperative Extension's Geospatial Technologies Training Center Provides educational outreach programs that help community organizations, government agencies, and ordinary citizens make more informed decisions.Offers a wide variety of instructional workshops, from two-hour introductory sessions to 10-day intensive courses.

Learn more
New Hampshire Police K-9 Academy
Working Dog Foundation

Photo by Shane Bradt

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is urging New Hampshire residents not to eat ground beef recently recalled due to possible contamination with O157:H7 E.coli bacteria.

The bacteria produce a toxin that's potentially deadly to people, especially young children and seniors. Three New Hampshire residents have been hospitalized because of illness suspected of being linked to the contaminated beef; one patient died of complications.

The meat has been sold statewide. Health officials ask residents to review all the information about the recall, then check their refrigerators and freezers for affected products and throw them away.

Each package containing recalled beef bears the number "EST. 492" inside the USDA mark of inspection or on the nutrition label.

Symptoms of E. coli illness include fever, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. If you have symptoms, call your doctor. Most people recover within 10 days, but a small percentage of people become extremely ill, with symptoms including hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is characterized by the destruction of red blood cells and kidney failure. Most people recover from HUS, but it can be fatal.

For more information about this recall and a full list of recalled products, visit the USDA recall site.

If you have questions, call the DHHS Division of Public Health Services, Communicable Disease Control Section at 271-4496 or 1-800-852-3345 x4496.

Labels of recently recalled ground-beef products

Information on handling, storing, and preparing ground beef

Photo: yoppy, Some rights reserved.

Second group of at-risk populations now eligible for H1N1 vaccine

Toll-free 211 line now has information about vaccine clinics and other H1N1-related topics

More H1N1 vaccine has become available, so the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has expanded the state's H1N1 vaccination program. The following higher-risk groups are now eligible to receive the H1N1 vaccine:

• People caring for or living with infants younger than 6 months old, including parents, siblings, and daycare providers.
• Partners of pregnant women.
• All children 6 months to 4 years old.
• People 18-24 years old with underlying medical conditions.

"First-tier" groups still eligible

People in the first tier of eligibles who haven't yet been vaccinated can still receive the vaccine:

• Health care workers and first responders with direct patient contact.
• Pregnant women.
• Children 6 months to 18 years old with chronic medical conditions.

Officials expect enough vaccine for the third-tier higher-risk group--adults 25-64 with chronic health conditions--to arrive in the state sometime before the end of the year.

No one will be charged for an H1N1 flu vaccination, including people without health insurance and those whose insurance requires deductibles or co-pays.

Where to go for a vaccination

Children and pregnant women should get their H1N1 flu shots from their doctors, but health officials are asking adults to visit public, appointment-only clinics, which will be scheduled throughout the state beginning next week.

For information about the public clinics, call the state's toll-free help line: 211.

Clinics for healthy populations later this year or early 2010

State Public Health Director Dr. Jose Montero asks healthy adults seeking vaccine to be patient. "More than half the New Hampshire population falls into one of the risk groups," he says. "We have a duty to protect them first."

Montero says that the state may receive enough H1N1 vaccine to begin holding clinics for healthy adults at colleges and in other community settings later this year or early in 2010.

CDC oversees H1N1 vaccine production and distribution

The federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) oversees distribution of the H1N1 vaccine. The agency distributes vaccines to the states based solely on population.

Ethical guidelines drafted by federal and state public health agencies determine the order of priority for receiving the H1N1 vaccine, whose distribution has been hampered by production problems and other delays.

Seasonal flu vaccine: supply may not stretch to cover everyone who wants it

Unlike distribution of the H1N1 vaccine, controlled by the CDC, hospitals, clinics and other providers order supplies of seasonal vaccine directly from the manufacturers. This year, demand has outpaced supply.

"Supplies of seasonal flu vaccine will keep arriving throughout November into December," Montero says. People seeking a seasonal flu shot should "try to connect with your private provider" or a local site (pharmacy, malls, visiting nurse associations) that typically offers seasonal vaccinations.

Consumers should check state's list of seasonal vaccine providers. The statewide 211 help line will also offer information on availability of either seasonal or H1N1 vaccine, though information about supplies of H1N1 vaccine will not be available until late November.

