Extension News: July 2008 Archives

"Wetlands serve many important functions in our landscapes, including flood control, groundwater protection, and sediment trapping, but their role in providing habitat for ambhibians is often a main reason natural resource professionals and communities are interested in protecting wetlands," says Matt Tarr, UNH Cooperative Extension wildlife specialist.

"Wildlife biologists use amphibians as 'indicator' species, whose presence or absence serves as an important indication of overall environmental quality. Amphibian diversity is a good indication that we're providing habitat for a wide range of other wildlife species as well," Tarr says.

"New Hampshire has many different types of wetlands, including marshes, forested swamps, vernal pools, and ponds," he says. "But because not all amphibian species are found in every type of wetland, planners must protect a diversity of wetland types to maintain a diversity of wildlife species.

"Unfortunately, it's not always possible to avoid loss or alteration of individual wetlands during some development projects." Tarr says. "In these situations, natural resource professionals, town planners, and landowners have the difficult task of deciding which wetlands are most valuable to protect as wildlife habitat, and which ones the community can afford to lose or alter."

Guide helps planners make the tough decisions about which wetlands and wetland buffers to protect
To help these audiences make the tough decisions, Tarr teamed with UNH Widllife Ecology Professor Kim Babbitt to produce The Importance of Hydroperiod in Wetland Assessment: A guide for community officials, planners, and natural resource professionals.

The guide describes a biologically-based method for determining what species of amphibians will use any given wetland by assessing wetlands based on their hydroperiod, the length of time and portion of the year that a wetland holds water.

"Wetlands vary in their hydroperiod from less than a few weeks each year to to permanent lakes or ponds," says Tarr. "Between these extremes are wetlands that hold water for various lengths of time, including some wetlands that dry out only in years of low precipitation.

"Hydroperiod is a major factor in determining not only if a wetland will hold water long enough for a frog to complete its development from egg, to tadpole, to young frog, but it also determines what types of predators (e.g., fish and certain aquatic insects) might live in the wetland preying on young amphibians," Tarr says. "Assessing and understanding wetland hydroperiod is an important first step guiding management decisions aimed at minimizing or avoiding loss or degradation of wetlands that provide significant amphibian breeding habitat within an area."

Based on the most current amphibian research, including research Babbitt herself conducted in New Hampshire, the guide:

• Summarizes the current understanding of wetland hydroperiod and how it influences the distribution of amphibians in New Hampshire.


• Provides suggestions for identifying and assessing wetlands in New Hampshire based on their hydroperiod.


• Provides recommendations for guiding land management practices aimed at maintaining a diversity of wetlands and upland connections between wetland habitat, two important factors for maintaining viable amphibian populations throughout the state.

"Anyone with an interest in protecting and conserving amphibians will make better management decisions if they understand the important role wetland hydroperiod plays in determining habitat use and distribution of amphibians," says Tarr.

Download The Importance of Hydroperiod in Wetland Assessment: A guide for community officials, planners, and natural resource professionals

Purchase a high-resolution CD online ($10)

Contact Matt Tarr: 862-3594 or mtarr@ceunh.unh.edu

Tornadoes touching down in New Hampshire, three-day blizzards, or ice storms that knock out power for several days are without question newsworthy.

However, media-distributed images of the devastating effects of a natural disaster may be confusing and difficult for children to understand.

Very young children may see the many reports on television in the days after the event and believe that the extreme weather event is continuing to occur day after day, unable to understand that these are the same images being repeated.

In addition, many children's families or friends have been directly or indirectly affected by the storms. When talking to children about traumatic events such as these, here are a few points to bear in mind.

• Remember that not talking about an event doesn't mean children aren't aware of it.
• Listen first, then use questions to help you understand your child's emotions and concerns. Ask: What are your thoughts about that? What made you think about that?
• Acknowledge feelings; recognize that children will express their feelings differently at different ages. Young children will express feelings through behavior, often reverting to younger behavior. They may become loud and aggressive or shy and withdrawn
• Answer children's questions as completely as possible appropriate to their age. Children may become anxious if they feel an adult is hiding something. Try not to give too much information. Provide simple, direct facts, while reassuring children as much as is possible.

• Take time to think about and cope with your own feelings.
• Be willing to discuss difficult issues with your children. You may not have all the answers, but give what information you do have and acknowledge the sad and complex nature of traumatic events
• Acknowledge children's feelings and perspectives
• Remember that routines and predictable structure are reassuring for children.
• Remember to take care of yourself during stressful times. Eat well and try to get some exercise.

