Life Sciences Commons^™

Natural Resources Outreach Coalition: Coordination And Program Delivery, Stone, A, Frank Mitchell, Amanda Stone

PREP Reports & Publications

The Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NROC) is a multi-organizational initiative providing technical and educational assistance to communities in New Hampshire’s coastal watersheds dealing with the effects of growth. The NROC program offered to communities includes an initial educational public presentation, Dealing with Growth, followed by a series of follow-up meetings to help the community focus their goals, develop an action-oriented work plan, and provide the technical and educational assistance needed to help the community meet its goals.

2004 Support For Shellfish Program And Estuarine Education, Meeker, S & Reid, A, B. Sharon Meeker, Ann S. Reid

PREP Reports & Publications

Working within the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Cooperative Extension/Sea Grant Program, the Great Bay Coast Watch (GBCW) is New Hampshire’s most wide ranging program for direct citizen involvement in monitoring estuarine and coastal systems. GBCW has a fifteen year history of educating citizens about the Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire Seacoast, and Gulf of Maine watershed through active participation in monitoring and an accompanying education program. Based in Durham, NH, GBCW coordinates over 100 volunteers drawn from 19 New Hampshire and Southern Maine communities. In 1990, volunteers began monitoring eight sites on a monthly basis April through October. Today, …

Dover Natural Resource Mapping And Community Outreach Initiative, Bird, Dover Planning Department

PREP Reports & Publications

The grant funding has allowed us to further address the continuing need for community awareness for open space and natural resource protection in the City of Dover. This funding has enabled the City of Dover Planning Department in partnership with the City of Dover Open Lands Committee to present several events throughout October and November 2004. The events offered participants information about natural resource and open space protection as well as an opportunity to enjoy nature. They increased public awareness about the Open Lands Committee and its function. Activities and workshops from October to November 2004 included Apple Harvest Day …

Wetlands Assessment, Inventory, And Prime Wetlands Designation Project In The Taylor River Watershed, Town Of Hampton, Hampton Conservation Commission, Rockingham County Conservation District

PREP Reports & Publications

The purpose of this project was to provide significant educational efforts on wetlands functions and values, prime wetlands designation, on-the-ground inventory findings, wildlife habitat, and New Hampshire's Prime Wetlands laws and rules for the two communities located within the project focus area. The focus area for this project was the Taylor River Watershed, which comprises the Taylor River as it flows through both

Hampton and Hampton Falls, a bit of Ash Brook and Old River as it flows through Hampton, and Grapevine Run as it flows through Hampton Falls. This project assessed over 152 wetland areas containing approximately 620 acres. …

On-Line Resource Clearinghouse For Rapidly Growing Communities, Amy Seif

PREP Reports & Publications

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, sprawl is among the biggest environmental challenges facing New England, where more than 1,200 acres of open space are lost to development each week. New Hampshire is the fastest growing state in New England, and much of this growth is located within the 42 community coastal watershed served by the New Hampshire Estuaries Project. The Resource Clearinghouse for Rapidly Growing Communities project was created out of an interest in getting community decision makers the information and access to resources that they need to make informed decisions in this challenging time. The clearinghouse is designed …

2004 Water Quality Education Onboard The Gundalow, Bolster, M, Molly Bolster

PREP Reports & Publications

The Gundalow Company (a non-profit 501(c)3 organization) sponsors maritime history and environmental educational programs for school groups and the public onboard the replica gundalow Captain Edward Adams from May through November in 12-15 riverfront locations in the Piscataqua region. The project funded by the NHEP in 2004 included the development of an expanded Gundalow Company education program curriculum in order to motivate all gundalow visitors to appreciate the relationship between regional maritime history, contemporary water quality issues and future stewardship responsibilities. The NHEP grant also supported the Gundalow Company’s efforts to bring the gundalow to Durham and Newmarket. The content …

Conservation Easement Outreach Project, Wenninger, Ray Wenninger

PREP Reports & Publications

Stratham voters approved a 5 million dollar conservation bond issue in 2002 to preserve open space through easement or outright purchase. The Ad-hoc Conservation Bond Subcommittee to the Conservation Commission is helping achieve Stratham’s open space goals and is continuing to reach out to landowners that have undeveloped land that may be suitable for Stratham’s open space initiative. It was an opportune time for the subcommittee to provide updated outreach materials when a grant by the Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NROC) Implementation Grant Program became available. The grant, managed by the New Hampshire Estuaries Project, provided funding to produce and …

2003 Coastal Municipal Stormwater Infrastructure Mapping Project, Jeffrey Marcoux

PREP Reports & Publications

This final report describes the grant program funded by NHEP and administered by DES. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between NHEP and DES created a grant program to provide assistance to coastal communities to develop storm sewer infrastructure maps. DES issued a request for proposals (RFP), chose grant recipients, and managed the grant agreements. This report provides details on the grant projects completed by Farmington, Dover, Durham, Seabrook, Somersworth, and North Hampton. The deadline for completion of all grant projects was December 31, 2004.