Ultimately though, Montero says, "there may not be enough seasonal vaccine for everyone who wants to be vaccinated."

Call 211 with questions

The statewide, toll-free 2-1-1 New Hampshire help line is open to direct callers all the health and human services available to them.

Learn more

N.H. Department of Health and Human Services H5N1 information Links to N.H.-specific and other information resources.

Know what to do about the flu
Official federal government pandemic influenza Information.

Differences between seasonal flu and pandemic flu Learn the important differences between the "new" pandemic influenza strain and the "seasonal" flu that comes around every winter.

Simple things you can do to protect yourself and your family Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's basic guidance on preventing both season and pandemic influenza.

Official guidance for individuals and families Information and planning checklists useful for pandemic planning from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Stockpiling essentials for a pandemic Planning for an extended stay at home, in case of essential-services disruptions, when store supplies might become short, or during periods of voluntary "social distancing" as a flu-prevention strategy.

What to do if you get flu symptoms Learn how to take care of yourself if you come down with the flu.

Special guidance for pregnant women Because pregnant women are more susceptible to regular flu than others, officials urge them to take special precautions to prevent contracting the new H1N1 flu. Experts don't know if pregnant women will have serious problems with H1N1 or how the new virus might affect the baby.

H1N1 guidance for specific groups CDC guidance for vulnerable or at-risk populations, teachers, caregivers, clinicians and others.

Talk to your children about the flu The barrage of media attention on the new H1N1 flu is bound to increase as flu season approaches. Children may receive misinformation, and peers can magnify their fears. They need special reassurance from adults.

Caring for a sick person in your home Familiarize yourself with this information before you need it.

Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy The Pandemic Influenza pages of this University of Minnesota center help you stay current on the latest science-based news and information about pandemic influenza.

Personal Pandemic Preparedness Resource List Excellent list of science-based sources of flu preparedness information.

Photo credit: alvi2047. Some rights reserved.

Small farms in New Hampshire grew to nearly 4,200 in recent years, with an increasing trend towards organic and small-farm production.

To help navigate the inherent risks and learn new strategies for managing production, marketing and financing, a team of UNH Cooperative Extension staff will offer a series of workshops beginning Nov. 2 and continuing through spring of 2010.

The workshops will provide tools and techniques for managing business risks while explaining the benefits of participating in crop and revenue insurance programs.

November workshops: Marketing strategies, tree fruit

10+ Marketing Strategies and Tips to Consider When Selling Farm Products kicks off the series November 2 at the Rockingham County complex in Brentwood. Featuring a panel of expert growers, this workshop will talk about potential farm markets for next season and the importance of branding and pricing products, along with different views on the pros and cons of crop insurance.

Tree Fruit: The Year in Review and Planning for the Future takes place November 14 at the Hillsborough County complex in Goffstown. The featured speaker is the Northeast's leading tree-fruit pathologist, Dr. David Rosenberger.

Winter-spring topics

Early December features a weekend seminar on growing specialty crops for New Hampshire's expanding ethnic populations. In January, the series continues with two events: the N.H. Small Family Farm conference in Concord, and the N.H. Women in Agriculture conference in the Keene area.

In the winter and spring of 2010, the series will offer workshops for organic producers, dairy farmers and nursery operations.

Financial support from the USDA Risk Management Agency has enabled UNH Cooperative Extension to offer these programs at minimal cost to participants. Other partners include the N.H. Dept. of Agriculture, Markets & Food and the USDA Farm Service Agency

"UNH Cooperative Extension professionals have extensive experience in educational programming for farmers and a proven record of successful partnering with other agencies," says Extension agricultural business management specialist Mike Sciabarrasi. "Extension educators believe outreach education is the best way to help New Hampshire farmers discover what's available to them."

Learn more and register

10+ Marketing Strategies and Tips to Consider When Selling Farm Products, November 2.

Tree Fruit: The Year in Review and Planning for the Future, November 14.

For more information about fall and winter workshops and conferences, contact the agricultural educator at your county UNH Cooperative Extension office or call Mike Sciabarrasi at 862-3234.