We’re sorry if we missed you at the Annual Members Meeting this fall (we promise we’ll be back in person next year!) – but if you wren’t there, please read on about the things we are most proud of from the last year!
Education & Students
- Installed an accessible swing in the Wellenberger Woods natural play area and completed interpretive signage in the Estuary Inclusion Garden, together with support from AARP and the NHCF
- Supported live streaming of the osprey camera on the Center’s nest
- With the help of the Horizon Foundation, brought more than 400 children from socioeconomically challenged schools back to the Discovery Center on fieldtrips this fall
Community Outreach
- Provided organizational support to the Coastal Adaptation Workgroup Climate Summit and the first GBNERR Research Symposium.
- Continued increasing participation in the Tide Turners program, inspiring area residents to commit to small changes that make a big difference to Great Bay’s future
- Participated in the Planning Committee for the 2022 Beaches Conference , held in June
- Participated in NERRA’s “I Heart Estuaries” social media campaign
- Communicate with more than 1000 people through our newsletter, and nearly 2000 on social media
- Held our 23rd annual Great Bay 5K Road Race, including a successful team competition and continued partnerships with area breweries and restaurants
- Welcomed the return of Art of Great Bay this spring after a two-year hiatus
Research & Stewardship
- Supported our community wildlife garden to demonstrate wildlife friendly landscaping
- Working with area engineers to boost capacity for living shorelines, thereby addressing erosion and rising seas; held workshops in the region on the resulting living shoreline examples
- Completed a second annual Stewards work day cleaning up the Great Bay Community Wildlife Garden
- Sponsored invasive species removal at Reserve properties including the Discovery Center
- Acted as a fiscal agent for grant money to GBNERR; these funds have advanced work on living shorelines, community resiliency, assessing marsh resilience to sea level change, outreach to promote strategic land protection, and supporting teacher training workshops at GBNERR
- Supported the continued the analysis of eDNA in partnership with the University of New Hampshire, learning about the diversity of species that live in the Bay and tributaries.
GBNERR Support
- Gathered funding for the future installation of a major eelgrass exhibit in the Discovery Center
- Continued financing the full-time volunteer coordinator position, facility improvements, and employee development
- Funded implementation of a demonstration project on creating an environmentally sensitive view scape at the water’s edge, and obtained support for an additional picnic area at the Center
- Funded the Reserve’s membership in the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association, an advocacy group for the national reserve system
- Supported the production, printing and mailing of Great Bay Matters
- Financed new doors at the Hugh Gregg Coastal Conservation Center
- Paid for a new roof for the Depot House, which is used for meeting and staff space
Stewards
- Celebrated Chair Deb Alberts receiving the Environmental Champion Award from Aquarion Water Company
- Completed an updated Strategic Plan, with an emphasis on community outreach, fiscal agency, the Glenn Cove fundraising effort, advocacy, and board development
- Welcomed new board members Justin Caramagno, an attorney from Dover, and Steve Paquette, a Hampton resident who recently retired from an environmental consulting business
- Welcomed Audrey Becker as our new Development Coordinator