How Ice Forms
Love to fish, don’t have a boat? No worries, go ice fishing! The Great Bay Estuary and the freshwater lakes and rivers in the New Hampshire Seacoast are alive with delicious fish even in the dead of winter.
Nature Therapy
Keeping the mind and body happy is an essential part of leading a long and healthy life. There are many ways to stay active physically, but keeping your mind in shape is just as important.
Snow Fleas…a Winter Arthropod!
Fleas? Ewe! Just kidding….snow fleas, or springtails, are not fleas at all, and in fact are not even true insects! Never heard of them? That’s okay, you can learn about them in this blog post! When you are outside on a warm winter day, with the snow starting the melt, you may see what looks like black pepper sprinkled on the snow. Look closer, and watch for movement….these are snow fleas and they are very common!
Margaret A. Davidson Fellow, Anna Lowien
As the inaugural Margaret A. Davidson Fellow at Great Bay NERR, graduate student Anna Lowien, is excited to be investigating the biogeochemistry of Great Bay Estuary. Biogeochemistry refers to the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes that influence the movement of nutrients (i.e. nitrogen and phosphorus) and carbon throughout an ecosystem or even the globe.
Glenn Cove
Our staff are lucky to spend their professional lives trying to deepen our understanding of Great Bay. Our interest in the estuary includes investigating how people relate to Great Bay now, and how they have throughout history. Our cultural history and natural history are interdependent, and whether we are reflecting on Native American summer camps on our shores, colonial trading aboard the Gundalow, the industrial mills our rivers powered, or the current debates about the impacts of development. It is always a thrill to link specific historic activities and trends to the lands that we now steward and to be given an opportunity to interpret both the natural resource and the history of Great Bay. Last week, GBNERR hosted a Lunch and Learn that illuminated the history of a specific Wildlife Management Area within GBNERR, Glenn Cove.
Animal Autographs!
Last week fifteen inches of new snow gave me the perfect excuse to go out in the woods for one of my favorite winter activities, animal tracking. To me, animal tracking does not mean just looking for tracks. Animals leave so many more “autographs” behind that can give you clues to who has been in your favorite piece of woods.
Repurpose Your Christmas Tree for Wildlife
This season you have the opportunity to give your Christmas tree a second magical winter chapter by recycling it for wildlife! From December 26, 2020 through January 7, 2021 bring your once-live Christmas tree to the Great Bay Discovery Center in Greenland, NH, and help create our first-ever winter wildlife trail!
Winter Bayventures Educational Experiences: Grab and Go Activities for Families
For kids who want to learn more about the natural world, including the wildlife that lives in and around Great Bay, this winter’s Bayventures grab ‘n’ go activity kits are a free, exciting, and self-guided way for families to discover the outdoors! Beginning on Monday, December 21 with “Winter Solstice” materials and then continuing into 2021, each week a different grab ‘n’ go activity kit will be available that contains background information and an activity or craft instructions. Each kit will support self-taught lessons and experiences for visitors on the grounds of the Great Bay Discovery Center at 89 Depot Road in Greenland.
Volunteerism in 2020
This year started out like any other for us, with fun winter programs and big plans for spring! Typically our volunteer trainings begin in March and continue throughout the year, with our biggest training in April for our spring education programs. It became clear in mid-March that this year would not be like any other and we would have to reevaluate what programs and volunteerism would look like at the Reserve.
Graduate Student Profile: Grant McKown on Living Shorelines
With sea level and storm activities on the rise, researchers at UNH are looking into the best way to protect our coastal salt marshes. Working in collaboration with Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, researchers are able to implement different techniques to prevent salt marsh erosion due to sea level rise. This post is the second of two, highlighting graduate students working on salt marsh resiliency.
