Extension News: Natural Resources Archives

Spring is finally here. The days are longer and warmer, daffodils are popping up, and the mulch volcanoes are erupting.

The mulch volcanoes? You know, those piles of bark mulch mounded up beneath many landscape trees. I don't know where or why this practice started, but too much mulch under a tree or shrub actually does more harm than good, and is a waste of mulch and money.

Mulch serves several purposes besides dressing up your landscape. It helps retain soil moisture, important because most "feeder" roots (the roots that obtain water, air and nutrients for the tree) grow in the top 12 inches of the soil.

Mulch that's deeper than three inches can smother feeder roots and compromise the tree's health. Roots may actually grow up through a too-thick mulch past the base of the tree and encircle the trunk, a condition called girdling. As the tree grows, these roots could choke the tree and cause a slow death.

Mulch should never touch the trunk of the tree. Because it holds moisture, mulch will keep the trunk damp, encouraging bark rot and disease. Also, insects and rodents may find homes in the mulch volcano and feed on the bark of the tree.

Spread the mulch in a uniform layer two to three inches deep and out at least to the drip line (the area beneath the outermost branch tips of a tree). You want the natural flare at the base of the trunk, where it meets the ground, to be exposed. You can renew mulch each year by adding a little to the surface; there's no need to remove old mulch, but don't allow it to become deeper than four inches.

Because mulch helps prevent roots from drying out, especially when newly planted, use a quality, natural mulch. Untreated plant-based mulches are best, since they help improve the soil as they decompose. These include wood chips, bark mulch, straw, leaves, and pine needles. Avoid wood-chip mulches made from construction materials, pressure-treated lumber and old telephone poles, as these might contain harmful chemicals.

Mulch can also prevent weeds from growing around the base of the tree. Particularly when the tree is growing in a small or confined area, unwanted plants (or even flowers) may compete with the tree or nutrients and water.

Finally, mulch provides a "safe zone" between your lawn and the tree. This makes lawn mowing easier, and protects the bark from mower or trimmer damage.

If you'd like to remove the mulch volcano from your tree, do it gradually over a few months. The trunk has been kept shaded and damp from the mulch, and sudden exposure to the sun could cause it to crack. If the feeder roots have grown up through the mulch, they could dry out and lose their ability to absorb water. Remove the mulch a little at a time, remembering to water the roots thoroughly for 20 minutes each time.

You may lose some roots to exposure during this process, but in the end your tree will benefit from having deeper roots and a healthier growing environment.

By Melinda Wright, Cooperative Extension Master Gardener and Tree Steward

Photo: the Plant & Pest Diagnostic Laboratory at Purdue University Used with permission.

Project will locate, collect, and recycle marine debris

When it's full, the dumpster will be hauled to a waste-to-energy plant, where the debris will be burned to make electricity.

The ceremony launched The NH Marine Debris-to-Energy Project. Funded by a grant from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, the project aims to:

• Better characterize the sources and distribution patterns of ocean-based debris, especially "derelict fishing gear" (DFG)--nets, lines, pots, and other fishing equipment that has been lost, abandoned, or discarded in the marine environment. DFG is an extremely dangerous form of marine debris.
• Develop protocols for undertaking a unique underwater cleanup program to identify and remove DFG and other debris.
• Continue to investigate the sources of land-based debris.
• Mitigate the problem through education and outreach.

On hand at the Seabrook kick-off ceremony were the project's primary investigators: Ken La Valley, commercial fisheries specialist with UNH Cooperative Extension Sea Grant, and Jenna Jambeck, a UNH research assistant professor of civil/environmental engineering, as well as representatives from partner organizations: Jen Kennedy, director of the nonprofit Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, and Alan Davis, district manager for Waste Management.

In his remarks, La Valley noted that getting the help of local fishermen 'wasn't a tough sell."

New Hampshire Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter congratulated the project coordinators and Waste Management for joining forces, noting it showed a maturation of the environmental movement by demonstrating, "we can find the answers by working together."

Main project activities

• Researchers will make an initial assessment of the volume of underwater marine debris using sonar for the first time for this purpose in New Hampshire.
• Commercial and recreational fishermen will become actively involved in removing DFG at sea and collecting it in the Waste Management dumpster at the Yankee Fisherman's Co-op.
• Fishermen will have access to bins where they can discard their fishing line for recycling.
• Anyone collecting marine debris will be able to report it online via an easy Web interface.
• Cleanups along the New Hampshire coastline will expand, involving more volunteers and creating more aesthetically-pleasing, healthier and safer beaches.
• Members of the public, schools, and scientific researchers will have access to interactive marine-debris data and GIS maps.
• Teachers and their students across the world will have access to marine-debris data to use in their lessons, and local schools will be able to work directly with project investigators and partners in viewing data, participating in cleanups and contributing to the database.
• Project staff and others around the world can use the data and protocols developed in this project to target further pollution-prevention and outreach efforts.
• The quantities of debris in the ocean and on the shore, potentially harmful to wildlife, people, vessels, and the economy, will diminish.

Project timeline

Spring 2008 Develop and launch Web-based system (developed at UNH Cooperative Extension) for reporting of marine debris, install the dumpster at the cooperative, and install monofilament recycling bins at several fishing locations along the coast from Durham to Seabrook.

Summer 2008 Conduct underwater mapping, start collecting data from fishermen and cleanup volunteers through the project's Web site.

Fall 2008 Publish a best-management-practices manual, hold a public workshop about the project, and offer training for best practices for dealing with marine debris.

Throughout the project, organizers plan to conduct shoreline cleanups and conduct informational sessions for fishermen, the public, and schools in the area.

More information

NH Marine Debris to Energy Project
Get involved!




Posted April 24, 2008 | Comments (0) | TrackBack

UNH Cooperative Extension's 2008 NH Outside Calendar has taken first place in the "one-to-three-color popular publications" category of the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) 2008 Critique and Awards program.

ACE is an international association of communicators and information technologists who work in universities, government agencies and research organizations in the public sector, as well as companies and firms in the private sector.

The judges awarded 97 of 100 points to the NH Outside calendar, calling it, "An excellent example of making the most of a one-to-three-color publication. The essays are especially good....A very attractive publication with an effective use of illustrations throughout."

Subtitled connecting you with the wisdom and wonder of the natural world, the calendar itself reflects the purpose of the 4-year old collaborative writing project. We started the project in 2004 to give our natural resources volunteers (master gardeners, wildlife coverts, community tree stewards, lakes lay monitors, and marine docents) who love to write another way to share the humor, insight, and wonder they've found in the world outside their doorways.

