Government

Claremont Conservation Commission

Welcome to the Claremont Conservation Commission's page dedicated to environmental education. Here we will share information of public interest on the environment and to advertise upcoming public events sponsored or hosted by the Commission.

Trout Release

Leslie Peabody, science teacher at Steven’s High School, participated in NH Fish & Game’s Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program this winter/spring. The program is used to educate students about a species of concern, the Brook Trout. At the same time, TIC educates students about their local watershed and helps them understand why Brook Trout are an indicator species. In early December, Ms. Peabody was given approximately 200 trout eggs from Fish & Game and raised them to fry through late April.

The initial plan approved by Fish & Game was to release the fry in the Sugar River under the Kellyville bridge. After Ms. Peabody attended the 'Restoring Brook Trout in New Hampshire' presentation, hosted by the Claremont Conservation Commission in early April, she realized that location was not going to be conducive to the survival of the trout. She contacted and received approval from Fish & Game to release the trout fry in a more local and suitable location in Claremont.

Claremont Conservation Commission members Gary Dickerman and Eric Peabody joined Ms. Peabody in releasing the trout fry in a section of Stevens Brook, within the Stevens Brook Conservation Easement. The idea of Stevens Brook also brought about interest from Fish & Game to potentially conduct a water quality survey soon. The removal and replacement of the culvert under Main Street will further improve the survival of any native fish species in Stevens Brook and the Sugar River. We look forward to seeing this project completed.

Ms. Peabody was very thankful for all the knowledge and help from Gary and Eric, as well as NH Fish & Game, her students, and other volunteers with the project. She would like for us to be involved again in the future.

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Natural Resources Inventory

In 2013, the Conservation Commission published the Natural Resources Inventory1 for the City.  In addition to providing an inventory of the City's natural resources, it provided a list of ten ecologically significant areas in the City.  In the coming months, we will use this space to hightlight each of those areas.  

ECOLOGICALLY  SIGNIFICANT AREAS (pg. 41)

The  final  outcome  of  any  NRI  is  the  identification  of  ecologically   significant areas (ESAs) within the community. ESAs are those areas in the City that exhibit unique ecological characteristics that deserve special attention in terms of land use. This further provides a basis for informed land use planning, recognizing that some areas have high ecological  value based  on the various  attributes present.

ESAs were identified (in Claremont) using a multitude of factors, including landscape-level and site-specific attributes. These included a combination of unfragmented lands, wildlife movement and habitat connectivity, clustering effect of significant habitats that occur in close proximity to one another, presence and  distribution  of  focal  species,  wetlands of high value, presence and distribution of rare elemental occurrences (rare species and exemplary natural communities; see list of known occurrences in Appendix B),  and priorities for conservation developed by the WAP.  These  landscape-level  considerations aid in a more comprehensive approach that recognizes large-scale habitats and ecological processes  within the built  and natural environments.
 
As  a result  of  the NRI,  11 ESAs  have been  identified.
 
Traveling east on Route 12 from Ascutney to Claremont, look to your right as you cross the bridge.  You will see the junction (confluence) of the Sugar and Connecticut Rivers and one of Claremont's most special ecosystems - a Floodplain Forest.  This special place is part of ESA 9:
 
ESA 9 - Sugar River west
• Intact forest buffer along Sugar River
• Diverse wildlife habitats providing habitat connectivity along Sugar River
• Identified in WAP as containing highest ranked habitat
• Exemplary natural community - sycamore floodplain forest

This area has been flooded several times this year, starting with spring snow melt and followed by flooding from heavy rains we had during the summer.  

From the UNH website, we can learn why these ecosystems are so special:

Why are Floodplain Forests Important?

floodplain forestsFloodplain forests are unique because of their periodic flooding.
These regular disturbances, which deposit silt and sand along the banks of waterways, help create and maintain unique communities of plants that tolerate flooding and require nutrient-rich soils. Floodplain forests contribute many free ecological services to our society: they help filter pollutants to prevent them from entering streams, improve water quality, are critical in controlling erosion, and help buffer rivers against catastrophic flooding.
 
Floodplain forests as wildlife habitat
Floodplains are home to a diversity of wildlife. The damp soils create rich insect and amphibian breeding habitats, and these species in turn become prey for birds such as woodcock and barred owl, for mammals such as mink and raccoon, and for reptiles such as smooth green snake and wood turtle. Research in the Connecticut River region has shown that spring flooding thaws the soils of floodplain forests earlier than soils in surrounding areas. This early thaw means that insects become available to birds (as food) earlier in floodplain forests, so birds will feed in, follow, and depend more heavily on floodplain forests than other forested habitats during the early spring migration.
 
Floodplain forests as corridors
Floodplains provide corridors that allow wildlife to move from one habitat to another, especially in urban areas where development has fragmented alternative travel routes for wildlife. The overhanging canopy in floodplain forests also helps maintain cool waterways in the summer, which helps species such as brook trout.
 
 
Conservation Commission member, Eric Zengota, took this photo of Claremont's floodplain forest:
 
Threats to Floodplain Forests
Agriculture & Development
Human development of floodplain forests permanently eliminates habitat. Building and construction of paved roads may also separate wildlife populations, inhibit migration, create increased predation and promote collisions on roads. Paving areas of native floodplain forests lessens the water-storage capacity of the land, which can cause more frequent and catastrophic floods, with potentially drastic effects on wildlife, people, and communities downstream. Agriculture also has a negative impact on floodplains, but a less permanent one than human development. Over time, agricultural fields may revert to forest, and in their current condition they provide a different kind of habitat (hayfield, cropland) used by many wildlife species.
 
Impact of Dams
Dams on rivers prevent natural flooding, permanently altering the plant and wildlife communities of floodplain forests downstream. “Run-of-river” dams, which operate using available stream flow, not by storing water behind the dam, allow for normal flow except during periods of high water.
 
Invasive Plants
Invasive plant species spread easily in the frequent disturbances created by flooding and tend to thrive in the rich soils of floodplain forests. Particularly problematic are Oriental bittersweet, Japanese knotweed, and black swallow-wort, which can out-compete existing native vegetation, strangle trees or eliminate the tree canopy. Invasive plants may also directly impact floodplain wildlife. Research shows that berries from invasive plants such as bittersweet and buckthorn are lower in nutrition—like junk food for birds—than berries from native shrubs. 
 
Climate Vulnerabilities for Floodplain Forests
  • Changes in precipitation patterns, such as longer periods of drought, unpredictable large storms, higher flows, and run-off events which can erode areas and change species composition.
  • Increases in invasive species.
  • Slow migration of southern species north.

 

1Jeffry N. Littleton, Moosewood Ecological LLC., PO Box 9, Chesterfield NH 

Conservation Commission Documents

Conservation Commission Documents