Community Land Conservation in the Coastal Watershed

The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) provided a $10,000 grant to the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire (SELTNH) to support the hiring of a Community Land Protection Specialist to expand the region’s capacity to implement and complete conservation efforts within the coastal watershed, and specifically within the Lamprey River and Exeter River corridors. Over a period of eighteen months (January 2007 through June 30, 2008), the Community Land Protection Specialist (Specialist) worked with the Town of Brentwood, the Lamprey River Advisory Committee, and other community partners to conserve critical lands along the Exeter River, Lamprey River, and other areas of the coastal watershed. The Community Land Protection Specialist Managed all aspects of nine land conservation transactions completed during the grant period. Six projects (236 acres) are within the coastal watershed and include 1,200 feet of frontage on the Lamprey River and more than 800 feet of frontage on the Exeter River. Three other projects (189 acres) were outside of the coastal watershed. Assisted with the completion of six other land conservation transactions completed during the grant period, totaling 213 acres in the coastal watershed and 17 acres outside of the coastal watershed. The projects in the coastal watershed included 8,000 feet of frontage on the Lamprey River, 300 feet on the Taylor River, and a significant salt marsh in Rye. Conducted direct outreach (including personal letters and phone calls) in collaboration with the Lamprey River Advisory Committee to more than 45 landowners along the Lamprey River, resulting in follow-up interest among at least six landowners with ongoing conservation discussions including some appraisals and pending offers. Also hosted a land protection workshop attended by twenty-three interested landowners In collaboration with the Town of Brentwood assisted four landowners interested in conserving their land by helping them with their applications to the USDA Wetlands Reserve Program In addition, the Specialist coordinated outreach activities for targeted landowners. One estate planning and conservation options workshop was hosted in June 2007 in Epping, drawing 20 landowners. An introductory mailing and follow up calls were made to priority landowners within the Lamprey River watershed, yielding several land conservation projects that are in current discussions

Conserving the Pawtuckaway River Focus Area and Kennard Hill Focus Area : Final Report

The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership provided $8,000 to support the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire’s land conservation work within the Pawtuckaway River and Kennard Hill Focus Areas, two areas identified by the Land Conservation Plan for New Hampshire’s Coastal Watershed. Through this grant, the Southeast Land Trust has: permanently conserved two parcels totaling 90.55 acres within the Pawtuckaway River Focus Area; entered into four agreements to acquire and conserve 221.4 acres within the Pawtuckaway River Focus Area and 190 acres within the Kennard Hill Focus Area; and facilitated, through the Wetlands Reserve Program, the protection of 60 acres within the supporting landscape of the Kennard Hill Focus Area and Pawtuckaway River Focus Area. In total, more than 560 acres will be conserved upon the completion of all of these projects

Promoting Voluntary Land Conservation on the Lamprey, Exeter, and Squamscott River Corridors

With the support of the New Hampshire Estuaries Project, the Rockingham Land Trust (RLT) researched the names and addresses of landowners along the Exeter, Squamscott, and Lamprey River corridors and within the target communities. Landowners were invited to participate in one of two free, land conservation and estate planning workshops. RLT followed up with each participant by letter and phone. The goal of the project was to secure the completion of three conservation easements from participants in the workshops. Due to low landowner participation and the significant decision involved in completing a conservation transaction, this goal was determined to be unrealistic, and RLT focused its time and resources on working with landowners within the NHEP area and the targeted river corridors who were ready to commence with a conservation transaction. Four landowners within the targeted river corridors or communities have contacted RLT in the past year. RLT has completed one conservation easement on land on the Exeter River in Sandown, has two pending conservation projects (one easement and one fee simple) on the Lamprey River in Epping, and has one pending conservation easement on land in Brentwood

Promoting Land Conservation in the Coastal Watershed through Local Faces, Special Places

The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership provided nearly $3,300.00 to support the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire’s (SELTNH) promotion of donated conservation easements in the coastal watershed of Rockingham County. The Southeast Land Trust produced three short web-friendly videos, explaining land conservation from the perspective of a tree farmer, vineyard owner, and a community leader. In addition, the Land Trust hosted two workshops in Kingston and Epping for landowners interested in learning more about the tax and financial benefits of land conservation. Workshop invitations were mailed to more than 1,200 current use landowners within the region. Twenty-two landowners attended the two workshops. From these workshops, the Land Trust generated one donated and one bargain sale conservation easement in 2011 and one potential bargain sale conservation easement in 2012. While originally intended to be part of the grant funded project, the Land Trust was unable to complete a mobile tabletop display or a brochure on the enhanced federal tax incentive for donated conservation easements

Saving Special Places: Community Funding for Land Conservation

In New Hampshire communities, there is a groundswell of interest and activity in conserving land. New Hampshire currently has more than forty-five land trusts. There are conservation commissions in all but a handful of towns. Many of them are engaged in conserving their special natural lands. Over half of the towns in the state have conservation funds fueled by the Land Use Change Tax. There have been 62 applications for land conservation projects to the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program since its inception in 2000. New Hampshire voters are appropriating significant taxpayer funds to conserve undeveloped land. Twelve communities, mostly in the south central and southeastern tier of the state, including Amherst, Brookline, Newfields, and Stratham, approved bonds and appropriations totaling nearly $20.2 million in 2002 alone. New Hampshire is losing 12,000 to 15,000 acres of open space a year to development. That is equivalent to building houses, roads and shopping areas in an area half the size of an average New Hampshire town. It is open space that gives our towns their traditional character and appearance. Unless towns protect open space strategically and intentionally, it will be consumed by development. The goal of this guidebook is to help you, as a concerned citizen, elected official, or conservation commission member, achieve your town’s land conservation goals by securing local funding for land conservation in your community

