In addition to the planned outputs, I participated in the Cheshire County field day sponsored by Steve Roberge.

I spent a morning with Jen Weimer of the Div. of Forests and Lands looking at Hemlock Wooley Adelgid damage near the seacoast.  Jen certified me to be an HWA inspector in Rockingham County.

Spent a morning with Gladys Nicoll (90 years old), a Tree Steward in Chester, looking at her work on the Town's Nature Preserve trail system.

Toured the Piscassic Greenway with Phil Auger, and met with the Greenway Committee in Exeter.

Spent a morning with the SE NH Land Trust rehabilitating turtle breeding habitat on the Lamprey River Wildlife Preserve.

Met with the principal of the North Hampton Elementary School to advise them on the use of rubber mulch under a ropes course behind the school.

Met with the woodworking teacher at Raymond High School to develop a forest management curriculum for the 60 acres of town forest adjacent to the school.

Met with the Community Forestry Advisory Committee to revise the State's 5-year Urban and Community Forestry Plan. 

1/3/08:  Assisted Phil Auger with the location of boundary corners on a potential conservation tract in Strafford.

1/7/08:  Attended a meeting of the Northwood Area Land Management Collaborative at Coe-Brown Academy in Northwood.

1/11/08:  Released Laricobius beetles with Kyle Lombard and Jen Weimer in a stand infected by hemlock woolly adelgid in Hampton Falls.

1/23/08:  Attended a meeting of the State Big Tree committee at SPNHF in Concord. 

3/28/08:  Assisted Rye Jr. High School with a risk tree assessment of a Norway maple in front of the school.

4/4/08:  Assisted the Northwood Conservation Commisssion with an assessment of invasive species on town property near Harvey lake.

4/29/08:  Visited a town conservation area in Hampton with the Director of Seacoast Youth Services.  The property is overgrown with Japanese knotweed and oriental bittersweet.  The town will utilize labor from Seacoast Youth Services to clean up the area and remove invasive plants.  I provided information to the Director on the best methods to control invasive species. 

5/1/08:  Distributed 6,000 seedlings from the State Forest Nursery to 80 clients.

5/5/08:  Finished marking a timber sale at the Merrimack County Farm.

5/10/08:  Attended a vernal pool workshop sponsored by the Exeter River Local Advisory Committee in Raymond.

5/13/08:  Assisted Jon Nute with the Tree Farm inspection of a municipal water company's properties in Hillsborough and Rockingham Counties.

5/19/08:  Attended the annual state-wide Extension conference at UNH in Durham. 

5/27/08:  Attended an Invasive Species Outreach Group meeting and a Big Tree meeting at SPNHF in Concord. 

7/19/08:  Participated in the opening of a new 5 mile loop trail at Northwood Meadows State Park.  The new trail was a cooperative effort of the Northwood Area Land Management Collaborative (NALMC).  19 individuals hiked the trail.  Jim Oehler of NH F&G and I provided a talk on the different wildlife practices implemented on a private property abutting Northwood Meadows State Park.  Two local landowners led the group on a hike of the entire trail.

Press coverage was provided by the Foster Daily Democrat, Manchester Union Leader, Suncook Valley Sun and Portsmouth Herald. 

During the month of August, as time allowed, I responded to several requests for assistance with sick/diseased trees.

8/8/08:  Drooping Rose of Sharon, Kingston (advisory council member).

8/13/08:  Diseased hemlock, Sandown (not HWA)

8/15/08:  dwarf false cypress.  Sample taken to UNH (bark beetle)

8/15/08:  Diseased hemlock, Kingston (former State Representative)(not HWA)

8/22/08:  Diseased red pine, North Hampton (with DRED entomologist)(not Red pine scale)(could be tip blight)

As a result of the individual and workshop-based activity, Extension foresters referred over 400 landowners owning 35,000 acres to licensed foresters who wrote forest stewardship plans on over 29,000 acres. This represents $435,000 of direct economic activity as well as improved management and timber harvesting. Over 25% of New Hampshire’s private forest land is managed according to an integrated forest stewardship plan.

New Hampshire licensed foresters attending Extension workshops manage an estimated 650,000 acres of private forest land resulting in improved practices. 80% of attendees reported that attendance had a positive influence on their land management practice.

Improved timber harvesting emphasizing the use of best management practices (BMPs) and minimizing negative impacts on water quality has been a focus of Extension programming with a variety of audiences. An Extension evaluation of BMP effectiveness demonstrated that in New Hampshire, BMPs are being used effectively during timber harvesting resulting in soil stability 77% of the time at crossing structures; 80% at approaches outside 50’ buffer and 76% at approaches inside the buffer.

Volunteers Extending Our Reach: 440 Coverts and Community Tree Stewards are actively involved in conservation in their communities. Many are heavily involved in helping to minimize the effect of fragmentation and sprawl through open space initiatives. Towns with these active conservation volunteers are three times more likely to have passed conservation funding measures than those towns lacking these volunteers.

Minimizing Fragmentation and Sprawl through Community Conservation Planning and Permanent Land Protection: 12 communities completed natural resource inventories as a prelude to conservation planning and identifying important lands to permanently protect. Over 6,000 acres of forest and field have been permanently protected as a result of assistance provided by the Extension Land and Water Conservation Educator.