Ecological Inventory Of The Cocheco River Watershed And The Follet’S Brook Watershed, Zankel, M, Mark Zankel

PREP Reports & Publications

No abstract provided.

Laboratory Analyses Of Water And Shellfish From Coastal Waters And Watershed Of New Hampshire, Finnigan, Jayne S. Finnigan

PREP Reports & Publications

The Department of Health and Human Services-New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories (DHHS-NHPHL) has participated in providing laboratory analyses as part of the National Estuary Program since it’s inception in New Hampshire in 1995. The NHPHL has continued to carry out various actions dealing with the monitoring program as listed in the NH Estuaries Project Management Plan.

Nhep Strategic Communication Plan, Kellam, D, Dave Kellam

PREP Reports & Publications

The New Hampshire Estuaries Project’s (NHEP) Strategic Communication Plan (SCP) facilitates the implementation of Action Plans related to public outreach and education (POE) and focuses resources on communication activities that strengthen the organization’s position in the resource management community. The plan begins with a situational audit that examines the history of the NHEP, its role in the natural resources management community and the target audiences identified in the NHEP Management Plan. Next, the SCP’s goals and objectives for the next three years are described. Finally, the SCP appendices include branding elements, program descriptions, Management Plan relevance to the SCP, and …

2003 Coastal Illicit Connection Identification And Elimination Grant Project, Jeffrey Marcoux

PREP Reports & Publications

This final report describes a grant program funded by NHEP and administered by DES. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between NHEP and DES created a grant program to provide assistance to coastal communities to identify and eliminate illicit discharges into the storm drain system. A total of $80,000 was made available for assisting municipalities with illicit discharge correction and storm sewer mapping projects. DES issued a request for proposals (RFP), chose grant recipients, and managed the grant agreements. This report provides details on the illicit discharge detection and elimination projects completed by Dover, Somersworth, and Hampton. The deadline for completion …

Land Conservation Transaction Fund, Taylor, J, Dorothy Tripp Taylor

PREP Reports & Publications

Between May of 2002 and December of 2003, the New Hampshire Estuaries Project provided the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forest/Center for Land Conservation Assistance with $64,400 for matching grants to distribute to assist with transaction costs associated with permanent land conservation projects in the New Hampshire estuaries area. Application materials were created and distributed, applications were received and reviewed and grants were made. The project was well received and very successful. Twenty-three grants were made to support transaction costs associated with projects that provided permanent protection for 1158 acres in 9 estuaries area communities. Grant funds of …

Freshwater Wetlands Inventory Outreach Activities For The Freshwater Wetland Mitigation Inventory Of Nineteen Coastal Communities Report, New Hampshire Estuaries Project

PREP Reports & Publications

As requested by the New Hampshire Office of Energy & Planning, this is a final report of all outreach activities for the Freshwater Wetlands Inventory conducted through 2003- 2004 for the nineteen coastal communities of New Hampshire. This report includes all of the outreach activities that were conducted, the details and attendance of each presentation, and an example of the PowerPoint presentation shown at each meeting.

Availability Of Ground Water Resources In The Piscataqua And Coastal Watersheds, Chormann, R, Frederick Chormann Jr.

PREP Reports & Publications

The following report summarizes progress on the the various components of the Availability of Groundwater Resources in the Piscataqua and Coastal Watershed poject and the status of deliverables as of June 30, 2004. Most tasks have been completed under this “data collection” phase of the overall, multi-year project, although some activities will continue simultaneously with the “data analysis” phase.

