New Hampshire
N.H. is home to an international alarm system made of trees – The Boston Globe
The so-called sentinel gardens spanned three continents and four countries, including Sweden, China, Italy, and the United States. New Hampshire is home to one of two sentinel gardens in the US. The other is located at the Waterman Farm on the Ohio State University Campus in Columbus, Ohio.
Researchers involved in the project hoped to make new discoveries about which insects and pathogens harm different plants.
Isabel Munck, a plant pathologist for the US Forest Service who works in Durham, N.H., was among them.
“One of the biggest threats, if not the biggest threat to our forest in this part of the world are invasives, like pathogens and insects,” said Munck.
If the researchers noticed a tree struggling, they could investigate which pathogens or pests were likely to blame.
Foreign invasives can hitch a ride into the US in wood products, packing materials, or on live plants imported by nurseries, for example. But native plants haven’t developed any resistance to those insects or diseases, which means they can be especially damaging or even lethal.
Munck said she was especially interested in learning more about fungi, which make up most forest pathogens.
“The point of this project is to try to detect them before they spread,” Munck said. She likened the trees planted abroad to a canary in a coal mine, capable of alerting people to a problem before it becomes lethal.
She worked on one of the sentinel gardens, located at the Urban Forestry Center in Portsmouth, N.H., where plants from China and Europe were grown.
Gardeners in Italy, Sweden, and China reciprocated by growing plants from New Hampshire in those three countries to see how they would respond to pathogens located in those countries.
Researchers in China found several new pathogens that impact red maple that had never been reported before, according to Munck.
These observations could be used to inform policy decisions about monitoring and preventing harmful pathogens from entering the country to protect forests.
“We’re not going to stop international commerce and movement of goods and services and people. It’s an attempt to not be surprised by things that have surprised us in the past,” said Pierluigi Bonello, a plant pathology professor at The Ohio State University. Bonello also directed the sentinel garden research project.
“This is just step zero, not even step one, just to see what’s out there,” he said. “Once you know there is a potential threat, theoretically then, you can alert the border inspection facilities in the United States, for example, to be on the lookout for that specific organism.”
When invasive species go undetected, they can create big problems.
Beech leaf disease is one of the top concerns Munck sees in the region today, caused by nematodes, or microscopic worms, that are believed to come from the Pacific Rim. First detected in the US in 2012, it prevents beech trees from developing shoots so the trees stop making new leaves. It has been found in 13 states so far, including New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maine.
Scientists are concerned about the rate of spread, and that the invasive can kill trees just a few years after symptoms first show up.
Munck is also studying trees at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University to see what kinds of fungi are already present here. The 281-acre arboretum has over 16,000 trees, including species from all over the world. Some of the same species that grow in the arboretum were planted in the sentinel gardens around the world, so Munck can compare the fungi present in Boston to those in Jiangsu Province in China, for example.
“We’re trying to exclude the things that are always present from the ones that are causing disease,” Munck said.
Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire: So, So Awesome, Though I Did Lose My Nerve for a Time – Part I – The Trek
This is a story not about scenic views, wildflowers, animals, people met, towns encountered, but some reality, at least mine, of things we often do not talk about in the hiking community. In retrospect, the first 1,800+ miles headed north on my thru hike of the Appalachian Trail (AT) were certainly taxing and replete with various challenges that I had to work through, learn from, and make adjustments. However, realistically not much on the AT at that point, and per my years of previous hiking experiences, prepared me mentally for what I would encounter in New Hampshire.
Welcome to idyllic New Hampshire.
More idyllic New Hampshire. Not so fast, Mr. Hiker guy, can’t do the same moves as before.
New Hampshire Hiking
Frankly, New Hampshire is a beast and I do mean that in a positive and respectful manner. The hiking in New Hampshire is so technically difficult from other areas within the U.S. and abroad that I have hiked. It seemed like I was constantly bouldering, scrambling, using handholds, fording high, swift creeks/rivers, navigating massive descents with no “guardrails,” or in May encountering hour-by-hour changing weather (e.g., snow, hail, sleet, rain, wind).
A granite face. Down we go.
Crazy Descent
When I hike, I do carry with me a healthy dose of fear, which I find to be positive. For me, fear operates as a navigating tool related to risks, focusing my mind, calming my emotional state, or strengthening my thought processes/decision-making.
On a few AT sections early on in New Hampshire, such as the northbound massive descent (Beaver Brook Cascades) down from Mount Moosilauke in a snow and sleet storm, my revolve and fear-cooping mechanisms seemed to become a negative version of “scared” with every step given the large amounts of this winter’s snow and ice, slippery rock faces, micro spikes and/or trial runners not adhering well to granite, and so on. In my mind, and probably quite true given the weather and trail conditions, danger of a fall, injury, or worse appeared to be at every turn and step. A 3+ mile very steep descent turned into a 3 to 4 hour mental stress test that I am pretty sure I “failed.”
Snow and ice up and down the mountain.
I was warned.
Rising Waters
The next day, I hiked about 17 miles from Kinsman Notch to Franconia Notch, and it had rained a lot in that section of the AT during the previous two days. During my ascent of Mount Kinsman, it continued to rain and rain. I must of forded 6 to 8 rivers, or maybe just the same river that amount of times, but as the day wore on, the water levels in these river(s) kept rising. I am almost 6’3” tall and by the end of the hiking day, I was fording river water mid- to upper-thigh and in super swift conditions. Again, like the previous Mousilauke experience, my positive fear started to become something more negative and mentally paralyzing thinking about the inherent risk involved in fording a deep, swift river late in the day and with no other option to get to the other side of a flooded out AT.
Various extremely sketchy river fords.
A Reset
After these experiences, and frankly losing my confidence, I took a few days off to level set, so I stayed at the wonderful Notch Hostel. To date, the Notch is my favorite hostel on the trail. The staff were so welcoming, warm, and always available. The hostel was super clean and friendly and had very fair expectations related to how hikers et al. should live there as well as treat the hostel environment. After at reset, I went back out and did a 27-mile hike in a few days of the famed Franconia Ridge over Mounts Lafayette and Lincoln, South Twin Mountain, and others. This was a very challenging hike, but one that I needed to do to gain my nerve back and reestablish mentally my healthy level of fear instead of hiking scared per possible ‘what if’ scenarios of serious injury and beyond.
Moving into Part II
So, in the end, it was fine to lose my nerve for a time and be scared in certain hiking situations. The key for me was in recognizing the latter state, trying to mentally review the circumstances, and learn from these experiences. Then, I needed to physically go back out in challenging conditions and hike. I feel really good about New Hampshire and what is to come on the AT. My part II, if you will, will be informed from my part I. I can’t wait for more of New Hampshire.
A new day rising.
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New Hampshire
New Hampshire mountainside transformed into largest outdoor sculpture park in New England
Sponsored by New England Chevy Dealers
With over 100 sculptures woven into the mountainside, the Andres Institute of Art is New England’s largest outdoor sculpture park.
Along wooded trails and scenic overlooks, visitors encounter a rotating collection of works that blend art and nature, turning a simple hike into an immersive gallery experience
CONCORD, NH — Concord fire and rescue teams were sent to a house fire in the South End on Saturday afternoon.
Around 3:15 p.m., Concord Fire Alarm began receiving reports about smoke coming from a home on Brookside Drive. Engine 4 arrived first and confirmed smoke was coming from the building. About 10 minutes later, a firefighter stated the fire appeared to be coming from the basement.
News 603 posted videos on Facebook here:
And here:
A few minutes later, firefighters reported putting water on the fire.
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