A New Home for "From Boroughs to Birches"

"From Boroughs to Birches" has a new home! You can now find the NH LEAF blog directly on The Nature Conservancy's website at www.nature.org/NHLEAFblog.

Our 2016 season is underway. Come follow along!

Day 12: Relaxing

Day 12 - Northern New Hampshire

Yay for shopping! We spent our morning in North Conway's Settler's Green shopping mall after getting to sleep in until 10am. We also got lunch at this cute underground (literally) place, where we met up with Deanna's friend Kristen again, who's chilling with us for the weekend.

We all got great deals at the outlet mall. After wandering around North Conway, we came home (after a stop at McD's) to chill out. I napped and the rest of the crew watched TV. We made dinner--chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes--and then chilled some more.

I got to know some people in the hostel: these two younglings from Germany who want to work on a farm, a couple from Canada, some rock climbers, a guy from Miami. There was a jam session during which I caught up on my journaling. It was a much-needed relaxing day.

- Nadia and the 2015 LEAF Crew

Days 10 & 11: Happy Birthday, Ashley!

Day 10 - Northern New Hampshire/Maine

Hello!

Today was a very eventful day. We met our new supervisor, Jon, and his intern, Julia. We had a very fast car ride to Maine for our new job, where we hiked up Mount Tom with our tools to build a water bar. Water bars are made so that when water runs down the mountain, the bar prevents it from ruining the trails for hikers.

We were able to finish a good portion of the work and were super tired. We came home to eat very yummy burgers made by Ashley and Andrea. We fell asleep right away from how exhausted we were from all the hard work!

Your 2015 LEAF Crew

---

Day 11 - Northern New Hampshire/Maine

Hello!

Today was another great day. We woke up and drove to Maine for work. We hiked up Mount Tom again and were able to completely finish our whole water bar.

Mmmmm... cake!

After work we headed for the beach with Wink to celebrate Ashley's birthday. Deanna made a wonderful cake and the girls (and Wink!) sang Happy Birthday. Then we all got in the water until it was time for dinner, where we were treated to the FOOD. It was delicious.

We then headed home and fell asleep, excited to sleep in the next morning.

Your 2015 LEAF Crew

Day 9: College Visits & Corn on the Cob

Day 9 - Northern New Hampshire

Welcome back!

Today was a great day for all the girls. Sadly we had to move out of The Pines Guest House. We are all going to miss the lovely people we met there, such as: guests staying there like Rita and her husband; the owners, Mary Margaret and her husband; the amazing people we worked for like Joanne and Michael.

However, today marks a new adventure. Today we went to a college tour at the University of New Hampshire. There we got to learn all about the school, and even got a special tour from Tom Lee, a professor there (and NH chapter trustee!) He was able to take us around the science department and talked to us about not only college, but different aspects of college that you won't get on a normal tour. He invited us to his lab and even joined us for a delicious lunch at UNH.

After an informative morning, we drove up to Conway. We were able to see our new home for the next couple of days. We quickly found out that we all had bunk beds that we had to share. But we do hope to learn from this experience. However, we do love the fact that there is a dog at this location:

Deanna clearly loves the dog.

After checking into our rooms, we headed out to buy groceries. Once we got home, we unpacked and Claudia and Nadia made a splendid grilled cheese with tomato soup with corn on the cob. Wink joined us for dinner too!

Afterwards, some of the girls played a board game called Apples to Apples, which Andrea dominated in. We quickly got tired from an exciting day, and headed to bed. Hope you all enjoy!

Ashley & Your 2015 LEAF Crew

Day 8: Goodbye, Southern New Hampshire!

Day 8 - Southern New Hampshire

Friends!
Today was our last day working in southern New Hampshire. But it was a good last day. We got to work with both Joanne and Mike today! We spent the morning installing bog bridges, but on the Sweet Trail this time. A tree had fallen on a couple and some were just breaking and needed replacement. With our super muscles from Friday, we installed all four before breaking for lunch. To be fair, they were only 2x8's that were two years old instead of 2x12's, brand new. We also only had a carrying distance of a few hundred feet... but still, we did all three in like two hours.