Oyster Reef Mapping In The Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire - 2003, Grizzle, R, Raymond E. Grizzle, Melissa Brodeur

PREP Reports & Publications

In New Hampshire, the locations, sizes, and shapes of the major oyster, Crassostrea virginica, reefs have been determined using a variety of techniques. The most recent survey occurred in 2001 when four (Nannie Island, Woodman Point, Adams Point, and Oyster River) of the six largest reefs were mapped using a combination of acoustic sounders, videography, and quadrat sampling. The present project required mapping the boundaries in order to determine the size of the remaining two major reefs in the Great Bay Estuary: Squamscott River and Piscataqua River. Underwater videography was used in the present study to determine the boundaries of …

Evaluating The Stormwater Treatment Performance Of Abtech Industries Smart Sponge® Plus, Landry, N, Scott Nolan, Stephen H. Jones, Natalie Landry

PREP Reports & Publications

The ability of AbTech’s Smart Sponge® Plus to remove fecal-borne bacteria from stormwater was evaluated in a storm drainage system located in Seabrook, New Hampshire. The Smart Sponge ® Plus was installed into a water quality inlet and samples were collected from influent (pre-treatment) and effluent (post-treatment) for analysis of bacterial concentrations and loadings during 15 storm events from September 3, 2003 to May 24, 2004, excluding winter months. The 15 storms included events with a range of rainfall intensities and amounts, as well as accompanying runoff volumes. Flow weighted composite samples were analyzed for fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli and …

Granite State Poll For New Hampshire Estuaries Project, Andrew E. Smith, Dennis M. Junius

PREP Reports & Publications

The University of New Hampshire Survey Center included a question on its July 2004 Granite State Poll for the New Hampshire Estuaries Project. The major purposes of these questions were to assess the knowledge of New Hampshire residents concerning the meaning of an estuary. Five hundred and nine (509) New Hampshire adults were interviewed by telephone between July 6 and July 20, 2004.

Funding Sources For Key Water Quality Strategies, Craig, M, Matt Craig

PREP Reports & Publications

The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) Management Plan, published in 2000, sets forth three goals related to estuarine water quality in the State’s coastal watershed, and twenty Water Quality Action Plans to implement these goals. The goals direct the NHEP to: 1) ensure that New Hampshire’s estuarine waters and tributaries will meet standards forpathogenic bacteria including fecal coliform, E. coli, and Enterocci; 2) ensure that NewHampshire’s estuarine waters, tributaries, sediments, and edible portions of fish, shellfish, other aquatic life, and wildlife will meet standards for priority contaminants such as metals, PCBs, PAHs, and oil and grease; and, 3) ensure that …

Nhep Water Quality Funding Sources, Matt Craig

PREP Reports & Publications

The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) Management Plan, published in 2000, sets forth three goals related to estuarine water quality in the State’s coastal watershed, and twenty Water Quality Action Plans to implement these goals. The goals direct the NHEP to: 1) ensure that New Hampshire’s estuarine waters and tributaries will meet standards for pathogenic bacteria including fecal coliform, E. coli, and Enterocci; 2) ensure that New Hampshire’s estuarine waters, tributaries, sediments, and edible portions of fish, shellfish, other aquatic life, and wildlife will meet standards for priority contaminants such as metals, PCBs, PAHs, and oil and grease; and, 3) …

Nhep Monitoring Plan 2004, Version 4- 6/30/04, Trowbridge, P, Phil Trowbridge

PREP Reports & Publications

The NHEP Management Plan presents a series of goals, objectives, and specific actions designed to improve, protect, and enhance the environmental quality of the state’s estuaries, and outlines a process for implementing the Plan’s most critical actions (NHEP, 2000). Measuring the effectiveness of these actions in achieving NHEP goals is an essential part of implementation that will be achieved through a suite of environmental and administrative indicators. This Monitoring Plan describes the methods and data for the indicators that will be used to answer the following question accurately and unambiguously: Are the goals and objectives of the Management Plan being …

Summary Of Freshwater Monitoring Programs In New Hampshire's Coastal Watershed, Trowbridge, P, Phil Trowbridge

PREP Reports & Publications

The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) is part of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuary Program, which is a joint local/state/federal program established under the Clean Water Act with the goal of protecting and enhancing nationally significant estuarine resources. The NHEP uses a Monitoring Plan to track changes in the estuarine environment as a result of the NHEP’s efforts. Up to this point, the Monitoring Plan has focused exclusively on conditions in the estuaries. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the feasibility of including water quality data from the freshwater portion of New Hampshire’s coastal watershed in …

