Come join LSPA educators at the Center for Lake Studies to explore the natural world. Each Tuesday morning will be filled with hands-on learning through sensory experiences, guided exploration, creative play, art, and music. LSPA’s story time is designed for young children and their caregivers. Come to one session or all - each program is organized around a different ecological theme. Come join the fun! This Tuesday morning we continue to welcome spring as new flowers emerge and other signs of spring appear as the weather warms! 

Bird banding is one of the most widely used strategies for scientists to study populations of wild birds. But what exactly is bird banding, and how does it work? Join LSPA and Lindsay Herlihy, biologist, naturalist-educator, and lead bander at Black Mountain Banding Station (BMBS) for a presentation on the science of bird banding and its role in avian conservation. Lindsay will explain the practice, history, and applications of bird banding, and share stories (with lots of photos!) of local research efforts at Black Mountain Banding Station which rely on banding to study and conserve New England birds.

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Join Dr. Benjamin Sperry, Aquatic Plant Management Team Leader and Research Biologist for the US Army Engineer Research & Development Center to learn about a recent project on the Connecticut River to manage hydrilla populations.

The US Army Corps of Engineers initiated a research and demonstration project in 2023 to develop management strategies of a new genetic strain of the invasive aquatic plant, hydrilla, that was first identified in the lower Connecticut River. The technical approach to address this new aquatic plant management challenge was constructed based on existing data gaps related to plant biology and ecology, herbicide concentration-exposure time relationships, and bulk water exchange rates.In 2023, research efforts included field and laboratory-scale phenology studies, mesocosm-scale herbicide bioassays, as well as site-specific water exchange experiments to generate data required to inform operational-scale field verification studies in 2024. In the summer of 2024, operational-scale field studies were deployed at five representative sites in Connecticut and have been monitored to date. This presentation will discuss research findings and the future outlook on managing the spread of this invasive.

Click here to register.

Come join LSPA educators at the Center for Lake Studies to explore the natural world. Each Tuesday morning will be filled with hands-on learning through sensory experiences, guided exploration, creative play, art, and music. LSPA’s story time is designed for young children and their caregivers. Come to one session or all - each program is organized around a different ecological theme. Come join the fun! This Tuesday morning we will learn about what baby animals are doing at this time of year. 

Have you ever wondered how the water level of Lake Sunapee is managed—or who decides when and how much water flows through the dam? The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) Dam Bureau is responsible for overseeing dams across the state, working behind the scenes to keep them safe and functioning for everyone who depends on them. Join presenters Corey Clark (Chief Engineer) and Dan Mattaini (Operations and Maintenance Engineer) for an engaging and easy-to-understand look at how Lake Sunapee’s dam is operated. You’ll learn how dam managers juggle many competing needs—boating, fishing, water supply, power generation, scenic beauty, wildlife habitat and more—while also responding to challenges like extreme weather and changing water conditions. This will be a virtual event.

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Join us for an engaging workshop and expo event to learn how to manage stormwater runoff on your property.  A short classroom session will be followed by a local site visit where participants will learn how to read the landscape and discuss ways to slow down rainwater and promote infiltration into the soil.  Attendees will also learn about recent updates to LSPA’s Watershed Wise program and will hear from a participant about the changes he made to his landscape.

Following the earlier sessions, we will host an expo between 10:30 am - 12:00 pm. Stop by during this time period to visit outdoor stations on topics including native plants, permeable pavers, soil health and organic lawns, erosion control materials, NH LAKES LakeSmart program and more!

Click here to register.