The most difficult part was not installing the new pieces, but removing the old ones. They were not as demolished as in Manchester, so they required some serious manpower and tools: sledgehammers, grub hoes, crowbars, we had it all! We finished so early before lunch, we even did some trail clearing with loppers and did a bit of invasive species removal.

Dedication stone at the end of the Sweet Trail.

Lunch was a fantastic experience. To Joanne and Mike, thanks so much. It was a great spot. We grabbed our lunches and walked out to the end of the Sweet Trail, where there were some benches and an opening to the salt marsh, which we were looking out on. We also used lunch as a photo op. We explored and learned about the ecosystems on the salt marsh, and took some group shots.

After lunch, we cleared out the area we ate in, to make it more welcoming to visitors. We just did the basic lopping and pulling where necessary. We worked our way up the trail, and then decided to wander off to go see the osprey's nest (we also heard its call!)

Check out that view!

When we returned it started to rain, and the storm looked menacing. But we waited it out and it was totally fine. As a result, we moved on to Plan B, which was putting up signage. As a result of the installation of the Sweet Trail, a bunch of the old little loops had confusing signs. What we did was put up a main sign for one loop, and then replaced the yellow signs with blue ones on the trail in order to clear up confusion. We also added a sign telling hikers that the Sweet Trail is not a loop trail.

We headed back in, and rushed home to shower and get ready for our 6 o'clock dinner at La Festa. We had the whole southern New Hampshire gang there: Len, Joanne, Mike, Megan and all of us. We ordered five pizzas, the highlight being the pepperoni with a garlic knot crust. We had lots of leftovers... which will not go to waste! We also had dessert (there's ALWAYS room for dessert) of cinnamon knots with icing. It was a great night out, thanks to Len and all who planned it!

It's kind of sad to leave The Pines and Socks and Whiskers (their cats), and all of southern New Hampshire, which we all loved. We really enjoyed our time here, and will keep you updated while we're up north!

See you soon,
Your 2015 TNC LEAF Crew

Day 7: Cable Gates

Day 7 - Southern New Hampshire

Lovely Readers,

Hey guys! Today was our last day down in Manchester. We spent the morning installing two cable gates along a newly acquired parcel of land. These gates are put up to prevent ATV usage along the trails, as consistent usage of ATVs leads to problems like erosion. We used a cable wire which we attached to two trees running perpendicular to the path. In the middle there was a piece of PVC we slid on, which we then covered with reflective tape and spray paint to make more visible. We also put up caution signs on the area near the gate.

A fern at Manchester Cedar Swamp. Pretty! Photo by Eric Aldrich.

We broke for lunch, learning how to identify blueberries on the way back (and picking some to snack on). For our afternoon, we toured Southern New Hampshire University with Mike, who graduated this spring. We talked to the Dean of Arts and Sciences, and all loved it!

Tomorrow we're installing bog bridges. We'll update you then.

Sincerely,

Your TNC LEAF Team

Day 6: Some Time Off

Day 6 - Southern New Hampshire

Hello TNC Readers,

Today was our lovely Sunday off. We ventured out to Hampton Beach, but it was absolutely packed (and parking was exuberant... $30 a day!), so we ended up at Rye State Park, which was just as beautiful. It has this nice grassy area and a beach with a sandbar that goes out for what seems like forever. We waded, tanned, read, ate, slept, talked, and had a great day. We were joined by our mentor Deanna's friend, Kristen, who drove three hours from Vermont to visit.



Rye Beach. This nice photo is by Flickr user Chris Luczkow via Creative Commons.

We came home and did grocery shopping, then had dinner and some one-on-one check-ins with Deanna about work and life. The highlight of our night was a group movie, quite the chick-flick, Twilight: New Moon.

We're off to Manchester tomorrow. We'll keep you updated!

Sincerely, Your 2015 LEAF Crew

Day 4: The Great Bog Bridge Build

Day 4 - Southern New Hampshire

Today was the day we really had to pull the guns out. Today we fixed bog bridges down at Manchester Cedar Swamp. Bog bridges are those awesome two-plank wide bridges which exist in watery areas to help keep hikers' feet nice and warm (and not covered in mud). What I didn't realize before today is that these bridges are all made manually. People carry in the lumber, remove the broken pieces, and nail in the new pieces. In hindsight this makes sense, I just never thought about it when crossing the bridges.

