Summer 2007 Calendar

Family Camp- Beavers
Date: Monday, July 2nd
Time: 1:00 PM-4:00 PM
Place: Meet at The Nature Museum
Cost: Members $3, $10 Family Max
Cost: Non-members $5, $12 Family Max

• Meet at The Nature Museum, we will carpool to the beaver pond
• Pre-registration preferred but not necessary

Join a Nature Museum naturalist and spend an afternoon with your family discovering a beautiful beaver pond and wetland. There will be plenty of exploring and activities for all. We will play games, work on scavenger hunts, hike on wooded trails and look for beavers and their lodges and dams.

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Family Camp- Pond and Stream
Date: Tuesday, July 3rd
Time: 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
Place: Meet at The Nature Museum
Cost: Members $3, $10 Family Max
Cost: Non-members $5, $12 Family Max

• Meet at The Nature Museum, we will carpool to the beaver pond
• Pre-registration preferred but not necessary

 Underneath the surface, pond and streams hold many amazing creatures. Spend a morning with your family exploring the pond and stream in the village of Grafton. We will supply nets, buckets, and instruction and everyone can search for tadpoles, minnows, frogs and insects. We will meet at the museum, move down to the pond and then progress to the stream. The best way to learn about the natural world is to see it for yourself, it is also a lot of fun!

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Bats and Bat Detectors
Date: Saturday, July14th
Time: 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Place: Meet at The Nature Museum
Cost: Member - $3
Cost: Non-members - $5

Join us for a night exploring the wonderous world of bats. We will start out indoors with a slide show and presentation about bats that live around the world and in our own neighborhoods and then we will use a bat detector device outside to listen in on the high frequency sounds that our local bats are making as they echolocate while they search for and snack on mosquitoes and moths.

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Bird Walk and Talk on Bird-friendly Management of Your Woodlot or Yard
Date: Saturday, August 11th
Time: 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Place: 7:00 AM WALK- Meet at The Nature Museum and carpool up to Molly Beattie State Forest
Place: 10:00 AM TALK- At the Nature Museum
Cost: Donations Welcome

We hope you can join us for one or both parts.

Join Bridget Butler, conservation education specialist with Vermont Audubon, for a walk through the varying habitats of the Molly Beattie State Forest. We will be looking why different habitats host different species of birds.  The bird walk will be followed by a presentation, at the Nature Museum, of the GMAC’s “Bird-Friendly Management Recommendations.” This is a must for those interested in managing their acreage to encourage use by the widest variety of birds possible.

This program is co-sponsored by Ascutney Mountain Audubon

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"Last Blast of Summer” Camp Day - For Ages 6-10
Date: Wednesday, August 22nd
Time: 9:00 AM-4:00 PM
Place: Meet at the Nature Museum
Cost: Member - $15
Cost: Non-members - $20

Before the kids go back to school, treat them to a day a exploring the pond, the steam, the meadow and the forest. This day will be filled with discovering the wonders of nature through games, outdoor exploration and crafts. We pack all the “greatest hits” of summer into this one day of outdoor fun.

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“Last Blast of Summer” Nature Art Day - For Ages 8-14
Date: Thursday, August 23rd
Time: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
Place: Meet at the Nature Museum
Cost: Member - $20
Cost: Non-members - $25

Treat your children to a day exploring nature art themes. These art projects will take place both inside the museum and outdoors. Sometimes we’ll use natural items to make wreaths, paper and other projects. For other crafts we will use animals as our inspiration. We will also delve into the world of nature drawing. A great day for anyone who loves art and nature.

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Trails Day on The Village Park Trails
Date: Saturday August 25th
Time: 10:00 AM-12:00 PM
Place: Meet at the Village Park trailhead, near the Brick Church in Grafton

The Village Park is a wonderful community resource, that we use for educational programs as well as quiet walks in the woods. This is not only a day to lend a helping hand, but a great way to get to know the village park trails more intimately. Meet at the entrance to The Grafton Village Park (next to the brick church) to join up with a work crew. It would be great if you could bring work gloves, and clippers, (and bug repellant) but most importantly bring your willingness to have fun, meet some neighbors and help out the community by taking care of our public spaces.

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Mushroom Exploration
Date: Sunday, September 2nd
Time: 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Place: Meet at Grafton Ponds Nordic Ski and Mountain Bike Center
Cost: Member - $3
Cost: Non-members - $5

Join Dick McCarrick as he introduces us to safe mushroom hunting techniques; shares with us specimens of poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms; and takes us for a walk in the woods as we look for these special woodland wonders.

