Taking Action for Wildlife News and Updates

A partnership of NH Fish and Game and UNH Cooperative Extension

New Hampshire's Wildlife Action Plan News and Updates

Summer 2012

In This Issue

GRANIT View Mapper

Making Habitat Happen

How Can You Help Our Bats?

Taking Action in Your Backyard

Headwater Streams and Wildlife

Visit takingactionforwildlife.org

Taking Action for Wildlife
website

View the introductory video on the home page

Community Stories - Ideas for what your community might do

See all 12 Habitat Stewardship brochures

Download your town's
Wildlife Maps

Report your wildlife sightings:
NH Wildlife Sightings Database

Become a 2012 Coverts Cooperator!

Are you interested in helping protect New Hampshire's wildlife? Are you an enthusiastic person, involved in your community? Do you manage your own land to help wildlife? Are you concerned about the loss of wildlife habitat in New Hampshire? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, the New Hampshire Coverts Project Workshop may be right for you!

The eighteenth annual New Hampshire Coverts Project Workshop will be held October 3-6, 2012 at the Barbara C. Harris Camp & Conference Center in Greenfield, NH. The University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension is currently accepting applicants for the workshop (go to www.nhcoverts.org). Trainees are needed to learn about wildlife habitat and land stewardship. Anyone interested is invited to complete an application. Read More

Out With The Old, In With The View! New GRANIT View Website Replaces GRANIT Data Mapper

I was a content user of the GRANIT Data Mapper website for many years. Perhaps you were too. It allowed those of us without access to expensive and complex computer mapping software to view and print computer maps of any part of the state of New Hampshire. Time to say goodbye, because the GRANIT Data Mapper has now been replaced by an updated version called GRANIT View. Read More

Making Habitat Happen: From Gravel Pit to Wildlife Hotspot

At first glance an old gravel pit may not look like much. In fact, some might call these abandoned landscapes ugly, with their exposed soils, steep banks, old gravel and sand piles, and sparse vegetation. But you might be surprised to learn that gravel pits can provide very important habitat for some of our most imperiled species of wildlife. Such was the case for the Lee Five Corners Reserve, a property owned by the town of Lee in southeastern New Hampshire. Read More

How Can You Help Our Bats?

Bat populations have plummeted as a result of white-nose syndrome, which is caused by a fungus that attacks and damages bats' wings while the bats are hibernating. As bat wings serve vital metabolic functions - air exchange, water retention and temperature control - this damage to the tissue does more than just make it harder to fly. WNS has decimated the populations of two of our eight bat species, the little brown bat and northern long-eared bat, by about 90%. It will take decades, if ever, for the populations to rebound. Bats live a long time, 25 years or so, and are slow to breed. They have one pup per year, and those pups are subject to all the hazards a young wild animal must survive. Protecting breeding bats is critical to the survival of these fascinating creatures. To find out what you can do to help, Read More.

Wildlife Inventory and Monitoring:

Taking Action in Your Own Backyard

Birding experts Don and Lillian Stokes once described how they learned about wildlife on their property in New Hampshire: "The first thing we did was buy a couple of comfortable chairs and set them where we could see out across the landscape." Isn't it true that we are more likely to stop, look, and listen if we're given an easy opportunity to sit down and enjoy a view? This is only the first of many tips offered by "A Landowner's Guide to Inventorying and Monitoring Wildlife in New Hampshire," published by UNH Cooperative Extension and available for free online. Read More

The Importance of Headwater Streams for Wildlife

What is a headwater stream? Generally, we are talking about small streams at the upstream extent of a given watershed. In New Hampshire, headwater streams tend to be relatively high gradient and cool (or absolutely cold!). However, there are also plenty that start their journey as small ponds, wetlands or marshes and these tend to be warmer. Headwater streams are places where forest and stream habitats converge, leading to high densities of insects around the streams. Headwater streams are rich and valuable habitats! Read More

Newsletter Editor: Amanda Stone (UNH Cooperative Extension)

Photo Credits: Frank Mitchell (Banner photo), Malin Clyde (Coverts), Emma Carcagno (Making Habitat Happen), Emily Brunkhurst (Bat House), John Magee (Headwater Stream), Amanda Stone (Wetland)