Prioritizing, Protecting, and Restoring Riparian Buffers in Merrimack River Watershed Communities

Join us, Saturday May 19th, 2018 for a field trip lead by Alex Krofta, formerly a Restoration Scientist with Merrimack River Watershed Council, and currently a Stewardship Biologist with Mass Wildlife.

 

In 2014, the Merrimack River Watershed Council along with partners, the Nashua River Watershed Association, Mass Department of Conservation and Recreation, and University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, started an ambitious 3-year project funded by the US Forest Service and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The goal of this project is to restore, better manage, and protect land within the riparian buffers of six targeted subwatersheds within the Merrimack watershed.

 

Please join us in the field to get a firsthand look at two riparian buffer restoration sites planted on public land by community volunteers. One is at Memorial Field in Pembroke, and the other is at City of Concord conservation land on West Portsmouth Street. There may also be an opportunity to visit a future restoration site at NHTI and review the planting plan. We will discuss “lessons learned” from project implementation, including selecting sites, working with volunteers, building partnerships with community stakeholders, and more.

 

We will be meeting at 10AM at the southern end of Memorial Field, where the Suncook River flows into the Merrimack. The entrance to Memorial Field is at Pleasant St and Exchange St in Pembroke, NH. From there we’ll be carpooling/convoying to City of Concord conservation land at the western end of West Portsmouth Street in Concord, NH, with a meeting time of 11:30AM for this site visit. We may visit the third site (which is currently in the planning stages) at NHTI afterwards, pending time and interest.

 

Feel free to join us for one or both site visits, and maybe bring a lunch for afterwards so we can eat and catch up with our restoration colleagues.

 

More information about the project can be found here: