Manchester, NH

Those who saw a group having fun at Kalivas Park Thursday, March 28, were seeing SCA Manchester learning about Leave No Trace (LNT)!

After an intense game of Gypsie Soccer, a brief overview of our upcoming events, and an introduction to the seven principles of LNT, we explored different surface durability at Kalivas Park.

Then we took tic-tac-toe to a whole new level, with two teams figuring out the answers to questions about LNT before they could jump into a tic-tac-toe spot as X or O. Both teams answered correctly for all questions and tied the game. Everyone seemed to enjoy thinking deeper about specific questions of leave no trace scenarios.

For the second week in a row, our Education and Prep Night meeting featured a guest speaker sharing her experiences in the field of conservation. On March 21, Emily Klein, a Ph.D. student in the Natural Resources & Environmental Studies department at the University of New Hampshire, led the corps members through a discussion on conservation field research, providing examples from her own life and encouraging our students to consider similar opportunities.

Emily spent four years living and working outside, assisting with studies that helped local agencies protect bird and mammal species. The research topics included assessing lynx populations in Yellowstone National Park, determining river otter populations in Kentucky, analyzing avian diseases in Hawaii, and more. Not only did this work assist conservation efforts; she also had the chance to live in some of the most breathtaking natural areas in the country.

Emily’s presentation certainly piqued the interest of many of our corps members. In the coming months, we look forward to bringing in more guest speakers who can introduce this group to the abundant opportunities for living, working – and even studying – in the great outdoors. 

Saturday  March 16^th, we had to pleasure of helping out at Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center in Lacona.  Despite being a bit chillier this weekend, we had clear and sunny skies.

We started off the day by installing bird boxes around Prescott Farm. Everyone got a chance to work together and find the stands and match the bird boxes to them. It was fun to wander around the farm and get to see the property.

After we finished with the bird boxes, we hiked down to the sugar house to learn about sap collection and turning it into maple sugar. It was fun to hike around and find sugar maples and measure to see if they were big enough to be tapped. We even had the chance to try some of the maple sugar and compare it to the taste of the sap.

Prescott Farm was a great success and everyone learned a little something new. Whether it was that they actually do like the taste of Maple syrup or that it is impossible not to laugh when someone says “honey, I love you, can you please, please smile?”

Thursday, March 14^th.

This Thursday Ed Prep Night marked one month for SCA Manchester 2013. This week we had a special guest speaker from the University of New Hampshire, Elizabeth Burakowski. Liz is a Ph.D. student within the Department of Earth Sciences focusing on how Anthropogenic Changes in Land Cover Type Impact Climate Through Changes in Winter Surface Albedo. 

She came and talked to SCA Manchester about climate change and how it does and will affect New Hampshire. We had a lot of people show up to listen to Elizabeth, and ask a lot of very important questions about the significance of climate change in our lives.