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Bear Field Trip- In Search of Bear Feeding Signs
Date: Saturday September, 15th
Time: 9:00 AM- about12:00 PM
Place:Meet near the entrance to the Stratton Ski Area at the Stratton Visitor Welcome Center, in the parking lot.
Cost: Member - $3
Cost: Non-members - $5

Forrest Hammond, a wildlife biologist from Vermont Fish and Wildlife, will be leading a field trip to look for bear feeding signs. We will be searching for bear sign where they have been feeding on raspberries, beech trees and jack-in-the-pulpit plants. We will also search for trees that have been used as scratch poles, which bears use for communication with each other. Generally we will learn how bears adapt to living in the area around the Stratton resort and in the region as a whole. Please bring appropriate clothing for a morning in the woods and a bag lunch.

 

Taking the Time to Engage in the Natural World
by Margo Ghia- Director of The Nature Museum

I was observing my children catching bugs in the garden the other day and I realized how quickly they are growing up. They are speeding along on their path of growing and learning and I feel as if I haven’t exposed them to the natural world as much as I once dreamed I would.

Everyone assumes that because I work at The Nature Museum, that my own kids must be very knowledgeable in the natural world. I spend a lot of time working with people of all ages and exposing them to the riches that our natural world has. But unfortunately this doesn’t always translate to home. As with many families, it seems like the daily toll of work, school, preparing meals, and more take up all of our limited “free” family time. And yet, I know how important it is to get out, become engaged, and explore new areas and topics.

I have recently made a commitment to myself that I would bring my family to more programs, would take time for exploring new places with them, and would share some of my excitement for the natural world. As a part of this natural world commitment to my family, my older son attended his first Museum preschool camp this summer. He loved it! He is still talking about his time with Betsy and how he wishes he could come to the Museum everyday.

The Nature Museum provides a lot of opportunities for people of all ages to engage in and explore the natural world. This Fall, we are beginning a series called “Exploring Rockingham: The Nature Out Your Back Door.” These programs, offered once a month, will explore different aspects of natural history and all be located throughout Rockingham and surrounding areas. For our younger participants, we have a fall preschool series starting in October. This series will get our youngest learners engaged with the fall forest. We also have a new version of a Valley Quest that leads to a special spot in the Village Park. This new Quest is a great way to get outside, have some fun, and explore a new place. Check out this newsletter for more engaging things the Museum is offering this Fall. And please, if there is something you would ever be interested in, let us know. We are always looking for ideas on how to offer engaging opportunities.

Ladybug, Ladybug
by Madeline Bodin

Who loves a ladybug? For centuries, everyone did. These tiny beetles gobble aphids and other soft-bodied insects that plague crops and ornamental plants.

It is said that their name refers to the Virgin Mary, to whom our European ancestors gave thanks for the beetles that saved their crops. In Britain they are called ladybirds or ladybird beetles. They are also called lady beetles. For centuries they were thought of as lucky. (In Iran they are called "Good News.")

So yes, there are gentleman ladybugs. As far as we know, the name has nothing to do with feminine characteristics. Ladybugs share a basic body plan with their fellow beetles, which includes the wings that let them "fly away home." It's the hard forewings that give a ladybug its shell-like covering. The hindwings underneath are used for flying.

The high-water mark for ladybug love may very well have been in 1977 when the New Hampshire legislature named the two-spotted ladybug as that state's official insect. (Massachusetts, Ohio, and Tennessee had already made ladybugs their state insects.) In 1989 New York designated the nine-spotted ladybug as its state insect. The native species was believed to be widespread and common in the state.

There are some 450 native species of ladybugs in North America, and several thousand species in the world. New Hampshire has about 60 species within its borders, and Vermont has about 40. Almost every one of those species is a beneficial insect, eating plant pests that we would otherwise use chemicals to kill.

But sometime in the 1990s the worm, or maybe in this case the larvae, began to turn. (Ladybug larvae are spiky looking things, sometimes as long as mom and dad.) Ladybugs have always overwintered as adults in large groups, sometimes even in people's houses. As the 1990s went on more and more people in the eastern, Midwestern and northwestern US were complaining about hundreds or thousands of ladybugs entering their homes in the fall.

While the two-spotted ladybug had always done this to some extent, the new culprit was the multicolored Asian lady beetle, AKA the Halloween ladybug or Harmonia axyridis. This ladybug is a tree-dweller, originally from Asia. As the name suggests, it comes in a variety of shades, from yellow to orange to red.

This ladybug had been released time and again -- in Georgia, Ohio, Washington -- throughout the 1970s as a natural predator of crop pests. When few were recaptured, it was thought they had died out. But they had just flown away to new homes. The good news is that these ladybugs did such a number on the pecan aphids in Georgia that chemical pesticides are no longer used for aphids there. The bad news is that every fall they find their way into American homes, sometimes in horror movie-like numbers.

Ladybugs don't eat inside your house and they don't reproduce there. They are just seeking a warm place for the winter and an exit in the spring, which may be a small solace when you find one doing the backstroke in your coffee.