We recruit people with a passion for the natural world who also love to write and offer training, professional editing and ongoing support in exchange for their written work. Most of their essays reflect on a private experience or encounter with the natural world. Their only aim: to connect readers to nature in some concrete, meaningful way.

Every week we distribute a new essay to print media statewide and publish it to our NH Outside Web page. The award-winning calendar contains excerpts from published NH Outside columns, illustrated with original artwork by volunteer artists and spiced with daily tips and tidbits to help increase awareness of the outside world.

The Extension design and production team of Peg Boyles, Pam Doherty (designer par excellence), Alice Mullen, and Holly Young has already begun planning the 2009 edition. Stay tuned!

To learn more about becoming a NH Outside writer, or to receive our weekly essays for use in your publication or newsletter, contact Peg Boyles at 225-5505 or peg.boyles@unh.edu.

brochure series helps landowners learn about and help conserve important wildlife habitats found on their land.

The New Hampshire Wildlife Action Plan: Habitat Stewardship Series brochures cover a variety of habitat types critical for wildlife species at risk in New Hampshire. The first four brochures, available now, focus on grasslands, marsh and shrub wetlands, floodplain forests, and vernal pools.

The colorful brochures include practical information for landowners. Pictures and text explain how to identify habitat types, describe the major threats to the health of those habitats, and offer information about wildlife species that depend on each habitat. The brochures also provide specific recommendations for landowners interested in helping protect and conserve the wildlife that depend on each critical habitat type.

The brochures were produced by UNH Cooperative Extension with support from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the N.H. Fish & Game Department. Landowners may download brochures or receive a single set free through the UNH Forestry Information Center (call 1-800-444-8978, email forest.info@unh.edu).

When complete later this year, the Habitat Stewardship Series will also include brochures on shrublands, northern hardwood forests, oak-pine forests, hemlock forests, and spruce-fir forests.

New Hampshire's first rite of spring

March is maple sugaring time in New Hampshire. This uniquely North American natural phenomenon Nature is not restricted to the calendar like school vacations, holidays or town meeting day, but is dictated solely by day-night weather changes. Cold nights in the 20's followed by warm days when the temperatures go up into the 40's, absent a chilling wind, are the requirements for the sap to run.

Our sugaring season can begin in late February and run into early April and even stop in between. Although sugaring season does coincide with mud season, no one knows how long the season is going to be until after it's over.

Tapping the trees
Although many maple producers still use the traditional bucket-with-spout-and-cover system for tapping their trees, others use high technology plastic tubing and pipeline systems, some of which include vacuum extraction to increase the amount of sap collected. This doesn't hurt trees and keeps the sap-lines empty which helps produce a higher quality sap for high quality maple syrup.

Today's maple producers are also using "health spouts" to lessen the impact of tree-tapping. With the new spouts, trees now heal over in less than one growing season. Regardless of the method of gathering sap, it must be collected after each "run" and boiled as soon and as fast as possible to make the best quality maple syrup.

Note: "Maple producer" is the modern name for what used to be called a "sugarmaker" in the days before containers became commonplace and most syrup was boiled down to the hard sugar for long storage.

"Boiling down"
Sap is "boiled down" in an evaporator, a special pan with flues in it to increase the surface area and speed evaporation. Boiling down has and continues to be the challenge of maple producers everywhere. Before the evaporator was invented, sap was boiled in a series of open kettles, and before then in hollowed out logs with hot rocks dropped in to evaporate the sap.

While some maple producers continue to use open evaporators similar to those that made their debut in the 1880's, others have embraced new technology. Peering inside a modern sugarhouse, a visitor will see an array of sap-processing equipment that may include evaporators with steam hoods, blowers and pre-heaters, and steam-away pans mounted atop a conventional evaporator, using recaptured steam heat to increase the efficiency of the boiling process. These latter systems look more like large boilers in ships than those traditionally found in the sugarhouse. In larger operations, visitors may encounter reverse-osmosis machines that concentrate the sugar content in the sap for later processing in an evaporator. Steam evaporators are also becoming more commonplace.

Maple sap is about 97.5 percent water, 2.4 percent sugar, and 0.1 percent minerals. Sap is made into maple syrup by boiling off the water and concentrating the sugar and minerals in the presence of heat. During the process of evaporation heat causes chemical reactions in the concentrated sap resulting in the characteristic flavor we know as maple syrup. The color and flavor of maple syrup is determined by the freshness of the sap and the speed of boiling.

Pure maple syrup must have a minimum density of 67° Brix, equivalent to boiling maple sap until it is 7.5°F above the boiling point of water. Proper density is important, not only for taste, but also for stability, preventing the syrup from forming crystals or fermenting.

It takes about one cord of dry wood to make 20 gallons of maple syrup. Oil-fired evaporators are gaining in popularity, as they tend to be more efficient and relieve maple producers of the work of cutting wood. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.

Grading and packaging syrup
Maple syrup is governed by State law with respect to density, color, clarity and flavor. Sap becomes syrup when 33 percent of its water has been removed. During evaporation minerals appear as a sediment known as "sugar sand" or "niter" and are removed by filtering, resulting in a crystal-clear product. Syrup is then packed hot, between 180°F and 190°F, into glass, tinned steel or plastic containers. The hot syrup sterilizes the container to prevent the syrup from spoiling. Whether opened or not, maple syrup should always be kept refrigerated if possible.

Maple syrup is graded by color, flavor, and clarity. All table syrup is Grade A and all syrup must be the same density. Grade A-Light Amber maple syrup is "light" in color with a delicate flavor and requires considerable skill to make. It is usually made from the earlier "runs" when the sugar content is highest and daytime temperatures keep the sap cool. Grade A-Medium Amber has a richer flavor and Dark Amber, popular for cooking, is even stronger. Pure maple syrup contains no additives or preservatives.

Maple syrup is made into several other products by boiling it beyond the syrup stage in conjunction with other procedures (stirring, cooling) to produce taffy, cream, candy and sugar. Nothing is added, the end product is pure maple. These products are usually made from the light- and medium-colored syrups.

Syrup-making: Our first rite of spring
The maple season is an age-old tradition, part of our rural heritage. Stop by a sugar house--the sweet steam coming out the roof vent is your invitation to go in and visit. Even on chilly nights when the sap is being boiled, the evaporator provides warmth with the pleasant aroma of maple syrup in the brisk night air.

