University of New Hampshire
OP-10: Biodiversity

UNH holds three land areas that are classified as “natural areas” with the State of New Hampshire: the College Woods Natural Area (64 acres), the MacDonald Natural Area (13 acres), and Squam Lake Natural Area (206 acres). In addition, the university owns several other tracts of woodlands throughout the state of New Hampshire that are carefully managed but are not legally protected. These are all overseen by the Office of Woodlands and Natural Areas. Recognizing their duty of stewardship and to set an example to others of properly managed woodlands and natural areas, the Office of Woodlands and Natural areas achieves management objectives while observing the following tenets: support ecosystem integrity, support biological diversity, support sustainable forest utilization, protect the productivity of the resources in their care, provide educational, research and recreational opportunities.

See the "Species of Greatest Concern" attachment below. It includes wildlife species of state concern and plants and one community of special significance. There are a number of other plants and communities that are also exemplary or important but not listed in the enclosed document. Additionally, NHB reports (see below for clarification) also list species nearby that may utilize the property.

UNH has also identified native plant species that it is working to reintroduce (e.g., the American Chestnut) as well as invasive species that threaten native threatened and endangered species (e.g., Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, glossy buckthorn).

Although it is important to identify individual species, what we find most relevant is the continuous review of our properties in the context of local lands and beyond, and that we have a process in place to take appropriate action to manage these species as things change.

Our institution has several layers of review in place to help identify areas of biodiversity importance. Since this review is ongoing, we are prepared to address things as they change, including those things that will likely be the result of events linked to climate change.

Vulnerable habitats include early successional and old field habitat, which are important for vulnerable species include the New England Cottontail, as well as numerous species of native bees.

There is a continuous process in place for monitoring the relative rarity and importance of the habitats and related wildlife species on UNH properties. The basis of this process is a review by the NH Natural Heritage Bureau (NHB), who checks their database for occurrences that are exemplary (ie. ecologically important) or relatively rare on or nearby a property. This process is undertaken in three different instances:

1) 19 of the 22 woodland properties have permanent continuous forest inventory or "CFI" systems. CFI plots are permanent sample points that are re-inventoried on a set cycle to gather forest growth data and other information about forests. That information allows us to identify the presence (or absence) of vulnerable or endangered plant species. That data, combined with topographical and historical information, is also used to identify the possible presence of endangered or vulnerable animal species--which possibility is then confirmed through field observations by staff and faculty working in these spaces.
During the inventory we note plants and communities that are unique to the property and identify any threats, like disease or invasive plant or pest threat. This information provides information to update management plans; at this time an NHB report is requested.
2) During the ten -ear time period any project that aims to alter the vegetation (eg. Timber Harvest) requires a check of the NHB system.
3) The woodland network is enrolled in the Tree Farm system that is reviewed every 6 years. Tree Farm requires a similar report that requests the identification of unique plant communities.

The results of these process is summarized in the attached report. Enclosed are wildlife species of state concern and plants and one community of special significance. There are a number of other plants and communities that are also exemplary or important but not listed in the enclosed document. Additionally, NHB reports also list species nearby that may utilize the property.

Starting in 2006 a permanent CFI grid including over 1000 individual sample points was installed on 18 of the 21UNH Woodland properties; these properties are mostly those clustered around the UNH Durham campus. Each plot records baseline information about the trees and other vegetation surrounding the plot. This allows our students and researchers to have real current and historical data regarding the outdoor classrooms that they regularly use. This will be the start of a historical record of land use and forest growth on University Woodlands.

Properties within the CFI network include MacDonald (2006), Kingman Farm (2007), Jones Lot (2008), Saddleback Mountain (2009), College Woods (2010), Squam Lake (2010), Mendum's pond (2011), the Horticulture Farm (2012), Thompson Farm (2013), East and West Foss Farm (2014), Moore Fields (2014) Davis Park (2014), Dudley Lot (2015) and Burley-Demeritt Farm (2015), Lord Farm (2016) and Burnham Lot (2016), and Madison Lot (2019).

UNH properties not currently in the CFI network (currently three properties, and a portion of a fourth) are regularly inventoried using conventional timber cruising methods and subject to the same level of review by NHB when projects are proposed and/or implemented

Each woodland and natural area at UNH is subject to a management plan, developed based on the regular 10-year assessment that is conducted for each woodland/natural area. All of the management plans can be reviewed on the Woodlands website: https://colsa.unh.edu/woodlands  

A couple of specific programs are detailed below:

New England Cottontail/Early Successional Habitat & Young Forest Project - The goal of this project is to create and maintain early successional and old field habitat components on UNH’s Horticulture Farm, Thompson, East and West Foss Farms and beyond. This will be accomplished through a series of mechanical treatments including brush mowing with a brontosaurus mower or similar machine, whole tree harvesting and conventional timber harvest methods. The project will specifically target those species that are associated with old fields, shrubland and early successional growth. Future maintenance of these areas will be accomplished through mowing, clearing with handheld power saws and prescribed fire. This habitat benefits a wide range of wildlife species but is intended to target the New England Cottontail, a threatened species. Ongoing harvesting by the Thompson School logging class (completed 2019) at Horticulture farm aims to increase the size of a large opening at the Horticulture farm. Other efforts towards this project included additional harvesting on East and West Foss Farms, brontosaurus type mowing on Horticulture farm and allowing portions of Kingman Farm to regenerate to a shrubby condition. See https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/wildlife-and-habitat/nongame-and-endangered-species/nongame-projects/new-england-cottontail-and 

Horticulture Farm Insectary - In partnership with the State of NH Forest Health Office a three acre block within the Forestry Demonstration area has been devoted to the insectary. We intend to grow a population of Laricobius beetle, a natural predator of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, which is a non-native pest of Eastern hemlock trees. This two-year project, if successful, will provide populations of beetles to be distributed throughout the region.

Kingman Farm Chestnut Plantation - In the winter of 2015-2016, student employees of the UNH Woodlands Office helped to clear one acre to establish UNH’s first American Chestnut plantation. 350 seedlings were then planted by UNH students. This planting will be a test for future forest-to-chestnut conversion projects and serve as material for research, educational and outreach purposes.

Six different properties have populations of ash trees that are being injected to save them as small reserves as a response to the Emerald Ash Borer infestation. Given that EAB results in near 100% mortality, it is our hope that these small populations will provide a future for ash in our state.

An important population of 250+ year old hemlock trees in the College Woods property are threatened by hemlock woolly adelgid and hemlock elongate scale, two non-native pests that can kill hemlock trees. Again, a small sample of hemlock trees are being treated to serve as a means to regenerate this species so we can maintain a range of hemlock age classes in this important ecological resource.

We continue to monitor the introduction of new pests and are poised to implement new measures to address emerging threats to our forests and forest ecosystems as well as serve as a means to convey this information to other forest managers and stakeholders to improve the health of the forests they manage. We are uniquely equipped to address these issues because of our close relationships with partners throughout the forestry community in the State and the region, including the US Forest Service and NH State Office of Forest Health. Two such looming potential threats of particular concern are Beech leaf disease and Oak wilt.  

There is an active timber harvesting program on UNH woodland properties. By carefully managing these properties we ensure that there are healthy trees in the widest range of age classes and species. This diversity is directly related to increased vigor and variety of wildlife and therefore greatest overall ecosystem productivity and health. A good example of the guiding principles that are used in our management could be found in two documents specific to our State: Good Forestry in the Granite State and New Hampshire Best Management Practices for Erosion Control on Timber Harvesting Operations. 

See also https://www.unh.edu/sustainability/sustainability-institute/task-forces for information about the EcoSystem Task Force.