Updates from NEFF!

Hello Stewards-
Sorry for the delay in posting another blog. Things have been busy here at NEFF over the past few weeks! There’s so much to report, so I’ll try to hit the highlights!

I attended the Keystone Cooperators program at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA from April 23-26. This program is put on by Paul Catanzaro and Dave Kittredge with the UMass Extension Service. It’s a great program for folks interested in reaching landowners and helping them make decisions about their land. It also helps you promote wildlife conservation and forest stewardship in your own community. Though I attended the Massachusetts program, programs exist in other states as well. Here are the websites, if you are interested in exploring whether this program would work for you (I don’t believe that ME has a coverts program…?):

MA Keystone (formerly Coverts): http://masskeystone.net/

NH Coverts: http://extension.unh.edu/Wildlife/NHCovrts/AboutCov.htm

VT Coverts: http://www.vtcoverts.org/education.php

CT Coverts: http://www.canr.uconn.edu/ces/forest/coverts.htm

Also, as I mentioned before, I have finished planning the Discovery Days for this summer and fall. The first walk is scheduled this Saturday, May 9th at 7am. An early call, no doubt about it! But it will be a great opportunity to get out and refresh your memory (or learn how to identify) our common local songbirds. Grant Marley, an expert local birder, will guide us and help participants learn to identify some of the local birds that call New England their summer home.

We are also gearing up for our 2009 Annual Meeting, which will be held in Groton, MA this year on June 13. We have two nature walks and one guided canoe ride planned, as well as a luncheon and speaker session. Your invitation (postcards) should arrive soon. If you don’t receive yours, please let me know.

I’m also putting the finishing touches on our Forest Steward Trainings for this summer/fall. I have two scheduled currently, with two more in the works but not yet finalized. The first training will occur on Saturday, September 19th on Big Squam Lake in Holderness, NH. NEFF has partnered with the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center to offer our Stewards a “Nature of the Lakes” cruise, which will cover the general ecology of the lake, the surrounding forest, its wildlife, and even give you a chance to see our Chamberlain-Reynolds forest from the water. If we’re lucky, we may be able to see some eagles and loons as well. It should be a great time, and I have arranged to cover all fees so that it will remain free of charge to all of you.

I’ve also coordinated with the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in North Woodstock, NH to offer our stewards a free tour of their forest. They only offer these tours on weekdays, and I have scheduled a tour for Thursday, October 1st. The time with be TBD, but likely beginning mid-morning and running through early afternoon. Again, this program will be free to all stewards. Please send me an email if you would like to attend, as we need a minimum of 5 people for them to offer the tour.

As I mentioned to the Vermont stewards, I have coordinated with a local wildlife education organization known as Outreach for Earth Stewardship to make available to our stewards the Vermont Centurion Birding Challenge. It requires the identification and documentation of 100 bird species in Vermont (no small feat!), and for your efforts, you are rewarded with an awesome patch that signifies your completion of the challenging program. Not only that, but it’s a great way to help support our knowledge base of birds in our forests! Let me know if you are interested in participating.

I’ve also been involved in a variety of other planning efforts, including landowner outreach in the Nashua River Watershed and in Maine, and organizing our training workshops for licensed foresters. NEFF is a very busy place these days, and we couldn’t do all that we do without all of you! I consistently hear from staff and Board members how important our volunteer program is to this organization, and I couldn’t agree more. It is still in the process of growing and evolving, but a huge thanks to all of you who generously give us your time and energy.

Cheerio,
Sonya