To find a sugarhouse to visit or to purchase maple products, contact the New Hampshire Maple Producers Association through their Web site or call the NH Maple Phone at 603-225-3757 for sugarhouse brochures and information about Maple Weekend, Saturday, March 29 and Sunday March 30.

Nominate a young N.H. maple producer for the Felker Award
The Walter A. Felker Memorial Award, promotes and encourages an interest in the production and marketing of high-quality maple products. The competition is open to New Hampshire residents younger than 18 years of age by the June application deadline.

The award winner receives a permanent plaque engraved to recognize their achievement as well as a $100 cash prize. Download the flyer for information about criteria and application for the Felker Award.

By Sumner Dole, Belknap County Extension forest resources educator emeritus

How to make maple syrup
The Basic ABC's of Maple Sugaring
Maple Syrup Quality Control Manual
Hobby Maple Syrup Production
Maple Producers Manual (order form)

Learn more
NH Maple Producers
Visit A Sugarhouse
Learn to make sugar on snow

Audio and Video
Maple Sugaring with writer Lois Shea and NHPR (audio)
Maple Videos (requires RealPlayer)
The How, When, Why of Forest Farming (click on the maple module)

N.H. Maple Events
NH Maple Producer's listings

3rd annual Grazing Conference March 8

The daylong event will feature two nationally known grazing experts: Jim Gerrish, author of Management-intensive Grazing and columnist for the Stockman-Grass Farmer, and Sarah Flack, a grazing specialist and organic farmer from Vermont.

Gerrish will deliver the keynote address on the topic of Yeah, but that will never work on my place! also lead two workshops: Stock Density-the Most Powerful Tool in the Grazier's Toolbox and Extending the Grazing Season for More Money in Your Pocket. Flack will conduct a two-part workshop on Getting Started with Managed Intensive Grazing.

The afternoon sessions will focus on marketing grass-fed products. Featured speakers include grass farmers Ridge Shinn, Matt & Beth LeClair, Jim & Adele Hayes, and Ed Jackson.

Conference sponsors: Granite State Graziers, Natural Resources Conservation Service and UNH Cooperative Extension.

Download a brochure containing full conference schedule and speaker bios.

Register for the conference online

This spring about 1,000 New Hampshire landowners will slice the newly-defrosted ground to create thousands of welcoming holes for tree and shrub seedlings bought from the State Forest Nursery.

Howie Lewis, nursery forester, calls his nearly 40-acre nursery one of New Hampshire's best- kept secrets. Lewis says the nursery produces a unique product.

"We provide something nobody else does – tree and shrub seedlings native to New Hampshire, with seeds picked from specimens grown right here in the state. When you buy from the state forest nursery, you know the plant is suited to grow here."

A century-old enterprise
In operation in Boscawen since 1910, the nursery grows more than 50 species of trees and shrubs for reforestation, Christmas trees, and wildlife, and sells them at affordable prices. Seedlings, sold on a first come-first served basis, include conifers such as white, red and Scotch pine, Norway, blue, red, and white spruce, concolor, balsam, fraser and douglas fir, and hemlock.

The nursery offers many deciduous species as well, including arrow-wood, crabapple, fragrant sumac, grapes, highbush cranberry, dogwood, rose, nannyberry, beach plum, elderberry, winterberry holly, bayberry, hazelnut, red oak, cedar, sugar maple and white ash.

Special deals
Special "packages," each containing an assortment of 25 shrubs and/or trees, include a Christmas tree sampler, as well as wildlife-and-songbird, wetlands, native species, and winter survival packages.

"This is a very popular program," says Hillsborough County Cooperative Extension Forester Jon Nute. "The seedlings are usually two to four years old, up to 24 inches tall, including the roots, and you can easily hold about a dozen in one hand."

"Some first-time buyers come expecting to pick up large potted landscape-type shrubs and are a little shocked when you hand them a bundle of 50 pine seedlings that can easily fit into a shopping bag," says Nute. "However, these small seedlings are hardy and easy to plant and just great to use in reforestation projects, windbreaks, and Christmas tree plantations."

Ready to order?
Individuals can order seedlings from January 1 through March 30 each year in quantities of 10, 25 or 100 per bundle, with costs ranging from 25 cents to $1.00 per seedling, with the seedlings distributed for planting at the end of April.

"When you're in the nursery business, spring starts a different time each year," says Lewis, "So we ship to a county pickup point in late April or early May, whenever the seedlings can be lifted from the ground. We work throughout the year getting ready for the spring shipment and hope we have many new customers this year." Customers receive a card in the mail announcing the pick-up dates.

Order early! We've just let New Hampshire's best-kept secret out of the bag.

By Karen Bennett, UNH Cooperative Extension Forest Resources Specialist

More information:

• View the State Nursery catalog and order online.


• To receive a catalog, contact the N.H. State Nursery, N.H. Division of
  Forests and Lands, P.O. Box 1856, Concord, NH 03302-1856, or call 603-271-3456.


• Planting and Care of Tree Seedlings


• Establishing the Christmas Tree Plantation

A new way of thinking about landscaping home grounds and public spaces

New Hampshire's rapid development over the past four decades has replaced natural plant and animal communities with landscapes that often appear as an afterthought, replicating the same few plants over and over again," says Mary Tebo, UNH Cooperative Extension's community forestry educator.

"This cookie-cutter approach weakens natural communities, reduces plant and animal species diversity, degrades soils and water quality, and destroys the look and feel of the land that form our sense of place. Another result of disturbance is proliferation of invasive plants that crowd out native plants and imperil endangered species. Invasives alone cover more than 100 million acres across the nation and cost U.S. taxpayers billions."

Looking to nature for guidance

"But what if we looked to New Hampshire's natural ecosystems for guidance? By following nature's lead we can create landscapes and gardens that not only add beauty and increase property value, but that also protect soils, promote species diversity, reduce pollution, minimize energy and labor costs, recycle wastes, support the local economy, and look and feel as if they belong in New Hampshire.

"That's the approach we take in our new book, Integrated Landscaping: Following Nature's Lead," says Tebo.

"Integrated landscaping features multi-layered plant systems that grow and change over time," she says. "It proceeds holistically. Every step in integrated landscape, from initial conceptual design, to plant selection, establishment and ongoing maintenance, anticipates or loops back to connect with every other step."

