New! Heating with Wood

Thinking of installing a woodstove to beat the high cost of other fuels? Wondering if you can crank up a once-in-a-while woodstove to serve as your home's primary heating source?

If so, you'll want to check out our new Heating With Wood Web pages.

If you're just starting to investigate wood heat, you'll find there's a lot to learn. Even if you've burned wood for years, you'll want to keep up with changes in wood heating technology and firewood markets.

Heating with Wood offers information on these and other topics:

• Assessing your home for wood heat.
• Cutting your own firewood.
• Buying and storing firewood.
• Sizing, locating, installing and maintaining your wood stove.
• Burning wood safely and efficiently.
• The health effects of woodsmoke.
• Outdoor wood boilers.
• Managing the ashes.

UNH Cooperative Extension's Geospatial Technologies Training Center Receives National Award

ESRI award recognizes innovation and leadership in geospatial technology outreach

Environmental Systems Research Institute, of Redlands, California, has honored UNH Cooperative Extension's Geospatial Technologies Training Center with its 2008 Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award.

The Center "has demonstrated vision and leadership using ESRI's geographic information system (GIS) technology to better serve the world," said ESRI in announcing the award.

"We're very excited to be recognized by ESRI for our geospatial outreach and training efforts," said Extension's Geospatial Technologies Specialist Shane Bradt, who directs the Center.

"We were one of only four university-based programs to receive the Special Achievement in GIS award in 2008, highlighting the importance of our programs on a national, even international, level.

We very much appreciate the acknowledgement of our work in such a public forum and look forward to expanding and enhance our training center in the future. Our program is especially strong because of our extensive collaborative efforts with other agencies and departments," Bradt said.

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New Publication Helps Planners and Landowners Assess Wetlands For Amphibian Habitat

"Wetlands serve many important functions in our landscapes, including flood control, groundwater protection, and sediment trapping, but their role in providing habitat for ambhibians is often a main reason natural resource professionals and communities are interested in protecting wetlands," says Matt Tarr, UNH Cooperative Extension wildlife specialist.

"Wildlife biologists use amphibians as 'indicator' species, whose presence or absence serves as an important indication of overall environmental quality. Amphibian diversity is a good indication that we're providing habitat for a wide range of other wildlife species as well," Tarr says.

"New Hampshire has many different types of wetlands, including marshes, forested swamps, vernal pools, and ponds," he says. "But because not all amphibian species are found in every type of wetland, planners must protect a diversity of wetland types to maintain a diversity of wildlife species.

"Unfortunately, it's not always possible to avoid loss or alteration of individual wetlands during some development projects." Tarr says. "In these situations, natural resource professionals, town planners, and landowners have the difficult task of deciding which wetlands are most valuable to protect as wildlife habitat, and which ones the community can afford to lose or alter."

Guide helps planners make the tough decisions about which wetlands and wetland buffers to protect
To help these audiences make the tough decisions, Tarr teamed with UNH Widllife Ecology Professor Kim Babbitt to produce The Importance of Hydroperiod in Wetland Assessment: A guide for community officials, planners, and natural resource professionals.

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