Anyway, today these people who made the bog bridges were us!

We started our morning carrying in the heaviest piece of wood, a nice 2x12 (actually, we got kind of ambitious and tried carrying both a 2x12 and a 2x10, but it didn't go too well - these pieces of lumber weighed at least 300 pounds a piece). The 2x12 which was broken was also the hardest to remove because it was the least dilapidated, and the previous group had installed two 2x6's.

After that job was done (we also had to haul in the tools that round), we headed back to the trailhead to pick up another 2x10. We were joined by our good friend Len, whose lifting skills put ours to shame. We installed the 2x10 much easier than the 2x12, and split for lunch.

Our lunch furthered our discussion on the native plants in the area. Before we installed the 2x12, we took a tour around the swamp and learned about some of the plants. The American white cedar was the crown jewel of the swamp. It's a slightly endangered species due to the fact that it's super water resistant wood. We also saw a black gum tree. Unlike the cedar, it has no practical use besides making buttons (thanks to Len for that tidbit). So all the black gums are around 400 years old, while the cedars are less than 100--generally speaking--because the black gums were never logged.

We also learned that blueberry plants and rhododendron plants are in the same family, which is pretty neat. Our lunches also tasted great after all that hauling (plus Len brought cherries again!)

After lunch, we repeated the process with the remaining 2x10, and then got both of the 2x8's in a single trip! By the end, we all knew we'd wake up sore in the morning. But the hikes were super beautiful. We probably hiked 3 or 4 miles total, and it was quite scenic. We definitely earned our weekend. Our weekend should be super interesting. Saturday we're spending the day in Boston, visiting Harvard and the science museum. Sunday's still undecided... then Monday we're back at Manchester Cedar Swamp installing fences. More on that in a few days.

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Sincerely, your 2015 LEAF Crew

Day 3: Facing Invasives

Day 3 - Southern New Hampshire

Hello, lovely readers!

Today was another day out in the field. We took a bunch of transects around a preserve (17 in total, I do believe). We split into teams of three people to do this (after doing the first few together) and delegated the following tasks:

Many of our transects followed a randomized procedure, to ensure unbiased results. These transects are done in these areas about once a year to analyze trends in the invasive species concentrations, and how effective certain management strategies for these invasives have been.

For example, at our third site, the invasive levels were rather low, under 40% or 30%. However, the previous year, it was somewhere around 90% in the same area, completely infested with bittersweets. After the herbicide application, our results were very successful, which is awesome. But basically, here's how you would record a few points:

We spent almost the entire day collecting data on these transect points. We did some invasive species removal after collecting our data, as to not disturb it. After the day was over, we all felt significantly more comfortable with species identification (native and non-native!) We also made an effort before lunch to clean out an area covered with bittersweet and autumn olive, in hopes it will become a turtle nesting site.

We ate our lunch in our cleared area, all of us super hungry from our hard work. In the afternoon, at the end of the day, some of us went to pull some garlic mustard. Disappointingly, we couldn't get the roots out of the first-year plants, but found a good chunk/patch of second-year garlic mustard which we picked and threw out. The reason this is kind of upsetting is because it's a biennial plant. The first year has no seeds, so pulling it that year would be incredible, and not being able to do so was kind of sad.

But anyway, we did do a ton of invasives today. Our dinner got devoured almost as quickly as lunch (quesadillas, beans, corn and chicken!!) We're off to Manchester tomorrow, which should be super fun. More on that tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

Over and out,
Your 2015 LEAF Crew

Day 2: A Day in the Weeds

Day 2 – Southern New Hampshire

Hey all!

Today was our first real day in the field. We did invasive species removal today. You’re probably rolling your eyes at how boring that sounds, but it was actually quite engaging, both mentally and physically. We began our day with some readings on the different invasive plants, which I enjoyed quite a lot and the pictures were all really good (which is important).

We all grabbed some tools (a shovel, two weed wrenches and two clippers) as well as some work gloves and bug gear, and headed out. We first learned about the bittersweets, which are vines with simple leaves, very round leaves, and bright orange roots. Then we learned about multi-flora rose, which is not as fun to pick with its thorns. It’s identifiable because there’s a feathery part of the stem at the base of the leaf, which is unique. It also grows in a certain shape, rooting in each spot it hits the ground and its shape helps in identification.