For more information

Talking with children after a natural disaster
Importance of Talking for Helping Children During Natural Disasters
Real Words to Help Children Cope with Tragedy
Children as victims of natural disasters

Updated September 17, 2009

An interdisciplinary team of UNH Cooperative Extension staff collaborating with outside experts will offer the third Natural Resource Business Institute (NRBI) this fall.

The 13-week course provides individuals and families who want to start or expand a natural resource-based business with the essential information and preparation they need to be successful.

"Sustainably profitable farms and forestry enterprises, so-called 'working landscapes', are essential for preserving New Hampshire's natural resources for future generations," says Extension agricultural business management specialist Mike Sciabarrasi.

Course covers all aspects of starting a natural resource business

NRBI participants will:

• develop an operating plan for a farming or forestry business or business expansion as they learn about biological systems, product and service marketing, enterprise profitability and legal matters particular to natural resource businesses.
• learn to take inventory of a site's natural resources
• explore the human dynamics of running a family business (e.g., defining roles and responsibilities, handling conflict, managing time, and hiring outside labor).
• understand how government agencies and financial institutions work with farm and forestry ventures
• receive valuable feedback from a peer support network of other natural-resources entrepreneurs leave well-connected to a wide variety of advisors and technical experts

Target audiences

• individuals and families starting or planning a natural-resource business
• current land-based business owners considering changes or expansions to their operations
• families looking for ways to pass viable operations on to the next generation
• high school and college students exploring career options

Classes meet Wednesdays, September 10 through December 10, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in Barton Hall, at the UNH Thompson School in Durham.

Cost is $175.00/person. The registration deadline is August 30, 2008

For more information or to register

Contact Michael Sciabarrasi at 862-3234, download a brochure, or sign up online.

Last year 59,000 New Hampshire residents received more than $62 million in food stamp benefits, nearly all of which was spent supermarkets and convenience stores.

Meanwhile, New Hampshire fruit and vegetable growers have increasingly turned to marketing their crops directly to consumers through farmers' markets and farm stands. This summer, 75 or more New Hampshire communities will host farmers' markets.

Growers typically receive only about 20 percent of a retail shopper's food dollar, so direct marketing not only enables consumers to get fresh, locally grown food, but it also allows farmers to capture more of the profit.

In 2004, UNH Cooperative Extension received a three-year grant from the Northeast Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE) to connect food-stamp recipients with local growers by piloting the process of accepting food-stamp Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Cards at farmers' markets.

Demonstration projects at markets in Nashua, Manchester and Enfield proved that the process would work. Extension's Helen Costello (who now heads the N.H. Food Bank's Recipe for Success Program) then developed a manual for market managers and farmers' market managers and vendors.

Published this month, Accepting Food Stamp Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Cards at Farmers' Markets and Farm Stands: A Primer for Farmers and Market Managers highlights step by step the process by which an individual farmer or an entire market can become authorized to become a food stamp merchant, as well as listing the various ways to process transactions, the equipment needed for each, and other technical aspects needed to be successful.

Learn more

Download a copy of the manual

The New Hampshire food stamp program

N.H. farmers' markets

When Rockingham County 4-H Educator Rick Alleva began work in the fall of 2002, he began by asking around about programs for youth in what he calls the Lower Seacoast--Seabrook, Hampton, North and South Hampton, and Hampton Falls. "The answer? 'Not much,'" Alleva says.

Responding to the need
"Forty percent of adult males in Seabrook never finished high school, and the town has one of New Hampshire's highest unemployment rates. Hampton has one of the state's highest homeless and transient populations, including a lot of kids.

"Drug and alcohol issues are huge across Lower Seacoast towns. Yet the whole area had no special youth development programs for kids who needed them most," he says. So Alleva convened a November meeting of all the local agencies that deal with young people: social service agencies, schools

, police. "Like many such community initiatives, we decided to apply for a grant to fund a comprehensive program of youth development services," Alleva says. “We didn't get the grant, but we had energy. We kept on meeting. In fact we've met monthly ever since."

The Seacoast Youth Leadership Project kicks off
"At that first meeting, I connected with Vic Maloney of Seacoast Youth Services, a nonproft at the time working primarily as a diversion program, providing drug and alcohol education, anger management, and community service opportunities."

Alleva wrote a proposal that was awarded a $200,000 Children, Youth and Families at Risk (CYFAR) grant to jumpstart an after-school program for the middle-schoolers most at risk. Paula Gregory, the 4-H Youth Development specialist who directs the CYFAR program in New Hampshire, notes that Alleva's proposal "is one of six five-year, community-based New Hampshire projects collectively awarded more than $2 million since the CYFAR program began in 1991."

