A lot has happened at the Merrimack River Watershed Council since my last journal entry.
Back in July I ran a champion tree walk in downtown Concord that had 18 participants, including the Concord assistant city planner and a person from the city street tree commission. Champion trees are the largest specimens of their species in the county, state, and national level and many often grow along streets in towns where they have been left to be for a long time. I planned the route based on a book of big trees in New Hampshire and I researched and wrote the script myself. I really enjoyed connecting with people on the subject of big trees which I always keep an eye out for when I’m outside. I did not expect to have so many people come to my event so it was an unexpected success.
Another project I’ve been working on is water quality monitoring on the Warner river, a tributary of the Merrimack. I’ve brought 4 volunteers out for it so far, and the data we collect gets submitted to the NH Department of Environmental Services. We test for pH, conductance, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and temperature. I have to teach the volunteers how to operate the testing equipment and drive them with me to all 14 of the testing sites in the Warner area, so it’s an exercise in connecting with and teaching people.
I am running another nature walk in the town of Merrimack, NH at Sklar Waterfront Park next Saturday. This is a good place to host an event because our organization wants to connect with southern New Hampshire more. It will just be a presentation on the park’s riparian floodplain forest ecosystem as well as the history of the ferry that operated across the river there in the colonial era.
I chose this park after I met a member of the Merrimack conservation commission there by chance while working on a boat ramp mapping project for MRWC. I am making an online GIS map of all the boat ramps on the Merrimack that will hopefully get linked on our website. It’s been a long time since I learned GIS but I wanted to get back into it and I’m really grateful that my site supervisor Lauren is helping me remember how to do it.
I’m also making an educational video about dam removals for MRWC’s social media and YouTube page. Although MRWC hasn’t officially removed a dam yet, the staff is working on several dam removal projects in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. They get grants to do these projects and part of the requirements for them is to educate the public about dam removals, so my video will help out with that.
Some other things I’ve done this summer include helping out with an invasive plant removal event in Concord that drew almost 40 people. This week I helped clean up trash from a trail along the Merrimack in Concord to help out for a triathlon this weekend. I am also revisiting tree planting sites that MRWC did with a US Forest Service grant back in 2018 to evaluate their success.
It’s been an awesome summer so far serving with MRWC. I’m looking forward to completing my projects and helping the organization out in the next 6 weeks. This was my first experience with a non-profit and it’s been super inspiring. I know now that I want to continue in this line of work and work with forests and watersheds in the future. Thank you LRCC for this amazing opportunity!
Pointing out a large tree to participants on my tree walk.
Group photo of volunteers and MRWC staff from the Concord invasives removal event.
Jake’s previous positions in Connecticut and Utah have prepared him for serving with Merrimack River Watershed Council and forming connections with the community. Learn more about Jake here!