After picking both of those, we took a water break where we saw a beaver pond and some dead trees with great blue herons and we even heard their call! Then we hiked upwards to remove some flagged species, which were the aforementioned two, along with common and glossy buckthorn, European barberry (and one small Japanese barberry). While we didn’t pick any because we only saw one too large to remove, we did learn about the autumn olive. This species is super cool because of the underside of the leaf looks like it has been spray-painted a silver color. But it’s totally natural. One of the other plants also had these crazy yellow roots which were so bright!

After getting seriously tired and removing all of the flagged plants, we headed back to the preserve. After our super intense weeding, our next job was to finish the weeding of a path at the office, which was a cake walk. We were very successful. One very important landmark event was finishing that trail. It looks super nice now. When we left, we came home all cleaned up and scarfed down a ton of food. However, Deanna did find a tick on her pants today and we found a ton of poison ivy in the woods.

But all is well. We all slept even better, tired after a full day’s work.

With love, your NH LEAF crew.

Day 1: Learning to Paddle & Hammer

Day 1 – Southern New Hampshire

Hi guys! 

Your New Hampshire team for the summer of 2015 is Claudia, Ashley, Andrea and myself (Nadia).

Today was our first official day on the job, after a 5-hour drive and mini-shopping spree to buy good work clothes. Today we had an orientation where we met most of our supervisors for the next month, accompanied by Len, who bought cherries for us to snack on.

After a 3-hour info session, we broke for lunch and then were about to head out for work when some rain came through. We loaded our boats onto the truck and picked some weeds to pass the time. We were successful in waiting it out and then headed over to the Lamprey River to do some cleanup. Both our mentor Deanna, and one of our interns, Ashley, got to ride in a kayak for the first time, and we all took turns alternating on canoes and kayaks between our two sites. The boat rides were rather successful; we only had one fall from Andrea getting out of a canoe, but it was in shallow water, so all was absolutely fantastic!

On the first site we had a pretty simple job picking up trash, and even though the site was known for its partying and litter, there wasn’t much to pick up. For repair work, we were prompted to maintain the snow fence covering an area, which allowed the plants to grow back in without getting trampled. We used staple guns, zip ties and all the stakes, which were malleted in, at the site. We recollected and made our way to the second site, which proved to be slightly more difficult. It was extremely upsetting to see the damage that had been done to the site. Signs were ripped, fencing was cut, more garbage was on the ground. Someone had even tried to burn the main sign! Yet we endured and with some creativity, we got the site fully prepared. We used a ton of zip ties to reattach cut pieces of the fence and repositioned old stakes into the ground, then secured them to the fence (this was slightly difficult because we didn’t have enough stakes). We also ran out of staples in the staple gun, so we got to learn how to use a hammer and a nail, and used nails to hang the signs into trees. After two successful site cleanups, we headed back on our boats, then loaded them up and called it a day, after our seven hours.

We came home and Claudia and I cooked dinner and everyone fell asleep super early and slept well.

Stay cool!

Your NH LEAF crew.

The Last Hurrah!

Yesterday Wink and Leah brought us all to Mount Washington! Lucky enough for us the view was lovely, and while we went up the air became colder and it surprised me how people can hike up it with the air being a bit hard to breathe.

We had a small tour since they had maintenance going on the upper building, but we walked around and took pictures and talked about the few plants that can survive in such harsh conditions. It was lots of fun and I hope to return one day to the mountain.

Weeding the path.

Today, on our last day, we returned to southern New Hampshire and we once again worked with Jen and Joanne. We fixed the gravel rock path at the Great Bay Office by pulling out unwanted plants.

Ewwww gross!

After that we got to have the good luck of removing a smelly and moldy couch and water drenched mattresses that were unfortunately dumped in the woods! D:  After a hard day of work though, we all go together and ate pizza and telling stories. Now it's time to go home!

~Sam Castrillon

 

When It's Raining

Such a sweet horse!

