Conservation Commission Past Events

Alongside the Rook family, a crowd gathered at the Cornish Fire Station for the presentation of the 2019 Conservation Award in honor of Dale F. Rook (1939-2019). Two years ago the conservation commission posthumously honored Dale Rook with the Cornish Conservation Award. Dale’s ten years on the Conservation Commission was just one of the many, many examples of his love for Cornish. The Commission worked with Judy Rook to find a tree that would be fitting for this award and would honor Dale’s love of nature. This Thundercloud Plum tree, with its deep purple leaves, will start to become accented with white, pale pink flowers in the spring. These flowers are followed by small purple plums that attract the birds. And that is what attracted us to this tree. There is a similar tree at the Rook household that Dale would love to watch the birds visit. This tree will now be able to provide that same joy to many people, for years to come.

Thank you to Gallagher Tree Service for donating their time and resources to plant the tree.

Conservation Commission Past Events

A group of engaged folks joined us at the Cornish Town Offices to hear Dode Gladders talk about the basics of forest ecology with an emphasis on the importance of diversity in resilient forests.

A few takeaways from the talk:
1. A diverse forest can help landowners meet multiple goals including forest health, wildlife habitat, and periodic income.

2. Managing forests to increase diversity can help to protect water quality.

3. A diverse “forest portfolio” is likely to be more resilient to climate change and unexpected weather events.

4. Several grants are available to help offset forest management costs.

For more resources and information, please visit extension.unh.edu//

Conservation Commission Past Events

Over 100 people joined us at the Cornish School to hear Ben’s popular lecture/slideshow on his research with black bears and new endeavors with panda bears.

A few takeaways from his talk:
1. Bears seek out food, not trash: keep kitchen scraps indoors or in a freezer until trash day; clean out grills; don’t feed your pets outdoors. Controlling the smell will help keep the bears away.

2. If you have backyard chickens or bees, surround them with an electric fence. Once bears get zapped, they lose interest in what is on the other side of the fence.

3. If you see a bear in your backyard or while walking through the woods there are a few things to keep in mind. The majority of behavior from the bear is protective; stay still and talk to the bear in a soft voice to let them know that you are not a threat. Signs of chomping teeth, snorting, swatting, or false charging are ways for the bear to delay confrontation long enough for communication to take place and for you to calmly walk away. Always keep your dogs on a leash.

For more info on Ben’s work to rehabilitate and release injured, orphaned, and abandoned black bear cubs, please visit kilhambearcenter.org/

Conservation Commission Past Events

Lead by Jody Schubert, and the group of 9 eager birders explored the CREA land/trails. The diversity of habitat, which includes wetland, pond, mature and mixed deciduous and conifer forest, large fields and nearby hills and ridges provided 30 species on a cool spring morning. Of special interest and delight were 6 species of wood warblers, all actively gleaning insects, given their recent migratory journeys and need to refuel. Around the pond Barn and Tree Swallows swooped close overhead, while resident geese honked and Red-Winged Blackbirds were calling from every direction.