The pond near the Eco Ag Center is coming alive again after a long, cold spring. Baltimore orioles, red-winged black birds, tree swallows, bluebirds, and at least 30 other songbirds have been seen or heard there recently. The great blue heron has been fishing along with some human neighbors at the dock. The community and pollinator gardens are greening up and starting to have early flowers. Sowing seeds and weeding has begun in earnest again. A snapping turtle was sighted away from the pond, probably finding a place to lay her eggs. And this year, I noticed a new addition to the pond - a small lodge made out of sticks and grass in the middle of the cattail area. I wondered what creature m
Vilas Middle School and Fall Mountain Regional High School students have been going outside to learn and explore all year long through monthly field studies that focused on natural resources. Area specialists came in to teach on the following topics: soils, aquatics, forestry, and wildlife. They dug up soil and looked at the layers, learned how to identify and measure trees, touched and smelled mammal skins and skulls, tracked animals through the snow, and assessed the health of ponds and rivers through chemical tests and biotic surveys. The NH Envirothon program tests middle and high school students' knowledge on each of these topics every May. This year, Newport Middle/High School broug
Over 40 people turned up at the North Charlestown Orchard last weekend to help restore it to its former state. Many were from Charlestown or grew up there, some serve on the Charlestown Conservation Commission, and others came from as far away as Keene and Concord. Aaron Cinquemani, the principal of North Charlestown Community School and Charlestown Middle School, welcomed the group and shared some history about the orchard. The orchard was originally planted by Stanley Wilson in 1930, who lived across the street and stored the apples in the big barn. The Stacey brothers moved into the house and ran the orchard after him. The Allen Brothers took care of pruning and spraying the orchard fo
Most of the time I go hiking, my eyes are focused ahead of me or I'm looking up into the trees. Years of leading long hikes have trained me to keep my eyes up, so I can notice what is around me. But this month, my eyes will be trained on the ground as I search for those small beauties, spring ephemeral wildflowers. They may only bloom for a week or two out of the whole year and I don't want to miss it! Some of my favorite places to find wildflowers are Madame Sherri Memorial Forest in Chesterfield, NH, Plainfield Ledges, Claremont to Newport Railtrail, and Marshall Pond trailhead on County Lands. I've observed bloodroot (pictured), hepatica, bell flower, trailing arbutus, red trillium, ma