Besides Tebo, the book's authors include landscape designer and permaculturist Lauren Chase-Rowell, geographer and low-impact living advocate Kate Hartnett, and professional artist and teaching naturalist Marilyn Wyzga. The idea for the book emerged after a conference where the four women got to talking about the need for information that would help landowners faced with challenging environments such as wet or droughty areas or small, tight spaces make environmentally sensitive decisions about landscaping.

A grant from the N.H. State Conservation Committee (the "moose-plate" fund) got the book project underway.

A book anybody can use: homeowners, professional landscapers, municipal planners and community developers

"We've created a book anybody can pick up and create a beautiful, multi-functional landscape, whether their space is a postage-stamp garden, a parking lot island, a municipal park, or a large backyard," Tebo says.

"We invite readers to take a fresh look at their existing landscapes by asking questions such as: How does it follow nature's lead already? Does it keep soils covered? Are there any invasive species present? Are any plant layers missing? Plants that provide food or homes for wildlife? Can an individual tree or shrub become the foundation for a multi-layered plant system?"

Lavishly illustrated, Integrated Landscaping features original photos, drawings, and sketches on almost every page to provide clear examples of the concepts presented. The book also incorporates 12 plant-system models that help landscapers and gardeners apply the concepts of layering and visualize how plants can work together in a variety of different low- and high-stress settings.

Integrated Landscaping provides extensive plant selection charts and lists, worksheets for completing a comprehensive site inventory, plus appendices that offer more information on the many topics presented.

The 162-page book costs $20, plus $4 shipping and handling for mail orders

Order online

Peek inside Integrated Landscaping: Following Nature's Lead

I brushed a mere dusting of snow off the car when I left that parking lot south of here. Suddenly it was coming down real hard and blowing right straight into the windshield, getting harder to see the road.

Lowering the sun visor seemed to help a little. Should've wiped clean the headlights before I left. Too late now. I think I'm still on the road, hard to tell though, I might be edging into that cornfield. No pull-off plowed out yet to let me pull over. Not sure I would anyway.

That character is following so close he'd probably plow into me if I stopped. Guess my tail lights are his security blanket or something. Holy smokes, buddy! Back off a little!

Keeping winter roads open: expensive
White-knuckled driving. If you've lived in New Hampshire for any time at all, you've experienced it. It's a common occurrence in all northern parts of the U.S., particularly those flat open regions of the West and Midwest. Staying on top of wind-blown, drifting snow is a constant chore for plow drivers, and snow removal costs can run pretty high.

A while back a county in Idaho kept track of what it cost to keep open a two-mile stretch of road. It ran upwards of $20,000; that was back in the 1990s, with lower fuel and other expenses than today. Their solution, with an eye towards both lower expenditures and improved driving conditions, was to plant a "living snow fence" the next spring.

Utility of living windbreaks
Call them what you like: windbreaks, shelter-belts, living snow fences, these plantings are popular in many parts of the country. Done right, they're more than just a haphazard line of shrubs and trees. In a properly constructed windbreak, careful bio-engineering considers design, location and plant species selection to achieve the intended results.

Like a structural barrier, a windbreak works by slowing down wind speed, causing the snow to settle out of the air into a designated area away from buildings and roadways. Long-lived plant barriers also offer a lot of other benefits. I think they have a place on many farms and rural homesteads.

Wind makes it worse
Wind exaggerates normal weather conditions, making everything a good bit harder to do. A glance at wind-chill charts illustrates that pretty well. Air temperature zero degrees? Add a 20mph wind to that and it's now 39 below. Add snow and you've got a double whammy.

Dense, multiple-row windbreaks can pile up snow where you want it. Somewhat like a sheltered deer yard. Lower-density field breaks can be used to uniformly spread snow over a larger area.

Grow your own
The materials for constructing these are easy to obtain (see article on State Forest Nursery) and could already be growing on your property. Besides buffering winds, these living screens can screen and soundproof unattractive or noisy areas, improve wildlife habitat, possibly even add extra income from agro-forestry products.

Learn more about windbreaks

by Steve Turaj, Extension educator, Coos County

Changes in the state's Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act (CSPA) go into effect April 1. To help natural resource professionals and concerned citizens understand the changes and bring them up to date on a variety of water quality issues, the N.H. Department of Environmental Services will hold a workshop Wednesday, February 13, at the Hugh Gregg Coastal Conservation Center at Sandy Point in Greenland from 8:00 until noon.

This workshop will cover shoreland ecology and the underlying basis for the CSPA, updates and changes to the CSPA, and a field exercise to demonstrate how to use the CSPA on the shore. There will be plenty of time to discuss the changes and to be sure participants are comfortable with the CSPA.

Presenters include Arlene Allen, the Shoreland Protection Outreach Coordinator of the NHDES Wetlands Bureau and Jeff Schloss, Water Resources specialist at UNH Cooperative Exension.

Please come prepared to spend an hour outside for the field exercise. There is no charge for the workshop, but please confirm your plans to attend so the organizers can make sure there are enough materials. Send your name and contact information to Steve@Greatbay.org or call 778-0015 ext. 305 and leave a message with the same information.

Come early to sign in, review handouts, and meet others interested in this topic. The N.H. Department of Environmental Services, UNH Cooperative Extension and the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve sponsor this workshop.

Rooftop planting offers a host of benefits to urban environment

A balloonist floating over Manchester City Hall's Connector Building might look down on an expanse of perennial flowering plants growing in rooftop containers and think, "How lovely!"

But "green roofs" like this GreenGrid System deliver many benefits, both to the building below and to the overall urban environment.

UNH Cooperative Extension conceived the idea for the demonstration project and began recruiting partners from the Manchester community in 2002. The essential project components--an appropriate site, city approval, and funding--finally came together last May, enabling us to us to move forward and get the roof in place.

Benefits of a green roof
Most of the rain that hits a conventional city building's roof flows off over pavement and into storm drains, carrying pollutants such as gasoline, oil, antifreeze, sand and trash.

The GreenGrid roof will absorb up to 95 percent of an average rainfall. By slowly percolating through the plants and soil of the green roof, roof runoff occurs several hours after peak flows, giving sewer systems time to handle other runoff.

The plants and soils in a green roof serve many other functions, which include:

• Reducing the energy needed to heat and cool the building below.
• Saving money by extending the life of the original roof.
• Filtering air pollutants.
• Improving air quality.
• Absorbing noise.
• Reducing the risk of flooding and overflowing sewers.
• Providing habitat for butterflies and other pollinators.

The green roof components

• Four-inch deep containers manufactured from recycled plastic.
• Lightweight growing mix.
• Perennial plants in this system--sedums and chives--which withstand extremes of temperature and precipitation, and require almost no maintenance.

