Conservation Commission Past Events

On October 1, 2023, Jerri and Wally Cole and the Cornish Conservation Commission (CCC) held a celebration to honor the Cole’s recently established 203-acre conservation easement at Paget Farm, 333 Paget Road, Cornish.

In addition to the Coles, Brian Hotz—the Vice President for Land Conservation at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF), six CCC Commissioners, and 31 community members attended the event. The weather cooperated, as it was a beautiful, sunny, fall day with temperatures in the low 70’s.

Through the support of individual donors and the CCC, the costs related to conserving the Cole property and providing for its long-term stewardship were supported through a successful fundraising campaign.

The easement, now under the management of SPNHF, prevents future subdivision/development of the 203 acres, but does allow recreational use and sustainable forestry, while protecting water resources and other natural resources on the property. This new easement, between Dodge Hollow Road and Paget Road, also further extends other protected lands in Cornish/Plainfield, such as the adjacent Michael M. and Claudia Yatsevitch Forest, creating a contiguous conserved block of 1,969 acres.1

All attendees enjoyed light refreshments while hearing a brief introduction from Corey Fitch, a presentation by Brian about conservation easements in general, and closing remarks from the Coles about the property’s history and their path to conserving their land.

After responding to a few questions about easements from those in attendance, the group took a short walk to learn more about the natural characteristics of the property, which consists of mixed northern hardwood forest of sugar maple, oak, beech and birch. This type of large, interconnected blocks of forested habitat are important to the movement and migration of wildlife, including wide-ranging species like black bear and moose—and the woodlands, fields, and winding dirt roads of Cornish are fundamental to the character of our beautiful Connecticut River community that has inspired so many writers and artists.1

1 https://forestsociety.org/project/cole-conservation-easement-cornish

Conservation Commission Past Events

The Cornish Elementary School and the Cornish Conservation Commission welcomed speakers Jack Dalton (age 13) and Susie Spikol to an all-school presentation on June 9, 2023. For an hour Jack, the “Kid Conservationist,” and Susie Spikol, an environmental education specialist, engaged  Cornish students, teachers and 4 Winds volunteers by sharing the stories of their individual roads to learning about and loving the natural world. Both were inspired from an early age just like our Cornish students!

Jack shared his passion for saving the orangutan in the wild and introduced the students to his book that raises money to plant trees in the rainforest.

Susie’s fascination is being in the field with children and translating her experiences in the classroom and field to a wider audience through her books for children.

The students were asked to consider the orangutan and the bald eagle, and determine which they might rather be. A survey at the start of the program proclaimed the eagle as the most popular choice, but by the end of the program (and significant enthusiastic audience participation), and a fun-spirited “competition” which consisted of Jack and Susie presenting wonderful facts and information about these two awesome animals, the orangutan emerged as the new top choice!

What a fun learning time for all! Susie hopes to return in the fall and join the 4 Winds team with hands-on experience for the lower wing students. Jack’s and Susie’s books are now in the Cornish Elementary library, the Stowell Library, and available online:

• Kawan The Orangutan Lost in the Rainforest, Jack Dalton
• The Animal Adventurer’s Guide, Susie Spikol

Conservation Commission Past Events

The Cornish Conservation Commission hosted a public educational event for residents to learn about best practices to keep homeowner wellheads (drilled and dug wells) free from contaminants and providing safe and healthy drinking water.

Justin Shaw from Granite State Rural Water Association offered several simple and commonsense takeaways: keep the area around wellheads free of pesticides, fertilizers, gas, oil, other hazardous material spills, animal waste, runoff from snowmelt/rain. Also don’t dump hazardous materials down the sink, pump your septic system on a regular schedule. If you have a drilled well be sure you have a sanitary cap to seal it, that the above ground pipe is in good condition and the cap or top of the well is 8” above the ground surface. Good housekeeping is much easier and cheaper than drilling a new well!

Information about contaminants was shared by Amy Hudinor from NHDES. The source of contaminants can be from pollutants such as PFAS, MtBE and Sodium (from salting roads), or plumbing (lead and copper) or naturally occurring contaminants (arsenic, uranium, radon, and bacteria). 

The recommendation is to test your water every 3-5 years, situations can change and contaminants can move through the soil. Three types of water test kits were supplied by Endyne Labs, and Laurel Jackson provided detailed information about the available tests and also provided a free, or discounted test kit to any attendee interested in testing their water. Once test results are received, residents plug their results into the NH Be Well Informed website to determine if any water treatment is necessary.

Approximately 50 residents attended the workshop, and for those who could not attend or those who want to review the information again, please click the link to view the PowerPoint presentation as offered by our speakers.

The CCC is pleased to bring important educational events such as this to Cornish residents and will continue to focus on the importance of protecting our water resources through land conservation, protection of all of the town’s natural resources as well as offering fun and educational events.

Conservation Commission Past Events

Saturday morning was perfect—full sun, light breeze, warm temps, but cool and refreshing in the Elmhurst Barn on the CREA land. Twenty-two attendees (6 of whom were scouts) sat on hay bales, listening attentively as Laura Deming, a wildlife biologist at Moosewood Ecological, an educator at Antioch, and a former senior biologist at NH Audubon, shared her observations about this Cornish educational and recreational resource.

The group’s two-hour walk and talk with Laura highlighted these points:

• The CREA wetland ecosystem is extremely diverse and supports an abundance of plants, animals, birds, fish and insects. Their life cycles are intertwined and interdependent not only on each other, but on the water, rich mud, surrounding soil nutrients, the forest, and the topography as well.
  
• The wetland and surrounding floodplain allow for a slower rate of water absorption, thereby ensuring snow melt and heavy rains contribute to groundwater recharge rather than becoming run-off. Water is cleansed through the wetlands natural filtration system.
  
• The area is dynamic and ever changing and worthy of protection, as well as use so that it continues to be inspiring and restorative to all the human residents who visit it too. We are fortunate that thus far, CREA users have been good stewards for the wildlife, their habitats and the land itself.

Over the course of the walk, many observations were made: the location of beaver baffles and how they work, a Canada goose on a nest, a pair of common mergansers flying off the pond, tree swallows catching insects overhead, indignant geese honking their displeasure at having to depart from their grazing on the field, invasives to be removed, reminders of Cornish Fair use of the fields, gifts to the property by Eagle Scouts (the wildlife viewing platform, trails, plantings and bird boxes). And the final bird count for the morning walk was 16 species.

After the walk, we gathered once again in the coolness of the shade under the barn for a Q&A and to share ideas for the future. Ideas for keeping the “community park”, as the CREA property was referred to in the 1991 dedication booklet, an active learning and growing environment for all, included suggestions for: continued work on renewing the bluebird house trail to guard against predation and competition with tree swallows, consideration of adding a pollinator garden, removal of invasives (in particular honeysuckle and multi-flora rose), increased use of the kiosks with educational information, conducting plant, amphibian and bird inventories on the property, active attraction of grassland birds, such as bobolink, more regularly scheduled group walks on the trails and, as always, participation in bridge repairs, trail maintenance, and beaver baffle placements. The scouts in attendance were enthusiastic about participation in any future projects!

A final added bonus was to hear the collective historical knowledge about the 1912 Elmhurst Barn shared by Larry Duval, Jim Barker and Bill Gallagher. How many know that the barn once housed a lobster trap factory? Hopefully there will be a future talk about this aspect of CREA’s rich history! As well as many more group walks, and enthusiastic volunteers to keep CREA an important and beautiful resource over its next 32 years.

If you have an interest in learning more about CREA, or about volunteering, contact any of the CREA Committee members, visit /https://www.cornishnh.net/crea/