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2006 Center for the Environment Seed Grants

Beginning in 2005, the Center for the Environment has sponsored a Seed Grant program to foster research and outreach throughout the Plymouth State University community. In 2006, the Center received 20 proposals and has funded ten projects valued at approximately $60,000.

The proposals are diverse and many involve support for students and regional research as well as engage off campus partners. These projects will help further PSU’s regional mission while encouraging research and scholarship.

• Thomas R. Boucher (PSU Mathematics Dept) Acquisition of Reference Materials for the Plymouth State University Department of Mathematics’ Statistical Consulting Center’s Environmetrics Initiative. This project involves the acquisition of reference materials in environmental and ecological statistics, to be housed in the Department of Mathematics Statistical Consulting Center. The Statistical Consulting Center is available to PSU students and faculty to assist with research.

• Mary Cornish and Meg Petersen (PSU English Dept) Naming the Places We Love: Writing and the Environment.  A day-long workshop will be developed to provide teachers from the Lakes Region and the North Country with a variety of exercises related to writing about the environment.  Teachers will be encouraged to take the strategies back into their classrooms to use with their students and provide professional development to teachers in their schools. The project will culminate with the publication of a teacher resource guide with writing exercises and accompanying student writing to be distributed to all regional schools. The session will become part of the professional development offerings of the Plymouth Writing Project.

• Angel Ekstrom and Janet Conner (PSU Venture Center) Integrating Experiential Education into the K-12 School System. Based on research of current industry trends, facilitation workshops, and developing meaningful connections, original programming will be developed that promotes adventure in the classroom, character education, and environmental awareness through the avenues of school day and after school opportunities offered through the PSU Venture Center. 

• Thaddeus C. Guldbrandsen (PSU Center for Rural Partnerships), Gail McWilliam Jellie (NH Department of Agriculture), Rick DeMark (North Country Resource Conservation & Development), Roger Monthey (US Forest Service), John Simpson (NH Department of Resources & Economic Development)The Sustainable Forest Economy Conference and Trade Show. “The Sustainable Forest Economy Conference and Trade Show” will convene approximately 200 forest landowners, community leaders, and business people to exchange information about how to preserve forest land and grow a sustainable forest-based economy.  This is a pilot project that will help build a regional network of organizations devoted to a sustainable forest-based economy in New Hampshire and northern New England.  The conference will be held in 2007 at Plymouth State University, which is located near the geographic center of the State of New Hampshire and the Northeast’s Northern Forest.

• June Hammond Rowan (PSU Center for the Environment), Brian Eisenhauer (PSU Center for the Environment), Steve Whitman (Jeffrey Taylor & Associates and Adjunct Faculty, PSU), and Angela Vincent (City of Nashua and NH Planners Association’s Professional Development Officer) Citizen Survey Techniques for Planners. The project involves the creation of a professional development workshop for the New Hampshire Planners Association on “Citizen Survey Techniques for Planners” that covers techniques for surveying citizens and stakeholders for master plans and other planning projects. This workshop will cover basics of survey design, sampling methods, response rates, and techniques for improving response rates.

• Mark Okrant (PSU Geography & Institute of NH Studies), Madeline McElaney (PSU Graduate Student), June Hammond Rowan (PSU Center for the Environment), Thad Guldbrandsen (PSU Center for Rural Partnerships), Tim Naro (Plymouth Selectman) The Pemigewasset and Baker River Waterfront Enhancement Project. “The Pemigewasset and Baker River Waterfront Enhancement Project” is a community effort to revitalize the waterfront areas of the Pemigewasset and Baker Rivers in Plymouth and Holderness. The goal is to produce, through a coordinated effort, a community supported comprehensive waterfront master plan with priorities for action and funding.

• Michele L. Pruyn (PSU Biological Sciences) and John R. Butnor (Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service) Quantification of Heart Rot in Key Hardwood Tree Species of New England Forests. Heart rot is the decomposition of wood within the central cylinder of living tree stems by basidiomycete wood decay pathogens. It accounts for a substantial percentage of disease loss in U.S. forests, causing decreased value of usable timber and the depletion of wood carbon reserves in living trees. Precise methods for non-destructively predicting the magnitude of heart rot volume and the associated carbon losses are lacking. This research will apply the technique of ground penetrating radar (GPR) to enable the determination of heart rot volumes in key hardwood tree species of the northeast.
• Len Reitsma (PSU), Chris Conrod (PSU), and Leland Brown (PSU) Quantifying Small Mammal Population Trends as Components to Food Web Dynamics  Small mammals are suspected of playing a critical role in food web dynamics at the much studied Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBRF), yet very little quantitative research has been conducted on this important group of heterotrophs. The speculation is that beech mast results in high overwinter survival of sciurids (chipmunks, red squirrels, and flying squirrels) and this in turn results in lower reproductive success for songbirds through higher nest predation rates. This project will quantify the cause/effect relationships at the heart of this speculation.

• Rick Van de Poll (PSU & Ecosystems Management Consultants) and Kerry Yurewicz (PSU Biological Sciences) Ecological Assessment of the Squam Range: Phase II of a Long-term Bio-monitoring Partnership Project. The Squam Lakes Bio-Inventory Project was created in 2001 to better understand the ecology of the Squam Lakes watershed, to establish permanent bio-monitoring plots, and to educate the public on environmental issues. This project will focus on the 20,000-acre Squam Range and environs due to its particular importance to the ecological integrity of the Squam Lakes. It will create a long-term research platform for Plymouth State graduate and undergraduate students, establish the biological basis for conservation of the Squam Range, and promote the strategic conservation of critical natural resources.

• Donald Wharton (PSU), Stacey Doll (North Country Council), Christine Walker (North Country Council), June Hammond Rowan (PSU Center for the Environment) Steve Whitman (Jeffrey Taylor & Associates & PSU Adjunct Faculty), Thad Guldbrandsen (PSU Center for Rural Partnerships) Integrating Communities through Environmental Planning in the North Country.  “Integrating Communities through Environmental Planning” in the North Country will develop and deliver applied training in environmental planning to land use boards in the North Country. The project will meet an identified need for training in this field, enhance North Country Council’s (NCC) Community Outreach Program, and help empower local boards to make better land use decisions. A two-part workshop will be developed and delivered to board members and will focus on applied techniques and local environmental topics.