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Archives
A Little Less Flood Control Might Help Save Unique Forests
By Amy Quinton on Thursday, April 30, 2009.Dams that control flood waters across the state may be harming a unique type of forest.
Floodplain forests --once abundant along river corridors-- now account for less than two percent of New Hampshire. The Nature Conservancy and the US Army Corps of Engineers are studying these forests to learn how to protect them while still safeguarding cities and towns from floods.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports on the forests’ distinctive ecology.
Flood Plain Forest (5/5)
Silver maple, sensitive fern floodplain forest. (Courtesy Ben Kimball, NH Natural Heritage Bureau)
Flood Plain Forest (4/5)
High water mark right after a flood in a silver maple floodplain forest along the Merrimack River in Concord. (Courtesy Ben Kimball, NH Natural Heritage Bureau)
Flood Plain Forest (3/5)
Silver maple floodplain forest along the Merrimack River in Concord, NH. (Courtesy Ben Kimball, NH Natural Heritage Bureau)
Flood Plain Forest (2/5)
Elevation changes of just a few inches can make a difference in what species thrive. Here, white pine trees, which don’t like water at all, sit adjacent to a floodplain forest of silver maple trees. (Courtesy The Nature Conservancy)
Flood Plain Forest (1/5)
Silver maple, ostrich fern floodplain forest along the Connecticut River at Bedell Bridge State Park in Haverhill, NH. (Courtesy Ben Kimball, NH Natural Heritage Bureau)
April 30, 2009
Today on Word of Mouth, five countries are trying to prove that they have rights to oil reserves buried deep beneath the Arctic seabed. We’ll find out what happens when the ice melts and politics and science collide. And the economy calls for switching gears - we’ll hear how one Tuck school MBA student is revising his future career. And, more reinvention when we catch up with some former music industry execs who discovered new skills after their industry collapsed. Plus, you may have glimpsed him swimming in the brook by your home, or playing the accordian at a bar downtown.
listen:
Lynch: I Haven't Looked at Gay Marriage Bill
By Josh Rogers on Thursday, April 30, 2009.Governor says his exclusive focus at the moment is swine flu, and that he’ll read senate-backed same-sex marriage bill in the next few days.
A Race for the Arctic
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, April 30, 2009.
At this very moment oceanographers are racing to map the seafloor beneath the Arctic ice cap. Speculators say that nearly a quarter of the world’s untapped oil and gas reserves could be lying underneath. As the Arctic ice melts, the U.S., Canada, Russia, Denmark and Norway are engaged in a polar land rush, all hoping to claim a piece of the future action.
Science writer McKenzie Funk traveled to the Arctic to report on the land rush for National Geographic. And he joins us now from the studios of KUOW in Seattle.
National Geographic: Arctic Landgrab
(Photo by Ville Miettinen via Flickr/Creative Commons)
