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4/14/06 - NH Coastal Invasives Control Project Meeting
Dave Kellam attended this meeting led by Beth Lambert of the NH Coastal Program to discuss the current status of the Coastal Invasive Control program. Joanne Glode (The Nature Conservancy) and Rachel Stevens (NH Fish and Game) discussed the use of a computer system to map, track, and monitor invasive species. Biologist Alan Ammann of the Durham office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) led a tour of a recent invasive control project adjacent to Bull Toad Pond on the New Castle Common to restore a rare coastal pitch pine habitat. The NHEP supports the efforts of this diverse and effective group of partners by granting money to the Rockingham County Conservation District to coordinate efforts and administer funding from a variety of sources. Contact Dave Kellam for more information.

4/21/06 - Clam Experiment Installed at Blackwater River
Dr. Brian Beal (Univ of Maine at Machias) installed 15 experimental plots on the flats of Blackwater River in Hampton/Seabrook Harbor with the help of his son Caleb, his graduate student George Protopopescu, Dave Kellam, clam historian Dean Mechant, and Chris Nash and Matt Wood of the NHDES Shellfish Program. This experiment is a continuation of his 2005 work. Plots were seeded with juvenile clams and most were covered with mesh netting to exclude predators, primarily green crabs. Beal visited the site the next day and noted that every plot without netting (controls) were littered with crushed clams. There were no signs of predation underneath the netted plots. Beal and a team of volunteers also installed plots on The Willows. Beal plans to return to examine both sites on Saturday, May 13. Contact Dave Kellam for more information.

4/21/06 - Governor Lynch Earth Day Tour
Researchers and program managers from UNH, state agencies, and conservation organizations accompanied Governor Lynch on a tour of Great Bay aboard the UNH Kingsbury to highlight various research, monitoring, and restoration activities occurring in and around the bay in celebration of Earth Day. Jennifer Hunter described some of the NHEP’s monitoring and outreach activities to the Governor and other guests on the tour. Contact Jennifer Hunter for more information.

Impervious Surface Mapping in Coastal New Hampshire (2005)
The Complex Systems Research Center at the University of New Hampshire reports results of the NHEP-funded project to estimate impervious surface acreage for a 48-town region of coastal New Hampshire for 2005 (including the 42 towns within the NHEP area). Both traditional and subpixel image classification techniques were applied to 30-meter Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite data acquired October 3, 2005. The classifications indicated that impervious surface coverage increased from 4.3% (31,233 acres) in 1990 to 6.3% (45,445 acres) in 2000 to 7.4% (53,408 acres) in 2005, an overall increase of 3.1% in fifteen years. The data set representing impervious surface acreage has been archived in GRANIT GIS clearinghouse, making it available to the general public. As recent state figures project population increases of 21% from 2005 to 2025 in Rockingham and Strafford counties, impervious assessment was recommended to be repeated on 3-5 year cycles to monitor changes. NHEP NOTE: The NHEP study area differs from the study area of this report. Impervious surface estimates for the NHEP study area increased from 4.7% (24,349 acres) in 1990 to 6.8% (35,503 acres) in 2000 to 8.0% (41,784 acres) in 2005, an overall increase of 3.3% in fifteen years. Read the Report (.pdf/786KB)