Happy summer everyone!

As it is nearing the end of July, (time is rushing by!), and we are all busy working and playing, I would like to share with you a camp that was a combination of work and play for me down in Keene, NH.

I worked with Doug Earick to develop a curriculum for a science camp for middleschoolers. I lead the Splash! Into Science kids camp at Keene State University from July 14^th-18^th with Steve Hale as a helpful guide. The camp was overflowing with fun water games and learning activities. We spent the week trying to develop answers to the question, “What’s in the Water?”

The first task of ours was to create our own rules and contract:

…With these self-made rules and thoughts of respect, we went on to start our week of water fun!

This picture is one of the very first activities the kids did to answer the question of the week…

Aside from our overarching question, there were additional questions pondered…

“What types of equipment does a hydrologist use?”

“What is data?”

“What is stream discharge?”

“What is water conductivity?”

We went down to the river to talk about what may be in the water… Continue reading →

Another rad grad blog you say?… please, spare me! (This is the third so far, so we shouldn’t have hit such a tender spot quite yet)…

But, this one is a little off of the beaten path that leads to Boyd 218…This one leads to Meredith Village Savings Bank, where the Center for Rural Partnerships is found in the upstairs floor.

The Center for Rural Partnerships consists of a team headed by Dr. Ben Amsden, with myself (Jess Wilhelm), Taylor Dillingham, Marylynn Cote, and Rachelle Lyons “ordered” to prepare a report about the meat production, processing and market demand in New Hampshire, and the possible application of a state level meat processing certification program.

Have you heard of a state level certification program? ..gnaw…me neither. Continue reading →

Map of proposed land conservation project in central New Hampshire by The Conservation Fund. Over 5,000 acres of forests and wetlands surrounding the Beebe River will be protected.

I haven’t seen the inside of an elementary school in years until Melanie and I volunteered as scribes for The Conservation Fund (TCF) at the Holderness Central School last Wednesday. The two of us, Melanie and Jamie, along with June from the Center for the Environment volunteered to help TCF in its efforts to assess community interests in a local land conservation project and to learn more about the conservation process. TCF is a national non-profit land trust with over 7 million acres protected in 50 states.  They act as a sort of broker, purchasing tracts of land for protection from development and for multiple-use purposes, then partnering with other organizations who will may hold the conservation easements.  TCF frequently utilizes Community Forums to engage public participation and foster local support for their work.

With staff from the Squam Lakes Conservation Society (SLCS), we helped TCF in its efforts to assess community views regarding the recent purchase of the Beebe River Tract, over 5,000 acres abutting the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) in the Towns of Campton and Sandwich.  SLCS was particularly interested in co-hosting the event because the Tract fills a large gap in protected lands just beyond the Squam Lake watershed.  

As scribes we were responsible for listening to and recording the responses of local residents to questions asked by the Forum’s facilitator, Nancy Bell.  With over 20 years of experience, Nancy is TCF’s Vermont Representative and has helped protect at least 500,000 acres in the Northeast – certainly no small feat!  Each question for the residents was designed to stimulate conversation about the personal connections that each person has or would like to have with the Beebe River Tract, and to gain insight into their ideas for the future management of the property.  For example, the first question poignantly asked, “What do you love about these lands?” Continue reading →

As a first year master’s student at the Center for the Environment, I began this February, with my advisor, Dr. Lisa Doner, the field work for my master’s project. My project involves temperature and water quality monitoring with sediment analyses in two local lakes: Ossipee Lake (Ossipee, NH) and Squam Lake (Holderness, NH). Our goals for field work were to establish a mooring, with temperature monitors and sediment taps, and collect water samples in each lake. The temperature monitors are placed every meter on the rope, recording temperature every 15 minutes, so we will get a full profile of the thermal state of the lake and be able to observe stratification and turnover events. Since lakes in central New Hampshire develop a thick layer of ice, usually in January, it was easiest to set-up our mooring in the winter time because we could work from a flat, solid surface rather than on a rocking boat. So we waited until mid-February when the ice conditions were deemed safe enough to make a trek across the ice to the deepest point in each lake. Continue reading →

As ES&P graduate students, you can catch us working hard in our offices, labs, and especially throughout our New Hampshire backyard. This page will provide a regular window into the projects and play of the graduate student researchers in the Environmental Science & Policy M.S. program at Plymouth State University. Stay tuned!