Development and Application of Self-Awareness in Project Leadership: A Multiple Case Study of Department of Defense Project Managers

Problem This study explored how Project Managers (PMs) in the Department of Defense (DoD) come to understand, develop, and apply self-awareness in leading their projects. The DoD invests heavily in developing their project leaders by providing training, experiences, developmental assignments, and other tools such as self-assessments presumably to help them lead more authentically and become more self-aware as a way to improve project management. Despite this investment, it is unclear how self-awareness is actually developed in PMs and integrated into their leadership practice. In view of the importance of self-awareness in leadership, more understanding is needed on how self-awareness is being understood and made use of by DoD PMs. Purpose This study sought to describe how PMs in the DoD come to understand, develop, and integrate self-awareness—as a key component of authentic leadership—in leading their projects. This data, viewed within the authentic leadership construct (Gardner, Avolio, & Walumbwa, 2005) promises to inform project leaders on potentially more effective leadership practices. Scope and Design The study’s conceptual framework was based on Authentic Leadership: a transparently connected relationship between leaders and followers, encompassing a high level of self-awareness with internalized beliefs and moral values (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). In this research, use of a multiple case study design guided the data collection process to qualitatively explore the perceptions and experiences of project managers as they develop self-awareness and use it in leading their projects. Individual PMs who completed the Defense Acquisition University’s Program Manager Course (PMT 401), each representing a case, were purposefully selected and administered the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) to further identify those leaders with a high level of self-awareness (2.5 or above on the ALQ’s self-awareness scale) resulting in a group of 24 PMs for telephonic interviews. A professional demographic survey was also administered to collect background and contextual information about the participants. A researcher’s journal was kept throughout the study to record researcher reflections, process, and unexpected discoveries. Following collection of this qualitative data, analysis using both manual and automated tools (i.e., NVivo, Excel) resulted in the study’s findings for interpretation within the authentic leadership conceptual framework. Findings In terms of developing leader self-awareness, participants revealed that three elements contributed most significantly to their growth: the influence of others, chiefly within the DoD; the experiences they’d had as leaders in the Department; and the insights gained from intentional, thoughtful self-assessment throughout their careers. The most common development theme shared by participants was the influence other people had on them as they grew as leaders. It was especially remarkable that PMs attributed prior commanders and other direct leaders in the DoD as the most important influences on their own leadership identity and style. Many mentioned the formative experiences they’d had early in their careers in crucial assignments, deployments, and decisive missions as enduring influences on their leadership development. Lastly, in terms of self-assessment insights, participants recalled that it was through self-assessment that they were able to reflect on themselves as leaders, and on the interactions with others. They reported gaining insights on personality preferences and leadership styles. However, participants found deeper meanings about self and identity, their purpose, and leadership perspectives only when those self-assessment insights were actuated within leadership relationships and experiences. Three strong themes emerged from the interviews about how participants applied leader self-awareness to managing projects. Many spoke about cultivating a warfighter focus in their leadership purpose. They spoke of deep concern for the needs of the soldiers, sailors, airmen or marines in the field. Participants also spoke of their awareness of performance as leaders in relationships with their teams and project stakeholders. Through the transitions and change they encountered in their DoD careers they gained understanding of their “strengths” and “weaknesses”, leadership traits, management styles, and leadership approaches. Finally, PMs in the study spoke about leading authentically: understanding who they were as leaders; modeling desired behaviors; putting people at the center of their leadership practice, that is, taking an interest in those they lead while training, developing, and mentoring them and maintaining an openness which fosters honesty and transparency in return. Leaders in the study also expressed that to lead authentically, one must adapt to context & situation while maintaining a consistency between one’s self-identity and leadership persona. Conclusions Development of leader self-awareness and the application of that self-awareness appear to merge naturally in practice. It is in relationship with others and within a context of purpose that one develops, applies, and nurtures self-awareness. It is a reciprocal process. For the participants in this study, it is in leadership practice and especially during times of professional transitions and change that self-awareness is developed and applied; not, remarkably, through self-assessment, reflection or inward searching alone. Authentic Leadership with strong self-awareness appears to emerge when there is a strong guiding purpose, positive leadership influences, and opportunities for strengths and weaknesses to be examined within the responsibilities of each new situation. The results of this study can inform the leadership community on how DoD PMs integrate and use authentic leadership, specifically a keen self-awareness, as they lead their project teams. By understanding the development, integration to self, and application of authentic leadership in project management, the next generation of project managers and leaders may profit from employing the construct’s principles in their leadership practice. Further, findings can aid researchers as well as practitioners in how authentic leadership development can best be fostered in a space of purposive and engaged responsibility

A Model Athletic Director\u27s Handbook for Sunnyside High School

The purpose of this project was to develop a model athletic director\u27s handbook of procedures/practices for use in guiding athletic program development at Sunnyside High School. To accomplish this purpose, a review of related research and literature was conducted. Additionally, related information from selected school districts was obtained and analyzed

The Effects of Potato, Corn and Wheat Starch on the Rheological Properties of Pigmented Paper Coatings

The paper industry is one of the largest users of commercial starch in the world. Starch has many uses in the papermaking process, including coating operations. In coating, starch has two main purposes: to work as a binder and to give desired rheological properties to the pigmented paper coating. Research was done examine the effects of three different starches on the rheological properties of pigmented paper coatings. The three starches were com, wheat, and potato. These starches were modified using the enzyme conversion process. The converted starches were added to the coating formulas and then tested for high and low shear rate viscosity. The Hercules and Brookfield Viscometers were used to measure the corresponding viscosities and thixotropy. The evaluation showed that the potato starch had the greatest effect on the viscosity and thixotropy of the coatings, followed by the wheat and the corn