Squam Watershed Invasive Species Collaborative

Five organizations form the Squam Watershed Invasive Species Collaborative (SWISC), an effort to combat terrestrial invasive species in the Squam Watershed through both education and removal efforts. By combing expertise, volunteer recruitment, and work days, the members of the collaborative will better manage Squam Watershed properties for invasive species.

Squam Lakes Association

Rockywold-Deephaven Camps

Squam Lakes Natural Science Center

Lakes Region Conservation Trust

Squam Lakes Conservation Society

For more information, visit
http://www.squamlakes.org/swisc
http://www.squamlakes.com/invasive-species-collaborative/

May Invasive Species Work Days

Join the Squam Watershed Invasive Species Collaborative (SWISC) for two mornings of invasive species man-agement. Spring is the best time to tackle invasive species projects, so please join us as we work to restore these areas in the Squam Watershed.

West Rattlesnake Trailhead - Route 113, Holderness
Saturday, May 10 - 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
This popular trailhead managed by the Squam Lakes Association has a small infestation of oriental bittersweet.

Mill Brook Property - Route 3, Holderness
Friday, May 16 - 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
This property is between White Oak Pond and Piper Cove on Squam Lake. It is owned by the Squam Lakes Conservation Society. Oriental bittersweet, Japanese barberry, invasive honeysuckle, and multiflora rose are all found here.

For more information, or to register, 

contact the Squam Lakes Association at info@squamlakes.org or  603-968-7336.

Join Holderness Recreation for this interesting presentation on invasive plants in New Hampshire.

Invasive Upland Plant Species of New Hampshire 

Tuesday, May 6 - 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

Hosted by Holderness Recreation at the Holderness Fire Station

This presentation provides an in-depth look at upland invasive plant species of New Hampshire. Attendees will learn about the various issues, New Hampshire rules and regulations, characteristics, identifying features, and control measures of some of the most aggressive non-native plants here in the Granite State.

Speaker Douglas Cygan has been the Invasive Species Coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture for the past 11 years as well as being a nursery inspector and an Authorized Certification Official for the U.S.Department of Agriculture. Prior to this he was a Wetlands Permitting Officer for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services for two years, and before that he was a Senior Environmental Manager for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Environment for seven years. In 1992, he graduated from the University of Maine, Orono, with a B.S and an A.S in Plant Science with a minor in Conservation Biology and Wetland Science.

Please RSVP to 603-968-3700 or recreation@holderness-nh.gov

My Summer as a Marketing Intern

By Hank Geng, Marketing Intern

When I first arrived in Holderness this summer, I wasn’t sure what to think. Sure, the Squam Lakes were beautiful, but the town of Holderness seemed like it was just a glorified intersection. As a born and bred city-dweller that chose to go to school in the state of Maine, one would think that I would have been prepared to spend a summer in a small town, but at first, I was taken aback by how little I thought there was to do in the area. The cabin I shared with the other three interns had no insulation and the temperature inside would fluctuate from freezing cold to outrageously hot. We also soon realized that we were sharing our house with several forms of wildlife, including mice, bats, and flying squirrels. However, despite the apparent downsides to living in the woods, the gorgeous natural setting of New Hampshire started to charm me, and I quickly began to enjoy living in Holderness.

A big part of this about-face was due to my job at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center as a marketing intern. I have never encountered such a welcoming and professional staff in all the places at which I’ve worked in the past. The sheer amount of camaraderie present between the staff members was astounding. It made coming to work every day far more enjoyable.

I initially thought that my work here would just be a desk job, but it turned out to be much more than that. The Science Center is a very outdoors-oriented institution, and even though I spent a fair amount of time on the computer, I’ve gotten the chance to walk the Gephart Exhibit Trail dozens of times. I sometimes even feel that even though the trail is geared towards children, adults might have more fun with everything there is to do in the exhibits – not to mention the copious amounts of slides.

Other than the outdoors, another facet of the Science Center that appealed to me was its focus on education. While the Science Center certainly does its part to educate children about the natural environment, working here also taught me many things that I hope to apply towards my future career. I learned how to be adaptable in a professional workplace, and I got to brush up on my people skills when interacting with visitors here at the Science Center. For that, I am extremely thankful.

While working as a marketing intern here at the Science Center, I also had the opportunity to do a lot of work with photography and videography, which are things I’ve enjoyed in the past as a pastime but have never done in a professional context. I took photos of everything the Science Center does – from the Gephart Exhibit Trail to the Lake Cruises and the animals we use on programs and outreaches, as well as the Saturday Night Wild fundraiser. Taking these photos and videos was a great way to familiarize myself with the Science Center and its daily goings-on.

I had an extremely positive experience this summer working at the Science Center. I entered with reservations and am now leaving with absolutely none. The only negative feeling I have now is regret; that I don’t have more time to spend here around the gorgeous Squam Lakes region, or around these fantastic people at the Science Center. Their hard work and dedication shines through to the valuable experience we provide here at the Science Center.

Reflections

By Miranda Furrer, Program Intern

As I sit here reflecting on my summer experience at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, two thoughts come to mind. One is ‘how is it already August?’ and the second is ‘do I really start school in a week?’ Neither seems quite appropriate for the journey that has taken place over the past 10 weeks. There have been new experiences for me, and others that I have had before, but in a completely different setting.

