December 2005, #32

CONTENTS (click on the topics below to get more information)

NOVEMBER ACTIVITIES  

11/2/05 - NEMO LID Training
Northeast Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) hosted a two day Low Impact Development (LID) workshop that was attend by NHEP staff. The first day of the workshop was spent at the Portsmouth Sheraton and covered general information about low impact design and New England case studies. The second day featured training sessions at the UNH Stormwater Center. Contact Jodi Castallo for more information.

11/3/05 - NHEP Land Use Team Meeting
The NHEP Land Use Team discussed land use project updates, preliminary results of the Plymouth State University’s Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NROC) evaluation, the buffer outreach plan, NHEP Management Plan action items pertaining to regulation changes, and updates from team members. Contact Jodi Castallo for more information.

11/7/06 - Septic Scenes Video Judging
Five videos were submitted to the Septic Scenes video contest. A panel of judges from the NHEP Public Outreach and Education Team watched each and scored them based on accuracy and creativity. The winning video is "Your Septic System, Your Friend", submitted by John Shore of Portsmouth and Dina Sutin of Manchester. The film-making duo crafted a four and half minute video that included a news parody, an animated SCUBA diver in a septic tank, and a septic system music video. Final production of the 30 minute Septic Scenes variety show, that will include clips of all five videos, will air in the Spring of 2006 on Community Access Television channels in the Seacoast. Contact Dave Kellam for more information.

11/8 - 11/9/05- Gulfwatch Mussel Sampling NHEP staff again helped collect and prepare mussels for the annual Gulfwatch monitoring program. During the laboratory session, leader Phil Trowbridge was featured in a Community Access television show "Outdoors with Bob", hosted by State Representative Bob L'Heureux from Merrimack. Gulfwatch is the long-term monitoring program of the Gulf of Maine Council and it measures the concentrations of toxic contaminants in the tissues of shellfish, which are an indicator of water quality. In 2005, the NHEP is providing funding for the analysis of mussel, clam, and oyster tissue samples from four sites in New Hampshire. Contact Phil Trowbridge for details.

11/9/05 - CTAP Presentation to Portsmouth Conservation Commission
Mark West presented information about the prime wetlands designation process and the work plan for their prime wetlands designation project to the Portsmouth Conservation Commission. This project is funded by the Community Technical Assistance Program (CTAP). Contact Jodi Castallo for more information.

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11/17/05 - Press Event: Bellamy River Re-opened to Shellfishing The NHDES Shellfish Program organized this press event to announce the re-opening of the lower (southern) portion of the Bellamy River for recreational shellfish harvesting. The event featured six speakers: NHDES Shellfish Program Manager Chris Nash, NHDES Commissioner Michael Nolan, U.S. EPA Enforcement Manager Ken Moraff, Dover Mayor Scott Myers, NH Fish and Game Biologist Bruce Smith, and NHEP Director Jennifer Hunter. NH Public Radio and several other media outlets covered the event. The details of the this re-opening can be found at the NHDES Shellfish Program web site (www.des.state.nh.us/wmb/shellfish).

11/18/05 - Spruce Creek Meeting
Phil Trowbridge and Jodi Castallo met with representatives of the Spruce Creek Association (Kittery, ME) at UNH. The Spruce Creek Association is a relatively new organization and they requested the meeting to learn more about the process for developing watershed management plans and indicators. Contact Phil Trowbridge for more information.

11/18/05 - NHEP Shellfish and Living Resources Team Meeting
The Shellfish and Living Resources Team meeting at UNH Kingman Farm included a critique of the NHEP "Shellfish Spotlight" publication, a presentation by Dr. Ray Grizzle on his oyster restoration projects in Great Bay, and the development of a RFP for implementation of projects from the Great Bay Estuarine Restoration Compendium. Contact Phil Trowbridge for more information.

11/18/05 - CTAP Newfields Meeting
Representatives from Newfields, Jeffery H Taylor Associates, and the NHEP met to discuss the work plan for Newfields’ easement stewardship plan project. This project is funded by the Community Technical Assistance Program (CTAP) Contact Jodi Castallo for information.

 

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NEW NHEP PUBLICATIONS AND REPORTS  

11/28/05 - Candia Land Conservation and Well Survey Project The Town of Candia worked with the Natural Resources Outreach Collation (NROC) and developed a brochure and four newsletters to build support for a $200,000 warrant article for the 2005 Town meeting to replenish their conservation fund. The warrant article successfully passed. Furthermore, Candia-NROC participants expressed concern about drinking water resources (both quality and quantity) and thus administered a well survey to collect baseline data about Candia’s ground water resources. The survey, which was sent to 1500 Candia households, yielded an 18% response. Read the Report (.pdf/9.5MB)

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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UPCOMING EVENTS

12/21/05 - NHEP Management Committee Meeting, 9:00am-Noon, Elliot Alumni Center, UNH, Durham
Contact Jennifer Hunter for more information.

12/26/05 THROUGH 1/2/06 - NHEP Offices Closed (all UNH offices closed)

1/25/06 - NHEP Water Quality Team Meeting, 10:00am-Noon, Kingman Farm, Madbury
Contact Natalie Landry at 603- 559-1507 for more information.

1/28/06 - NH Seacoast Regional Wastewater Management Study Charrette, Cooperative Middle School, Stratham
Contact Robert Scherpf at 603-622-1556 or robert.scherpf@m-e.com for more information.

3/22/06 - NHEP POET Meeting, 9:00am-Noon, Sandy Point Discovery Center, Stratham
Contact Dave Kellam for more information.

10/27/06 - 2006 State of the Estuaries Conference, Sheraton Harborside, Portsmouth
Contact Jodi Castallo for more information.

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