"The Seacoast Youth Leadership Project kicked off as a two-day-a-week after-school leadership program for middle-school kids who were dealing with personal, social and emotional challenges," says Alleva. "Vic had no staff for an after-school program, so the grant covered the cost for two new staff and I began bringing in interns from the UNH family studies department. We've had five to date, and they've all have been great. "We've gradually migrated most of the annual CYFAR funding to Vic, allowing him to hire a recent UNH graduate and former intern Stephanie Charron full time this year."

The project gets a home
"When the project began, Vic was working out of a condo office in Hampton. At one of our monthly meetings, Bruce Pierce, pastor of the Church of Christ, brought up that his church owned an1845 brick school building they weren't using in Seabrook. Bruce gave Vic a tour of the old Dearborn School that had been mostly a storage facility for years and they worked out a lease.

"With $10,000 cobbled together from small grants and more than $200,000 in volunteer services, we scrubbed and we renovated. We moved in in 2004. Today we have 5000 square feet at SYS with a new kitchen, floors, bathrooms, fresh paint—and the lights all work."

The original two-days-a-week after-school program evolved rapidly to become a five-day a week after-school program with SYS expanding its in-school supports for kids as well. A four-days-a-week, three-week summer program begun in 2006 has expanded into this year's five-days-a-week, eight-week Summer Extreme, featuring field trips, hiking, biking, adventure treks, and more.

Alleva brought special skills
Alleva came to the job after years of experience as a community youth organizer and a direct service provider who'd worked the streets, managed homeless shelters, and run a residential treatment center for youth. The best way to start a program? "You just start hanging out with kids," says Alleva. "All kids are cool. Parents will get involved if you show respect, commitment, and care for their kids."

Alleva adds, " One important feature that distinguishes our programs from many others: we don't kick anybody out. We work around their problems. If a young person has difficulty reading, you need to give him or her extra help and teach them to read better. If a kid has emotional or behavior issues, you don't exclude them, you give them a place to belong where others can help them feel and act better."

Besides hanging out with kids, "I've served as a sort of jack of all trades in the project," says Alleva. "At various times, I've served as grantwriter, participant recruiter, activity leader, and staff trainer."

Wider Extension involvement
"We've also had other Extension staff involved," Alleva says. "Rockingham County Nutrition Connections coordinator Terri Shoppmeyer does food and fitness activities--healthy food is part of everything we do, and the kids are planting a garden this summer. 4-H specialist Trent Schreiffer co-leads our after-school technology program. He has kids building rockets and remote-controlled cars, doing digital videography, and educational computer gaming. Our county family and consumer resources educator, Karyn Blass, co-leads a Girl's Space group and helps with other family activities, and our other family educator, Claudia Boozer-Blasco, has helped with family and parent programs as well."

"But this isn't the sort of project where Extension can come in and give a few isolated workshops," Alleva says. "While our role will change, we need to stay involved and engaged here on an ongoing basis. Vic and three of his staff have all signed on to become trained 4-H volunteer leaders, which will expand their own capacity as well."

Making a difference
"Cooperative Extension programs are supposed to answer the question, 'How did you make a difference?'" says Alleva. "In our case, that's both tough and easy to answer. With very limited financial resources, we now have a program for middle school kids in grades fifth to eighth that began with an idea, started up as a two-days-a-week after-school lifeskills program that in less than five years has evolved into a dynamic five-days-a-week after-school and summer program.

At the same time, substance abuse prevention and intervention activities for middle- and high-school-age youth have been greatly expanded at SYS as well. "We have monthly family nights, when kids cook a meal for their families, movie nights, substance-abuse support groups, cooking classes, a leadership program that does service projects (including adopting a half-mile stretch of Seabrook beach to keep clean). We teach media literacy, team building, healthier living, food and fitness, science and technology, and help kids make good decisions for themselves and their community. This fall, our Techno-Team will be 'going green' and exploring sustainable energy (wind and solar) and environment-sensitive activities."

But the project's evolution hasn't followed a smooth, linear path. "I'd characterize what we've been doing as building the merry-go-round while we're whirling around on it," Alleva says. The network of organizations and individuals that began meeting in 2002 has recently formalized itself as the Lower Seacoast Youth and Family Coalition by drafting a memorandum of understanding that articulates its mission and commitment.

Their vision: The youth and families of the Lower seacoast area are engaged in positive community activities and are empowered to do whatever it takes to lead healthy lives. "You got that?" says Alleva. "Whatever it takes."