• The GreenGrid System didn't require any roof construction or redesign.
• Workers placed a slip sheet on top of original roof.
• Then they lifted the pre-planted containers into place.
• Installation took two hours.

Watch a slide show of the entire process, from filling planters to final installation on roof. Show includes both text captions and audio.

The Manchester City Web site will provide updates on the green roof, including updates on temperature monitoring and pollutant absorption.

Check out our project sign, soon to go up in City Hall Plaza

Learn more
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Roof page
Green Roofs/Healthy Cities Network
Penn State's Center for Green Roof Research
Michigan State's Green Roof Research Program
ecogeek Cool photos!

By Mary Tebo, UNH Cooperative Extension community forestry educator and Green Roof Demonstration Project coordinator

Manchester Green Roof Project Funders

UNH Cooperative Extension in partnership with N.H. Division of Forests and Lands and USDA Forest Service
TFMoran Inc.
McLane Law Firm
Manchester Development Corporation
Lavallee Brensinger Architects Fund of the N.H. Charitable Foundation, Manchester Region
Weston Solutions, Inc.
N.H. Dept. of Environmental Services
Anonymous Fund of the N.H. Charitable Foundation
Breathe NH
SEPP - Enterprise Fund, administered by the City of Manchester Environmental Protection Division

In-kind Supporters

City of Manchester
Intown Manchester
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
UNH Manchester
Posted September 19, 2007 | TrackBack

A manual for N.H. Landowners and Landscapers

No matter where you live in New Hampshire, the actions you take in your landscape can have far-reaching effects on water quality. Why? Because we all live in a watershed, an area of land that drains into a surface water body such as a lake, river, wetland or coastal estuary.

Landscaping at the Water's Edge: An Ecological Approach, a new book from UNH Cooperative Extension, explains how landscaping choices affect ground water and demonstrates how, with simple observations, ecologically-based design, and low-impact maintenance practices, you can protect--even improve--the quality of our water resources.

"Every citizen should be concerned with the impact of his or her own actions on the environment," says Extension landscape specialist Cathy Neal, one of the book's authors. "The balance of nature is easily disrupted by humans, with far-reaching impacts on water quality, soil health and stability, animal and human health, and the living ecosystems around us."

"This book will help you understand the basics of how watersheds and shoreland ecosystems function so you can use the strategies and techniques presented to help prevent soil erosion, nutrient and pesticide runoff, exotic plant invasions, and other detrimental processes associated with developed landscapes," Neal says. "Applying the principles of ecological landscaping will support wildlife and plant diversity and maintain or even improve water quality in our lakes, streams, rivers, bays and estuaries."

In addition to Neal, the book's authors include nine other UNH Cooperative Extension educators with expertise in horticulture, soils, water resources, entomology, turf grass and landscape maintenance. These educators partnered with an ecological landscape designer and consulted with state regulatory agencies to provide the most current information to help landscapers and property owners make good decisions about landscape inventory, design and maintenance practices that will protect water quality in our lakes, ponds, rivers and estuaries.

Illustrated with full-color photographs, paintings and drawings that provide clear examples of the concepts presented, Landscaping at the Water's Edge: An Ecological Approach also contains appendices that include relevant information about state regulations, recommended plant lists and other resources.

Order your copy online.

Holistic Management training comes to New England via New Hampshire

Seth Wilner, UNH Cooperative Extension Agricultural Resources educator in Sullivan County, has won a $172,000 Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Grant to train farmers, Extension educators, and other agricultural professionals who work with farmers in whole-farm planning and management using the Holistic Management method.

Wilner's project, titled Building Capacity in Whole-farm Systems and Planning using the Holistic Management Framework, will fund four three-day training sessions held over the course of two years, covering topics such as goal setting, decision making, farm financial planning and management, environmental assessment of changes to the land and ecosystem health, and implementing a farm monitoring system.

An innovative model for decision-making
"The Holistic Management (HM) framework evolved from Zimbabwean wildlife biologist Allan Savory's insight that destructive land-use and environmental patterns result from the way people make decisions," says Wilner.

"So, Holistic Management training starts by identifying everyone involved in daily decision-making in an operation or a farm-based business. Getting all the decision-makers involved in establishing a whole farm plan provides a common framework that allows everyone to assess decisions made on a farm," he says.

"The goals of Holistic Management are to enhance farm profitability, improve efficiency, improve communication, reduce conflict, and promote environmental sustainability."

Components of Holistic Management training
Comprehensive in its design, the training will include a mix of classroom and on-farm sessions. "The course teaches participants to work with farmers to develop farm plans that actively guide their decisions and management, says Wilner. "Participants will leave the training with the ability to guide farmers to examine their relationships and their beliefs, brainstorm new enterprises, articulate goals and identify what they want life on their farm and in their community to be now and in the future."

Participants will also learn to teach farmers how to run all decisions through a series of 'testing questions', or filters, before acting on them. This helps ensure that the action will be socially, economically, and economically sustainable, both in the present and for future generations," Wilner says."

Farmers as both students and teachers
Wilner will invite farmers already using HM to manage their own farms to co-teach some of the classes. "We'll have farmers as both students and trainers," he says. "Other interesting aspects of the training include the use of distance education methods such as an interactive website, a listserv, as well as help from a mentor to aid all participants over the course of the training. All participants will also work with at least two farms when they return home to implement the skills they learned in the sessions. "

Introductory seminar May 30
Wilner, certified as an HM trainer in 2003, will offer a one-day introductory seminar May 30 to introduce people to Holistic Management principles. Call him at 603/863-9200 for more information about the seminar.

Photo caption: Farmers work on whole-farm plans at workshop in Troy, N.H, in January
Photo credit: Seth Wilner

A good forest management plan can help landowners generate more income, enhance wildlife habitat, and leave the forest in better shape for the future

If you're one of the 84,000 people who own a piece of New Hampshire's forest, you're a steward of our clean water, beautiful scenery, abundant wildlife, fresh air, and natural and cultural heritage, not to mention the basis of our forest industry and much of our recreation.

Owning land gives many rewards and, as with most precious things, the more you pay attention to your land and care for it, the greater those rewards.

"It's important to think about what you really want from your land," says Wendy Scribner, UNH Cooperative Extension forest resources educator in Carroll County. "You can grow firewood and timber, create a haven for wildlife, cut trails--the list is endless," she says. Steve Roberge, her colleague in Cheshire County, agrees. "Owning land gives you many options. I'm here to help," he says.