They can be kept out by tightly sealing your house, including putting screens over your vents. If they are already inside, ladybugs can be sucked up with a vacuum cleaner that has nylon stocking inserted into the extension wand. The ladybugs that get in your house are usually non-native and even over-abundant, so do what them what you will.

Just don't crush them. They stain. And don't eat them.

"They taste horrible, which is part of their natural defense and why many of them are brightly colored -- an example of aposomatic (warning) coloration," says John Weaver, who, as an entomologist with the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, I trust did not arrive at this knowledge through his own experience.

He says that wine makers have found that when the Halloween ladybug gets harvested with the grapes, the crushed beetles taste so bad that they can ruin the wine.

We won't be rid of the Halloween ladybug any time soon, but we seem to have learned our lesson. Weaver reports, "the U.S. Department of Agriculture seems to have adopted new guidelines in selecting new lady beetles for introduction, selecting species that are specialized predators and not selecting species that are generalized predators."

Introduced ladybug species don't just bug humans. They impact other ladybugs as well. New York hasn't seen its state insect in years. It's believed that an introduced species, the seven-spotted ladybug, may have done it in by eating it or out-competing it.

It's a little harder to love a ladybug these days, but it's a little harder to be one too.

- This article was originally produced by Northern Woodlands magazine with support from the Upper Valley Community Foundation's Wellborn Ecology Fund.

Bald Mountain, Townshend VT

Autumn is a wonderful time to head to Townshend to hike up Bald Mountain. The trailhead for the hike is located at Townshend State Park. A vertical climb of 1,140 feet from the State Park campground leads to the summit. The complete loop trail is 2.6 miles long and will take approximately 4 hours all together. Geological features along the trail include waterfalls, chutes, and pools. From the top of the mountain, vistas provide views of the Townshend Reservior and the West River Valley, Stratton Mountain, and southwestern New Hampshire. As you enter the state park you will see a stone house that was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the depression. The house was built from stone quarried in the forest.

Directions:

•From the North - Take Route 30 South to the Townshend Lake Recreation Area; turn right over dam, then left at T-intersection. The Townshend State Park is 2 miles ahead on right.

•From the South - Take Route 30 North to State Forest Road. Park is 2 miles ahead on left.

Historic Howeville

The Nature Museum, in cooperation with the Grafton History Museum and the Warren family of Grafton, has created a new program to offer schools. Historic Howeville is a program that explores Howeville, a once thriving Grafton village that has disappeared back into the forest. This program explores the relationship between the landscape and early settlement. It focuses on how the land effected where Grafton’s first residents settled; how they changed the landscape and how the land is covering over the signs of man’s activities.

As a new offering to schools, this program was designed to meet state learning standards for both history and science.

The Nature Museum is very excited to be partnering with the History Museum in town, as well as local land owners. We believe this new program touches on one of our core beliefs at the Museum that integrating different subject matters leads to deeper connections and understandings in learning. We hope that this program will encourage us to develop more and greater collaborations between our organization and others in town.

With more attention being paid to eating locally raised foods, the following are recommendations of recent books made either by Museum members, or those enjoyed by Museum staff.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
By Michael Pollan
The choices we make on what we eat has implications not only for our and our children’s health, but the health of the environment.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
By Barbara Kingsolver
In her first nonfiction book, she documents her family’s commitment to buying local foods.

Hope’s Edge
By Frances Moore Lappe
Traveling over five continents, Lappe looks at alternatives to global corporatization, genetically modified foods, and alternatives to chemical agriculture.

Red backed Salamanders are one of the most common vertebrates in New England. But you need to be willing to look under rocks and logs in moist areas of the forest in order to see them.

Unlike many salamanders that lay their eggs in ponds, or streams, they lay their eggs on the ceiling of their underground burrows in grape-like clusters. When the eggs hatch, the young look like miniatures of the adults, they go through the tadpole stage right inside the egg!

Local Artists Showing Their Work at The Nature Museum

In the past year we have been showcasing different artists in the program room of the Nature Museum. Generous artists have loaned their beautiful work for a month or more so that they can share their work with museum visitors. We connected with many of these artists through our annual Nature Art Exhibition that we have put on for the past 4 winters. The variety of artistic talent has been wonderful. One of these artists is Don Pollica from Brattleboro who encouraged us to take a close look at Nature with his photographs. Mike Cheslock from Bellows Falls brought us work from other artists. He loaned us his collection of images painted on feathers collected from artists in Costa Rica. Cindy Hendrick, from Alstead New Hampshire, loaned us lovely and whimsical prints of her watercolor and pen and ink depictions of animals in storybook style. Last month brought us the work of Don Hofer from Ludlow, VT, whose pen and ink prints of a variety of domestic and wild animals made us smile. Our newest installation is the work of Cai Xi Silver whose landscape paintings grace our walls. You can find out more about Cai and the Asian Cultural Center of Vermont by going to their website www.cxsilvergallery.com We encourage anyone who is interested in a “solo show” to contact Betsy at 802-843-2111 or e-mail betsy@nature-museum.org to discuss the possibility of sharing art inspired by nature with our visitors.