As a small town Midwestern girl, I have been used to the sights and sounds of country life. Cornfields and cows are an everyday sight. Now, I have gotten accustomed to seeing mountains and lakes. That is something that I have grown quite attached to. From day one, the atmosphere at the Science Center has been one of a welcoming nature. All of the staff has been very helpful at making sure the interns were comfortable in the ‘rustic’ intern cottage. Even some of the docents (our volunteers) have made their lakeshores available to us. I had no trouble transitioning to real ‘grown up’ life 1,200 miles away from my safe home state of Illinois. I am an only child, so being so far away from my parents and not seeing them for 10 weeks was hard for me, especially since cell phone service in Holderness is spotty, at best. Being away from home, though, can be a good thing. It gave me the opportunity to travel up and down New England and see some incredible things during my stay in New Hampshire.

I have enjoyed all of my internship. When asked what my favorite part was, I have to pause and think. Was it Guided Discoveries, where I got to watch young minds grow? Or maybe outreaches, where hours were spent in the Science Center vans and interesting facts were learned? Animal Care, where I got to be just inches away from a mountain lion? All of these were worthwhile experiences, but I would have to say that my favorite thing of the whole summer was being able to work with the birds of prey. They have always been of great interest to me and I enjoy being able to handle them every day. This experience has been beneficial to me in several ways. It gave me a clearer view of what it is like to be an educator full-time. It showed me how exhausting it can be to teach kids all day. It also showed me how much work goes into keeping the animals happy and healthy.

As for a career, well, I’m still not 100% sure. I love working with animals and I very much enjoy the education, but time will tell what I will actually end up doing. A lot of doors are open to me, and I am looking forward to exploring more of those options. Something that can tie my two majors (Animal Ecology & Agricultural Business) together would be perfect, but I haven’t figured out quite how to make that happen yet. I enjoy the education aspects of the job, and could definitely see myself being an educator in the future. I also like to work behind the scenes. The experiences I have had this summer will stay with me as I continue to figure out where my future will take me.

I am thankful for the opportunity to come to such an amazing science center and learn the ropes. I have loved my time here at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, and am sad to be leaving so soon. August 20th will be here before I know it and I will be starting my senior year at Iowa State University. Long gone are the afternoons at the lake and nighttime video game challenges with ‘the guys’. Now I must head into the next chapter in my adventure, senior year.

Thank you, Holderness, for putting up with me for the past 10 weeks and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Don’t worry, New England, I will be back one way or another.

Purple Trillium: A flower by any other name...

By Eric D'Aleo, Naturalist

As I walked along the old railroad bed behind my house last week I saw one of my favorite wildflowers reaching up through the duff and dry leaves with a single burgundy bloom. It was a Purple Trillium… or maybe I should call it by one of its other names, but then I started to think of all the different names that I knew for this plant, which got me wondering why it has so many.

What's in a name? William Shakespeare asked this question in the play Romeo and Juliet, to which his answer was “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Although I tend to agree with his implication that an object’s nature is more important than its name, it is obvious Shakespeare never encountered Purple Trillium in his native England, for this early spring perennial wildflower has a plethora of names that describe the different parts of its nature. It’s referred to as Red Trillium, Purple Trillium, and Wake Robin due to the maroon color of its bloom, but it has also been called Stinking Benjamin, Stinking Willie, Wet Dog Trillium, and Ill-Scented Trillium because of its pungent odor that is occasionally described as similar to the smell of a wet dog. There are over a dozen other obscure names for this flower that may be due to its widespread distribution in the eastern United States. How the flower got those names is anyone’s guess.

Purple Trillium (Trillium erectum) is one of 30 trillium species that grow throughout North America. The name trillium comes from the Latin word tres, meaning three, which refers to the fact that many of the plants parts are in groups of three: three leaves, three petals, three sepals, three stamens.

Purple Trillium is found in the eastern part of North America from Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Quebec south to Georgia, and as far west as Tennessee, Illinois and northern Michigan. It grows in rich deciduous forests with Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), American Basswood (Tilia americana), or oak varieties (Quercus spp.) as the dominant canopy trees. This wildflower prefers moist soil that is neutral to slightly acidic and likes dappled sunlight or light shade during the spring, followed by shade in the summer.

A mature plant can grow from six to twenty inches tall with a spread of up to twelve inches. Between April and June there is a solitary nodding flower with three petals that blooms for about two to three weeks. Because the petals of the flowers have the color of rotting flesh and exude a similar odor, they probably attract flesh flies, carrion beetles, and similar insects, which pollinate the flower. After pollination a single red fruit forms and matures in the summer. As the fruit matures, it splits open and the clusters of seeds fall to the ground. The seed coverings attract ants, which unwittingly wind up "planting" the seeds around the forest. If the seed takes root in “good soil” it may grow and mature to produce seeds of its own in five to ten years. However, the root system of the flower is also fibrous and rhizomatous so clonal plants can be produced from the rhizomes and may be found in small clusters.

The root of Purple Trillium has also been given the name Birth Root, Beth Root, and Bath Root because it was used as a traditional medicine by Native American’s to aid in child birth, restrict bleeding after childbirth, and for menstrual pain. The whole plant was also made into a poultice used to treat tumors, inflammation, and ulcers. Research has shown that the root contains steroidal saponins that have hormonal effects on the body and are now being used in gynecological and obstetric medicine. However this plant should not be taken during pregnancy except under direct medical supervision.

So call it what you will, I guess it really doesn’t matter to me, because regardless of its name it’s still one of my favorite spring wildflowers.