You don't have to go it alone. Start with an Extension forester.
There are Extension forestry educators like Scribner and Roberge in each New Hampshire county. Their job is to help and advise forest landowners. If you don't know your local Extension forester, a call to the UNH Cooperative Extension Forestry Information Center at 1-800-444-8978 will connect you.

In addition to these forestry educators, more than 200 licensed foresters statewide offer a variety of services, including forest stewardship planning, current use assistance, forest inventory and appraisal, buying and selling standing trees, nurturing young trees (weeding and thinning), wildlife habitat management, marking trees to cut for regenerating the next forest, and laying out trails and other recreation improvements.

Project Teams Master Gardeners with Retail Centers

UNH Cooperative Extension (UNHCE) has partnered with a group of retail garden centers throughout New Hampshire in a pilot program called "Ask a Master Gardener." The program will tap the knowledge and expertise of highly trained Master Gardeners to help garden center staff answer home gardening and lawn care questions.

The program has two goals:

1. To increase statewide awareness of the UNHCE Master Gardener Program and the Family, Home & Garden Education Center toll-free Info Line (1-877-398-4769).


2. To form working relationships between retail growers/garden centers and the Master Gardener program that will benefit the volunteers, the businesses, and the customers.

The pilot program will run in 18 outlets from mid-April through June of 2007. For more information about the program, contact Family, Home & Garden Education Center Coordinator Rachel Maccini at 629-9494, ext. 130.

Most New Hampshire people by now have heard of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), a mosquito-spread viral disease of birds that sometimes infects mammals, including humans. The table below shows the recent history of the virus in New Hampshire:

EEE Cases Detected in New Hampshire

	Year	Birds	Human	Other mammals	Mosquito pools
	1982	unknown	0	several (equine)	unknown
	2004	3 emus	1	3 horses	19
	2005	54 (including 2 emus)	7 (2 died)	9 horses, 1 alpaca, 1 llama	15
	2006	5 birds	0	1 horse	40

Since 1964, eight humans have fallen ill with EEE in New Hampshire—seven in 2005, and one in 2004. The number of EEE cases in birds and all mammals fell in 2006, although the number of positive mosquito pools was up, a fact that probably reflects refinements to and expansion of monitoring efforts: 11,682 pools from 59 towns tested in 2006, up from 3,969 pools from 30 towns in 2005 Three times as many communities did some type of monitoring in 2006 than in 2005.

By the way, a “pool” is just a group of adult mosquitoes of the same species that are ground up together and analyzed for the virus. Pooling them makes virus detection more sensitive—you can test many more for the same amount of money.

Clearly the EEE virus was here in 2006, but no human cases were detected in the state, perhaps because of the combination of public education, monitoring, and mosquito control efforts.

In 2006 the numbers of Cs. melanura (the principal species that spreads EEE among birds) were the highest in memory. One expert says an EEE outbreak usually follows one year after a Cs. melanura peak. Also, several lines of evidence suggest that the mosquito species, Cx. morsitans, might be more important than we thought in EEE. State public health officials are looking at the data and making several modifications to 2007 plans.

What’s in store for 2007?
We can’t predict with certainty, but there are enough worrisome indicators to recommend that state residents prepare for a significant EEE threat in late summer: the possible unappreciated role of C. morsitans, very high C. melanura numbers on 2006, lots of virus found in mosquitoes in 2006.

Clearly, the weather conditions and pattern of buildup in 2007 will tell us if and when to worry. The areas with the highest risk are likely to be the same, with southeast Rockingham County the most likely hotspot, and late summer the riskiest time.

If you’d like to read more on the subject, this 13-page fact sheet should answer most of your question. The fact sheet includes links to much more information.

For a graphic illustration of EEE in the Granite State in 2006 check this map from the state Division of Health and Human Services. Here’s the Division’s 2006 arboviral test results report.

By Dr. Alan T. Eaton, UNH Cooperative Extension entomology specialist

An interdisciplinary team of UNH Cooperative Extension staff has teamed with outside experts to offer a 13-week Natural Resource Business Institute (NRBI) this spring. This first-of-its-kind course will provide 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 - “working landscapes”- are essential for preserving New Hampshire’s natural resources for future generations,” says Extension agricultural business management specialist Mike Sciabarrasi. “Extension educators believe outreach education is the best way to strengthen the economic viability of the state’s natural resource businesses.”

Comprehensive course will cover all aspects of starting a natural resource business
Sciabarrasi says NRBI participants will develop an operating plan for a farming or forestry business as they learn about biological systems, product and service marketing, enterprise profitability and legal matters particular to natural resource businesses. They’ll learn to take inventory of a site’s natural resources and explore the human dynamics of running a family business (e.g., defining roles and responsibilities, handling conflict, managing time, and hiring outside labor).

The wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa L) is a fairly common roadside plant in New England. A mature plant can grow about 45 inches tall. It’s considered the same species as cultivated parsnip and is also closely related to the wild carrot (Queen Anne’s lace). The parsnip has yellow flowers and Queen Anne’s lace has more feathery foliage and white flowers.
 
Some species in this plant family, including wild parsnip, can cause a painful, blistering rash if you cut or break the foliage, get the sap on your skin, and then get exposed to sunlight. The skin discoloration can last for months after the rash subsides. The term for such skin reactions is phytophotodermatitis. Many local physicians are unaware of this plant-caused skin reaction and attribute the problem to poison ivy.

The chemicals that cause this reaction are called furocoumarins, and occur in the leaves, stems and seeds. A related plant, giant hogweed, can cause even more severe burns.

The picture here is of a roadside plant in Lee taken August 1.The flowers have mostly gone by, but the seeds are highly visible. Apparently this plant is more common in northern parts of New Hampshire than in the seacoast, where I live. A colleague suggested I experience the dermatitis myself to get first-hand photos of the injury. No thanks!

If you want to eliminate wild parsnip plants on your property, you have a couple of options. Just mowing or cutting them down won’t eliminate them, because they usually re-sprout from the roots. (Plus it might expose your skin to the sap.) Cutting off the taproot just below the soil line with a shovel is an easy method if you have only a few plants. Wear gloves, long pants and long sleeves to protect your skin if you choose this approach. Dispose of the plants in the trash to ensure the seeds won’t get carried off by small animals or the wind to sprout somewhere else.