 
On Sunday we all went to ride horses at the farm by the river. It's a pretty little spot about ten to fifteen minutes from the hostel we're staying at. While they readied the horses we busied ourselves by petting two draft ponies, Ruben and Rusty, after Ruben was led out for Sharil to ride. We were all told what horses we would ride; I rode a Oreo ice cream-colored horse named Mister, Cindi was given Ringo, Nicole got Cassie, and Aura got a large retired lumber horse named Billy. We all had fun, though unfortunately cutting the ride short due to sudden rain. Afterward we took a nap. Then once the rain let up we rode a train for about five miles.

Ridin' the rails with Conway Scenic Railroad.

 Yesterday we started to work in the rain restoring waterbars at Black Cap (in the Green Hills Preserve) to help run water off a trail. While we worked it started to pour and we heard thunder and saw some lighting so we took off and headed to the Discovery Center to learn about weather mostly up on Mount Washington. Once again the rain let up and we returned to the mountain and we worked, ate blueberries, and we climbed to the top while it was very foggy.

Rain doesn't get us down!

~Sam Castrillon

Our Week in Maine

Week 3: This week the ladies and I were working with Jon Bailey in Maine at Mt. Tom. Hiking! Monday we hiked up a trail to the top to blaze (mark trees with paint) and do some lopping on the way down. It was so steep half way through, my thighs were killing me! It was like a boulder was placed on my legs, or it just shows how unfit I am (I'm getting there lol). Any-who, the path was looking awesome and successful, I felt accomplished. Oh, before climbing up the mountain,  Jon was explaining some history about old establishments that were there and artifacts that were found. Pretty darn cool to know that there was once a field or a farm in that area.

Jon has the munchies. =)

Wednesday we were kind of just doing the same thing, hiking, blazing and lopping. By day 3 of using the white paint to blaze, were referred to it as fluff just because. What was pretty amazing to realize was that the girls and I created trails for hikers to explore (of course with the assistance of Jon to guide). Maybe in the future we can even create our own. Mosquitoes! Sheesh they are feisty, when one bites you, they all do, the horror! They were bearable and so work continued.  

Shoo, flies!

 

Thursday was much more of a calmer day because Jon wasn't there today. We worked with 3 interns who talked a lot about their college experience. Two of them went to Bowdoin. While we were on our way through the woods, lopping and blazing another trail, something unfortunate happened. Aura and Nicole were stung by hornets that had a nest on the ground, Aura being stung twice. Luckily they held out to continue to work even though it hurt a lot. 

 

 

Friday was a very enjoyable and calm day, we worked back at the preserve at Mt.Tom. What was pretty awesome was that I helped Jon move a huge rock down to a path so that hikers could cross on it. We also cut down 2 small trees :( but it was for the sake of the hikers' travels. Half day! Because we did our work and completed the path successfully, during the afternoon time we went to shop for souvenirs.

~Sharil Deleon

Last week the LEAF crew spent their time out in the wilds of northern New Hampshire.  With limited connectivity, Aura had to save up her posts for today. Enjoy!

July 16 - Vickie Bunnell Preserve and Hurlbert Swamp Preserve

 

Dirrrrrrty hands.

 

I SAW A MOOSE for the first time and it was not mounted on a wall, which was a awesome experience.

Going to pick more wall lettuce was better than the day before, just because there were not as many mosquitos and it was calming to hear the rain trickle down. After going to have lunch at the Moose Coffee Shop we went to identify plants, which was a good challenge. Then we traveled to Hurbert Swamp to do some trail maintenance. The horse flies were very annoying. It was a nice smooth day. 

 

July 17 - Fourth Connecticut Lake Preserve

 

The border!

Today I was in 2 places at once. I was at Canada and in New Hampshire, which was cool! We did trail maintenance. We also tried to see a beaver, but we had no luck in seeing one today (sad face). Today was also the day where we traveled 4 hours to get to Burlington,Vermont - yay, what a trip! We all slept on the way. 

 

Two feet, two countries.

 

July 18 - University of Vermont Campus Visit

Friday means it's almost Saturday! Woo! 

Going to UVM was a good experience and our guide was excellent. I really do not think UVM is the school for me, but I was a good tour and I learned many things about their ecological program and their green roof, which was very cool. I had caviar for the first time. It was gross, but the sushi was good. I can't get the feeling out of my mouth. Ewww!  After the visit we went off to a treat at Ben & Jerry's.