Bat Portraits

The Museum has a new display of bat photographs that were taken by Merlin Tuttle of Bat Conservation International. There is one photograph of each of Vermont’s nine species of bats. Come and visit the Nature Museum and get face to face with out local bats.

The Carolina Parakeet

We may not be a giant museum, but we have a few specimens at The Nature Museum that I am particularly impressed by. One of them is the mounted specimen that we have of a Carolina Parakeet.

The Carolina Parakeet is an extinct species. It was a beautiful bird with emerald green, bright yellow and orange feathers. I can imagine the surprise of the early settlers of this country when they saw this bird flying in flocks through a snowstorm as far north as New York! The species was officially declared extinct in 1939 after fairly extensive searches for the bird in the swamps of Florida.

Carolina Parakeets preferred to live in mature bottomland forests and sycamore woodlands. They roosted and nested in old dead hollowed out trees. They lived all across the Eastern US from the Ohio Valley to the Gulf of Mexico, from New York to Florida.

The decline in their population is complicated. Over much of their range large areas of forest were cut down for agriculture. The colorful feathers were also in demand for ladies hats and some birds were taken from the wild and put into captivity. Some of the birds were also killed in large numbers because farmers considered them a pest because they ate fruit from farmer’s orchards and fields. An unfortunate behavior also added to their decline. When they flocked and some of the birds were killed they would circle back to that same spot and so more could be shot.

If you are interested in seeing the Carolina Parakeet, let us know when you visit the museum and we can get it from the collections in the basement and show you, or you may see it upstairs in the coming months in an Carolina Parakeet exhibit.

The Nature Museum at Grafton has a quarterly newsletter that updates our museum members and community members about what is happening at The Museum.

It includes:

• a public program calendar
• articles about natural history
• advice about local places to visit
• information about the Museum’s work with teachers and students

In order to receive the regularly mailed newsletters you must be a member, but you are welcome to call The Museum if you would like us to send you one.

Announcements & Items of Interest

A View From the Board

- Laurie Danforth, Board President

Sadly we announce the resignation of Margo Ghia, our Executive Director and education coordinator. When hired in 1987 Margo was our first staff educator and more recently served as our Executive Director. Under Margo’s inspired direction the Museum’s schedule grew like Jack’s beanstalk until in 2007 we presented over 300 programs to 10,000 participants. But like many devoted parents, Margo decided to seek a position closer to home, and one with more time for her family. In her new position as a kindergarten teacher in Westminster, we know that Margo will continue to use the wealth of her educational skills to excite children about learning. We congratulate Margo on her new pursuit. How fortunate those little children are to be in Ms. Ghia’s classroom!

Our Board Search Committee has already widely advertised for a new Executive Director with the clear intention of finding someone whose skills and talents are a complementary and inspiring match for the Museum. We are happy to say that we have received a hefty stack of applications which we are presently reviewing. We are beginning to schedule interviews and are looking forward to meeting soon with the strong candidates of our choice. We will keep you abreast of our decisions in future newsletters.

In my last message to you, I spoke of our excitement and anticipation as we prepared for our Strategic Planning Retreat. I am thrilled to say that the outcome of that day-long event has been far-reaching. After many in-depth and honest discussions, we have chosen unanimously to expand our direction while still basing our mission and vision strongly on our roots. We are dedicated to becoming a resource for environmental literacy for all ages. To further our goals we will be offering new evocative and creative lectures, programming, experiences, and exhibits which will illuminate our interconnections on deeper levels. We will be seeking out fresh ways to understand nature and our relationship to the world around us. At the end of September the Board will be attending a follow-up retreat. We will be designing a blueprint for next year which will demonstrate our new areas of focus. Look for our 2009 calendar as we celebrate with gusto our new direction on our 20th anniversary.

Nature News Through Your Radio

The Nature Museum would like to announce that Wool.fm will be playing a short natural history episode called “Beyond Your Backyard” every Sunday at 5:00 PM. We have created a new 3 minute, mini radio show every month, so tune in the learn about local plants and animals in this months episode of “Beyond Your Backyard.”

The Wool.fm signal reaches people from Ascutney to Brattleboro, from Charlestown to Keene, from Grafton to the Connecticut River, and from the Connecticut River all the way to Marlow, NH. To find out more about Wool.fm you can turn your radio dial to 100.1 fm, or you can check their website at http://www.wool.fm.