If you have a lot of wild parsnip plants, chemical controls might be appropriate. Spraying the foliage with the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup, Kleenup and other brands) is one effective alternative. Be sure you follow label directions and precautions when using this (or any other pesticide).

But remember, chemicals may not be appropriate in some situations where special restrictions apply. Check state and local regulations before you spray near wetlands or surface water bodies and highway rights-of-way, for example. Also, if your home drinking water supply relies on a shallow (“dug”) well, you may want to avoid spraying any pesticide (or other chemical) within a 100-foot radius of the wellhead.

By Alan Eaton, UNH Cooperative Extension Entomologist and Pest Management Specialist

A 20-year partnership between the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and UNH Cooperative Extension was recognized January 11 at a ceremony in Concord. UNH Cooperative Extension Dean and Director John Pike presented a commemorative plaque to N.H. Fish and Game Executive Director Lee Perry in observance of 20 years of jointly caring for New Hampshire's wildlife.

"The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department has been a close and active partner with Extension for decades. Twenty years ago, the Department and UNH Cooperative Extension entered into an agreement for a joint effort to reach landowners, natural resource professionals, volunteers, the forest industry, community leaders and the public to protect and enhance wildlife habitat in New Hampshire," Dean Pike said.

"This successful program has made a real difference in people's stewardship values and practices. Fish and Game and UNH Cooperative Extension are on a common mission. We truly value this mission and the dedicated people at Fish and Game that we work with so closely," he added.

As a result of this partnership, more than 300 New Hampshire resource professionals have gained the ability to identify, maintain and enhance wildlife habitat for New Hampshire landowners. Over 250 trained volunteers in the N.H. Coverts Program help communities and landowners make informed decisions regarding natural resources. These efforts have helped community decision makers and the public better understand concepts such as biodiversity, the dangers of invasive species and the need for permanently protecting critical natural resource areas.

Founding leaders of the partnership between Fish and Game and UNH Cooperative Extension were present for the ceremony, including Roger S. Leighton and Gibb Dodge, former UNH Cooperative Extension Program Leaders and Howie Nowell, former N.H Fish and Game Wildlife Chief.

Does the sharp climb in heating oil prices—now above $2.20 a gallon, with no end in sight— have you dusting off that old wood stove in the corner or researching the latest wood stove technology?

If so, then you will also want to spend some time contemplating where you are going to get your firewood. As a rule of thumb, a cord of dry hardwood fuel yields about the same usable heat as 200 gallons of heating oil, a ton of hard coal, or about 4000 kilowatts of electricity. By comparing the cost of other fuels with cordwood, you can figure out the savings you’ll realize by burning wood to heat your home.

Fuelwood needs time to dry
Don’t expect to go out in the backyard when the weather turns cold to cut down a few trees to saw up and throw into the new stove. It takes time to cure and dry firewood. Burning green firewood is very inefficient, and it can be unsafe. The moisture content of green wood averages 60 percent to 80 percent by weight, depending on when it was cut.

Evaporating all that water in your stove will use as much as 15 percent of the potential heat in your firewood, so you are better off letting nature do it for you by air-drying your wood before you burn it. Burning green wood also promotes a buildup of creosote in the chimney, increasing the risk of a dangerous chimney fire.

It will take about six months to air-dry a cord of cut and split wood to 30 percent moisture content and a year or more to reach 20 percent moisture content. So if you haven’t started cutting and splitting your wood pile, you won’t catch up before cold weather arrives this fall. That means you’ll probably need to buy dry cordwood this year and plan on using any wood you cut now during the 2006-2007 heating season.

Brace for higher prices
If you haven’t bought a cord of cut-and-split firewood in a few years, you might be surprised by the prices. A quick perusal of your local weekly newspaper or “shopper” will show advertised prices exceeding $200 for a cord of dry wood.

Don’t be too quick to assume the high price of dry firewood is a reaction to the sudden surge in demand. The firewood business is labor-intensive and requires a lot of transportation. During the 1990’s, when oil was cheap and firewood profits where thin, most large firewood dealers started to automate the production of firewood through the use of firewood processors in an effort to stay competitive. These processors are designed to cut and split log-length wood (16-foot logs).

In response, many firewood dealers started to buy in log-length wood by the truckload from local loggers. This strategy worked well until demand for hardwood pulp surged two or three years ago. Suddenly, firewood dealers who were used to paying $30 to $40 a cord for log length had to pay $80 to $100 per cord for the same wood. They had to pass these costs along to their customers. Add surging prices for insurance (especially workman’s compensation) and fuel to run the equipment, and the old standard of $120 to $140 cord of firewood quickly rises to $200.

If you’re still balking at paying $200 a cord for firewood, don’t delay too long, because prices are bound to increase as winter gets closer and supplies disappear. Dry firewood has been very difficult to purchase the past couple of winters because demand exceeded supply.

Wood-buying saavy
If you’re in the market to buy three or four cords of dry wood for the winter, I suggest you look in your local newspaper or “shopper,” or ask your neighbors and friends about dealers they might know. Be sure you are buying dry wood. Ask the dealer how long the wood you plan to buy has been drying since it was cut and split. Learn the species mix of the dealer’s wood, too. The denser the wood, the longer it will take to dry. Oak, for example, may take more than a year to dry to 20 percent moisture content.

Be sure to clarify what measure of wood you are buying. By state law, a cord of wood is 128 cubic feet of air, bark, and wood. That’s a pile of wood 8 feet long by 4 feet high by 4 feet wide. A vendor may legally sell a fraction of a cord, but must represent it accurately as such (e.g., a half-cord). Remember that stacking a cord is an imperfect skill, so the cord will vary in slightly in size every time it is stacked.

Receiving and storing firewood
It’s a good idea to meet the delivery truck before the load is dumped to make sure you are satisfied by the mixture of species and cleanliness, and to tell the driver where you want the wood dumped. Most firewood dealers don’t want to return to your house to reload their truck.

Unless you’ve arranged otherwise, it’s up to you to restack the pile. Stack it outside in a well ventilated area off the ground (used pallets make a good platform if you don’t have a woodshed). Don’t cover your stacked wood until about a month or so before you begin to use it, to encourage natural air circulation to drive the moisture from the wood.

Even if you’re buying your firewood, the work of stacking it, loading your stove all winter, and removing the ashes will enable you to understand the old adage “wood warms you twice.”

