President's Message - December 2010

I must apologize for missing several months of posting messages, but as you will read below, I do have some good excuses. To say that the last few months have been busy would be a gross understatement.

Late in the summer, our treasurer, Rich Seawards, had to step down due to increasing business demands, and no nominations for that office were forthcoming. During board discussions, it was felt that the job of treasurer was probably perceived as time consuming and demanding of a high level of accounting skills. Some system of accounting had to be found which would help make the job tasks efficient, less time consuming and easy to perform. Tools to help the treasurer were needed. At Rich's suggestion, we consulted a local book keeping firm that he has worked with, and from that consultation a sleek new accounting system using Quickbooks on a designated treasurer laptop was put together. During this transition, and with no nominees on the horizon, the board of directors was forced to appoint a treasurer per our bylaws. Mark Favorite graciously accepted that appointment, and has subsequently agreed to serve a full term as treasurer. He is now fully armed with tools and technology, and every penny is accounted for. Budgeting is now a breeze, and just in time!

As you probably know, in order to effectively derive a new strategic plan for GBTU for the next two years a survey questionnaire was sent to all our members. This was accomplished by a tremendous volunteer effort by our secretary, Wendy Nixon, her mom and son. Together they collated, stuffed questionnaires, return envelopes and stuck on the address stickers and stamps for almost 300 surveys in a day! Their efforts were rewarded with an almost 20% return rate, which in survey circles is a bonanza!

Serendipitously, on the conservation/restoration front, a tremendous opportunity has come our way just two weeks ago. Colin Lawson, the TU National New England Culvert Director, contacted me with a grant opportunity focused on coastal anadromous restoration projects. Colin had done some postgraduate work on the Winnicut watershed and was familiar with the culvert study done on that watershed by The Nature Conservancy, published just after the Winnicut Dam removal last year. Putting that information together with GBTU member Joe Conklin's report of finding a population of wild brook trout in Thompson Brook, a tributary of the Winnicut River only a mile or so from tidal water, while volunteering to help NH F&G with electro shocking in that watershed this past summer was not difficult. Joe didn't require a formal invitation to get involved and take a leadership role immediately as our Winnicut Project Coordinator after receiving GBTU Board of Director's approval. We have embarked on putting together a grant proposal to address a culvert blocking fish passage not far upstream from the Thompson Brook confluence with the main stem of the now free flowing Winnicut River. This improved fish passage will open the brook to all migratory species using the river including Alewives and Blueback herring, American eels, Rainbow Smelt and historically shad (although no shad have been found in recent assessments). Our little wild population of brook trout will be only about a mile or so above the tidal waters so who knows-Salters?

Speaking of Salters, I was able to accompany Joe Conklin, and NH F&G biologists, Ben Nugent and Matt Carpenter, on a trip to Red Brook, down near the Bourne Bridge earlier this month and spent three hours with Warren Winders touring that stream restoration. We were also accompanied by a Massachusetts Fisheries biologist on the tour. We had just missed the spawning season by a few weeks, but were told that it was a sight to behold. For those of you who don't remember, Warren was a guest speaker at one of our meetings about two years ago and spoke about his Salter restoration efforts there. Needless to say, Warren was very encouraging regarding our efforts on the Winnicut.

Due to the short window to get the Thompson Brook Culvert grant application in, Joe Conklin and I, have been working almost full time. We presented the project to the Greenland Board of Selectmen this past Monday, with the help of NHF&G biologist, Ben Nugent, and the selectmen unanimously voted to support the project. We have also obtained letters of support from The Nature Conservancy, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership, Winnicut River Watershed Coalition, and one is on the way from the NH Coastal Program as well. We are presenting the project to the Greenland Conservation Commission shortly after New Year, and with the help of stream restoration expert, Dr. Tom Ballestero of UNH, it looks like we will have a strong grant application ready by the deadline of January 12th.

Well, this is already the longest President's Message I have ever written, so I will stop here. I think you see that it has been busy the past few months! I wish you all a very pleasant and happy holiday season, and look forward to seeing you all in 2011. Happy New Year everyone!

Tight Lines,

Mitch Kalter, Chapter President