 

July 19 - Burlington, Vermont

Oh Saturday, with the smell of burned waffles to wake us up. 

We went to the farmers market, which was nothing like what I expected, but it was awesome either way. I bought little things here and there and got a henna tattoo. We visited Echo Lake Aquarium, which was fun. Seeing turtles and other creatures was amazing. We also the show Carrie the musical, which was good (even though the show was two hours long). We'll be going to dinner later.

 

~Aura Hernandez

lettuce, bugs, and ricotta

Driving to the Vickie Bunnell Preserve was very bumpy. Losing radio signal and listening to French people was funny just because we barely understood them.

 

When we got to the site we met Richard [Van de Poll], who showed us the way to save the native plants. At first it was okay and then I thought, what am I looking for again? After a while you got the hang of spotting the wall lettuce.

 

Dirty hands!

The bugs were just around the top of your head and or next to your ears, and that was very annoying. Then we pulled out the head net which kept the bugs off for a bit, but then I could not see well through the net. The worst thing was getting dirty under my finger nails which were growing and now they are short and dirty; wonderful.

 

Overall the collection of the wall lettuce was amazing - 7 buckets filled with just the plant.

 

Buckets and buckets of wall lettuce!

 

 

Now I'm thinking about dinner which was good. We made shells filled with ricotta with maraina sauce, salad and garlic bread. It was a nice good dinner with Wink, Leah and Cindi. And of course my other LEAF team members Sam, Nicole, and Sharil!

 

~Aura Hernandez

A Successful Day!

The ride to Potter Farm was blurred just because I fell asleep on the way there. When we arrived to the place it was just beautiful and it was full of different beautiful flowers like the Canadian Lily.

 

Rescuing a silver maple.

 

So then we ate lunch and went to work. The task of that day was to save the sliver maple trees from the virgin vine which, in cases, is was choking up the poor little trees. After 35 trees I think we managed to try to save 32 trees and sadly 2 died, but it's better than nothing.

 

After that amazing rescue we went to see the Connecticut River, which smelled terrible from the cow manure, but brought me back to my parents' home country when I was younger. I saw a fish jump out of the river which was cool. Then later that day we came to the Snowfield Cabin which was very clean and awesome with so many rooms and and an amazing view from the outside.

 

Hanging out in the Snowfield Cabin.

 

After a long day we went to go jump into the lake that was near by. I saw fishes in the lake while I was swimming and to me, the day ended successfully.

 

~Aura Hernandez

Let's See How It Goes...

I'm looking goooooooood!

The first week at LEAF was really fun, filled with activities we all enjoyed!

 

The first day we stayed at The Pines Bed & Breakfast with Mary Margaret, her husband and their three cats. We also got to meet some really outgoing nice people from The Nature Conservancy.

 

The second day we had an orientation sort of thing where we all gathered and went over some expectations along with introducing ourselves. That same day we went kayaking and canoeing! It was my first time canoeing and it was so much fun.

 

The third day was pretty tough at first for all of us because we did get stuck in thorn bushes and we also stepped in a lot of poison ivy, meaning we had to scrub ourselves with Technu a lot. The end of the day was exciting because we got to go to Hampton beach, had some pizza, and went out for some great ice cream.

All of us with TNC volunteer, Len Martin, at Manchester Cedar Swamp.

 

The fourth day we mad our way to the Manchester Cedar Swamp and worked on the swamp pathway.

Reading tree rings with Professor Tom Lee.

 

On Friday, (fifth day) we went on a UNH tour and met Professor Tom Lee, who gave us a brief tour of the geology department. That same day we went to go see the oysters, and learn about their importance in filtering the bay.

 

We ended the day off by going to Prescott Park to watch Shrek the Musical! It was honestly really funny, at least I found it funny, and overall a great treat for this week.

 

Yesterday (Saturday) we attended the Bioblitz but we arrived late :( I really wanted to the nature sketch / painting. We got to do some animal tracking though, and at night we had story time!

 

Now, (Sunday) we are at Loon Mountain Resort about to go zip lining. Let's see how it goes...

 

~Nicole Medina