By Tim Fleury, MerrimackCountyForest Resources Educator

For more information:

• Estimating Firewood from Standing Trees Describes a simple technique for woodlot owners who cut firewood on their own land.
• Fuel Value Calculator Compares the cost of different home heating fuels.
• Guide to N.H. Timber Harvesting Laws - Important to know the laws, if you are going to cut your own trees.
• NH Arborists Association - This site contains a list of certified N.H. Arborists, professionals who remove unwanted or hazard yard trees and may have fuelwood for sale.
• Safe Timber Harvesting - Read this if you plan to cut your own trees.
• The Warmth of Wood More on the benefits of burning native wood.
• Where Does Firewood Come From? Learn more about New Hampshire’s commercial firewood suppliers.
• Woodburning Saavy Please download our fact sheet to review or improve your knowledge of how to burn wood safely in your home.

As New Hampshire begins drying out from recent record floods and taking stock of damaged homes, businesses, roads, and agricultural plantings, public officials have issued a number of flood-related warnings and information bulletins.

Over a week after the flooding, many people whose homes were damaged have not yet been allowed to return and survey the damage. In the Goffstown area, about 50 families were evacuated and still haven't returned to assess and start cleaning up. State and federal health and emergency officials are working hard to provide information.

To learn more:

• Testing and protecting drinking water in a flood aftermath (bulletin contains other important safety information)
• Risks from household hazardous materials in flood-damaged buildings
• Dealing with mold
• Cleanups that might involve asbestos
• Post-flood fraud and scams alert
• Bike/walk-to-work day postponed

Click here for a complete list of flood related links.

UNH Cooperative Extension has an array of information to help New Hampshire residents recover from multiple problems caused by this weekend’s floods.

Storm damage can leave behind debris-strewn areas, contaminated water, spoiled food, displaced wildlife and conditions, if not treated properly, may lead to health problems.

With rain totals reaching as high as 11 inches in some areas, and more on the way, residents must assume that all water sources are contaminated until proven safe. Food contaminated by flood waters should be handled carefully and a determination made on what to keep or discard.

Topics include staying safe, recovering from a power outage, restoring storm-damaged buildings, helping children cope with disaster, salvaging water-damaged belongings, financial recovery and more.

To those in the flood areas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) urges residents to do the following immediately:

• If your home, apartment or business has suffered damage, call the insurance company or agent who handles your insurance right away to file a claim.
• Before entering a building, check for structural damage.
• Do not use matches, cigarette lighters or any other open flames once you’ve entered a damaged building, since gas may be trapped inside. Use a flashlight.
• Keep electricity off until an electrician has inspected your system for safety.
• Flood waters pick up sewage and chemicals from road, farms and businesses. If your home has been flooded, start cleaning up as soon as possible. Throw out foods and medicines that may have come in contact with flood waters.
• Boil water for drinking and food preparation vigorously for five minutes before using.

If you have additional questions, please contact your local Extension office. Please click on all our links for further advice.

This spring about a thousand New Hampshire landowners will slice the newly-defrosted ground to create thousands of welcoming holes for tree and shrub seedlings bought from the State Forest Nursery.

Howie Lewis, nursery forester, calls his nearly 40-acre nursery one of New Hampshire’s best- kept secrets. Lewis says the nursery produces a unique product. “We provide something nobody else does – tree and shrub seedlings native to New Hampshire, with seeds picked from specimens grown right here in the state. When you buy from the state forest nursery, you know the plant is suited to grow here.”

In operation in Boscawen since 1910, the nursery grows more than 50 species of trees and shrubs for reforestation, Christmas trees, and wildlife, and sells them at affordable prices. Seedlings, sold on a “first come-first served basis” include conifers, such as white, red and Scotch pine, Norway, blue, red, and white spruce, concolor, balsam, fraser and douglas fir, and hemlock.

The nursery offers many other species, including arrow-wood, crabapple, fragrant sumac, grapes, highbush cranberry, dogwood, rose, nannyberry, beach plum, elderberry, winterberry holly, bayberry, hazelnut, red oak, cedar, sugar maple and white ash. Special “packages,” each containing an assortment of 25 shrubs and/or trees, include a Christmas tree sampler and special wildlife-and-songbird, wetlands, native species, and winter survival packages.

Besides being one of his best sellers, balsam fir is Lewis’ personal favorite. “I’ve worked with this species the most. I follow seedlings from the parents in the seed orchard through to watching them grow in the seedbed.” Balsam fir is a customer favorite because it has that classic evergreen smell. Seedlings sell out, so nursery staff suggest you order early.

Ordering starts in January and ends March 30. “When you are in the nursery business, spring starts a different time each year,” says Lewis, “So we ship to a county pickup point in late April or early May, whenever the seedlings can be lifted from the ground.” Customers receive a card in the mail announcing the pick up dates. “We work throughout the year getting ready for the spring shipment and hope we have many new customers this year.”

Lewis is enthusiastic about his trees and shrubs and hopes “New Hampshire’s best kept secret” is known by all.

By Karen Bennett, UNH Cooperative Extension Forest Resources Specialist

More information:

• To receive a catalog, contact the N.H. State Nursery, N.H. Division of Forests and Lands, P.O. Box 1856, Concord, NH 03302-1856, or call 603-271-3456.
• View the State Nursery catalog and order online.
• Planting and Care of Tree Seedlings
• Establishing the Christmas Tree Plantation

With the powerful essay by Carolyn Baldwin posted below, UNH Cooperative Extension launches NH Outside, a weekly column written primarily by UNH natural resources volunteers.

NH Outside aims to connect readers to New Hampshire’s wild and cultivated outdoor environments by motivating folks to get outside more often, to learn more about the topics we write about, and to become closer observers of the natural world.

UNH Extension supports more than 1,300 trained natural resources volunteers: Master Gardeners, Community Tree Stewards, Wildlife Coverts Cooperators, Lay Lakes Monitors, and Marine Docents. These folks come to our programs motivated by enthusiasm for sharing what they know and love about New Hampshire’s natural environment. In exchange for their training and support, they agree to volunteer time in a wide variety of local and statewide educational projects.

We've recruited, and will keep recruiting, a few natural resources volunteers who like to write, offering them support for improving their writing skills and an opportunity to see their words in print. Our own agricultural resources, forestry & wildlife, and water resources staff will contribute occasionally to NH Outside, as well as review technical content of the volunteers’ columns as needed.

We’ll offer the weekly columns to newspapers and newsletters statewide, so look for them in your local newspaper. We’ll also publish them in the new NH Outside section of our Web site, so you can read them here every week.

Are you interested in helping protect New Hampshire's wildlife? Are you an e