Meet A Member

Joel & Cindy Stave

Six years ago Joel & Cindy Stave moved to New Boston, and into the Piscataquog River watershed. Here they were introduced to the PLC by friends who have since left the watershed but Joel and Cindy carry on their legacy.

Joel, a computer technology specialist by day, puts his hobby of macro photography to use as a Keeping Track volunteer for the PLC. Keeping Track is a wildlife tracking program that identifies and documents wildlife use of habitats throughout the watershed. The Keeping Track volunteers have a ball, learning about the habits of their watershed neighbors while providing a valuable service to the PLC. Trackers enjoy wildlife sightings, analyzing the remnants of kills and other animal activities, and of course fresh scat – oh, how they love their scat!

Cindy, a self-employed graphic designer, provides design services for the PLC’s bi-monthly member newsletter Watershed News. When not designing, or tracking wildlife along with Joel, Cindy might be found in her shade gardens which were designed by PLC member Lyn Lombard and feature such native non-invasive plants as viburnum, serviceberry, and Joe Pye weed. What’s more, Cindy serves on the PLC’s Outreach committee and helps cater the PLC’s annual spaghetti feast.

Joel and Cindy also monitor PLC conservation easement properties, an activity which contributed to their decision to permanently protect their land. They began this process out of a desire to protect the northern hardwood and softwood forests and large beaver pond on their property. A PLC Conservation Easement on this parcel, which abuts several other pieces already conserved, now helps protect the beaver pond and surrounding uplands from development.

Thank you Joel and Cindy, for your multi-faceted support of PLC!

Ben Haubrich

Working Out of Doors, At Last!
by Paul Susca

If you encounter Ben Haubrich off the beaten path in the watershed, he might be scouting a new trail.  After 32 years as a park manager, Ben is just the guy to figure out where to put a trail on a newly-protected PLC parcel.  He has scouted trails on the Bicknell and Rand Brook properties in Francestown, the Colburn Meadow property in New Boston, and the Burke property in Deering.

Ben finds himself as busy in early “retirement” as he was when managing the Monadnock State Park or supervising 21 state parks in western NH or administering the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the NH Division of Parks and Recreation.  Ironically, his career with Parks involved more time working indoors than he ever expected.  Even now, when he isn’t locating property boundaries (either in the field or in the Registry of Deeds) or scouting trails, Ben is writing baseline documentation reports for new PLC lands, or helping out on similar projects for the Francestown Land Trust or the Harris Center, both of whom he serves as a board member.  “Obviously,” he says, “I have a passion for protecting land and I believe in what PLC and these other organizations are doing.  And being involved with all of them helps us share ideas.”

Ben became involved with the PLC in 2003 after his job with the state intersected with then PLC President Margaret Watkins’ job with the National Park Service.  He joined Margaret’s Keeping Track team – walking a transect in Dunbarton four times a year.  Keeping Track is not just a great way to enjoy the woods, he says, but it helps support PLC’s land conservation mission.  “You show a landowner the data on all of the species on their property or a neighboring property,” he says, “and they really get interested in protecting the property.”  He soon started monitoring conservation easements, preparing easement baseline documentation, and scouting new trails – to add to an ever expanding list of volunteer activities.

Being “retired” for the time being finally gives Ben a chance to get outdoors!  When he can tear himself away from his volunteer activities, Ben heads for the woods or the water.  One of his favorite activities is “brook whacking,” as he calls it – bushwhacking to follow a brook – just to see what is there.  One of his favorite paddling spots is Lake Horace Marsh* at the inlet of Lake Horace in Weare.  “You have to portage over a few beaver dams,” he says of the marsh, “but you find yourself canoeing through a hardwood forest!”
Ben and his wife, Robin, live on a gravel road near Scobie Pond in Francestown, where they can enjoy a pleasant walk at any time of the day or night.

Paul Susca, a former PLC Board member, and his wife, Peg Lopata, are longtime PLC members who live with their two children in Francestown.  Editor’s note:  PLC is working with the NH Department of Environmental Services, the Weare Conservation Commission, NH Fish & Game Department, and the Russell Foundation to minimize the damaging impacts of dam management on the marsh at Lake Horace.

Jeff Jackson

A few years ago, Jeff Jackson stepped into the PLC office to drop off some samples he had collected as a volunteer water quality monitor. “I became aware of PLC’s need for help with computer services right away,” he remembers. “Old computers, an ad hoc network, obsolete software, no data backup or security.” Since then, Jeff has helped bring the PLC office into the 21st century. Referred to as the organization’s “technical guru” by PLC staff, Jeff, owner of Summit Computer Services in Weare, says he can give much more to PLC in services than he could in cash.

“There are a few things I’m passionate about,” Jeff says, “Family, protecting the environment, and enjoying the environment.” In addition to enjoying his favorite place, nearby Ferrin Pond, Jeff is a dedicated hiking enthusiast, sometimes hiking 100 miles at a stretch. Whenever a new property comes under PLC’s protection, Jeff checks it out. As a volunteer, he takes inspiration from the individuals and families that donate land or easements to PLC.

That inspiration goes a long way to enhancing what the PLC can do with its computer systems. Jeff’s projects in the office have included rebuilding computers, data recovery, setting up a better network with a central server for data storage and backup, improved security, remote access, and developing recommendations for new equipment. With the money the PLC saves on Jeff’s services, it has more to invest in new computer systems, for example, to support a geographic information system and enhance its donor database.
Why does Jeff Jackson choose to help the PLC? “It’s local. As I drive around the area visiting my customers, I’m always crossing brooks and streams that drain into the Piscataquog. As a small organization, PLC puts so much of their money and effort into monitoring and protecting the watershed, and into education. That’s what they should be doing.”