Wetlands Evaluation Project, Joyce El Kouarti

PREP Reports & Publications

This New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) grant funded a study to identify and evaluate significant wetlands within the six towns that comprise Moose Mountains Regional Greenways (MMRG): Brookfield, Farmington, Middleton, Milton, New Durham and Wakefield. The goals of the study were to heighten awareness of the wetland areas in each town, educate Conservation Commission members and key town officials of the functional values of each selected wetland, and provide educational outreach toward the preservation of the quality of these wetlands using proven planning tools such as outright land purchase, easements, master planning, Prime Wetland designation in zoning, wetlands of special …

Nh Des Site Specific Program Policy Alternatives, New Hampshire Estuaries Project

PREP Reports & Publications

In New Hampshire, the Department of Environmental Services’ (NH DES) Site Specific Program, which enforces Administrative Rule Env-Ws 415 pursuant to RSA 485, is the primary mechanism for regulating stormwater runoff from development sites to surface waters. Rule Env-Ws 415 expires June 30, 2004. Although Program staff will recommend renewing the current Rule to continue regulatory authority over the short term, NH DES has also expressed an intention to organize a committee that will renew and revise Env-Ws 415 during the course of 2004 and 2005.

The purpose of this report is to provide NH DES with applicable stormwater management …

2004 Nhep Progress Report, Nhep, New Hampshire Estuaries Project

PREP Reports & Publications

This report summarizes progress made toward implementing the New Hampshire Estuaries Project Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) and evaluates the status of environmental and administrative indicators based upon management goals and objectives. The report is divided into two primary sections: (I) Status of Environmental and Administrative Indicators and (II) Action Plan Completion.

2003 Great Bay Water Quality (Datasonde) Monitoring Program, Jonathan Pennock

PREP Reports & Publications

In situ water quality assessment has become an important source of data for monitoring, research and management activities in estuaries nationwide. As part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, the Great Bay System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) produces in situ water quality data for four sites in and around Great Bay. This project extends the SWMP program to include year-round in situ data for a station at the University of New Hampshire Coastal Marine Lab pier at the mouth of the Piscataqua River and summmer data for a station in the Salmon Falls (SF) River. This suite of stations provides …

2003 Great Bay Organic Nitrogen (Pon & Don) And Light Extinction (Par) Monitoring Program, Jonathan Pennock

PREP Reports & Publications

EPA is developing water qulaity criteria for estuaries that require knowledge of both total nitrogen and light availability (measured as photsynthetically active radiation, PAR). Through the National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP), inorganic nutrient concentrations, chlorophyll-a concetration, and a number of hydrographic and water quality parameters are sampled on a monthly basis at 7 sites in the Great Bay system. In addition, these same parameters, as well as bacteria concentrations, are measured at a number of sites in Great Bay and Hampton Harbor through the National Coastal Assessment (NCA) funded through the EPA. This project takes advantage …

Dockside Shellfish Aquaculture Project, Smith, B, Jennifer Kennedy, Stanley Sinitski

PREP Reports & Publications

The intent of this project was to train private dock owners and marina personnel how to deploy and maintain “spat collectors” under their docks in an effort to capture commercially important shellfish larvae, scallops and oysters in particular, with a minimum amount of effort and cost. The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) provided major funding for this phase of the project, with addition funding from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) and the Gulf of Maine Council (GOMC). This year’s effort expands upon the pilot studies that were funded previously by the New Hampshire Coastal Program (NHCP) and …

Eelgrass Distribution In The Great Bay Estuary 2002, Frederick T. Short

PREP Reports & Publications

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is an essential habitat for the Great Bay Estuary (GBE) because it provides food for wintering waterfowl and habitat for juvenile fish. Eelgrass is the basis of an estuarine food chain that supports many of the recreational, commercial and ecologically important species in the estuary. Additionally, eelgrass filters estuarine waters, removing both nutrients and suspended sediments from the water column. Eelgrass in the Great Bay Estuary is the largest monoculture in the State of New Hampshire and is considered a vital resource to the State’s marine environment. The UNH Seagrass Ecology Group has mapped the distribution of …

Ambient Rivers Monitoring In Nh Coastal Watersheds 2004, Natalie Landry

PREP Reports & Publications

The Department of Environmental Services (DES) received funding from the New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) to conduct monitoring activities in 2004. The activities described in this report were led by the DES Watershed Assistance Section and involved water monitoring in tidal tributaries. These monitoring activities were completed with the overall purpose of improving the understanding of water quality trends. The Department of Environmental Services completed all tasks as planned. This report includes the sample collection information, field data, and laboratory data. Data summaries and interpretations will come at a later time in other DES and NHEP publications.