E Newsletter

Birding and Photography: The Best of Both Worlds on May 19

May 13, 2013

Don and Lillian Stokes, Hancock residents and best-selling authors, will teach you how to better identify birds and improve your bird photography, no matter what your experience level, during “Birding and Photography: The Best of Both Worlds” on Sunday, May 19 from 3 to 4:30 pm at the Harris Center.   This lively and informative talk, illustrated with Lillian’s bird photos, will be followed by a book signing of their newest pair of books, The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region and Western Region.

The Stokes have been prolific writers and award-winning educators for over 30 years.  The Stokes Field Guide To The Birds of North America is the most complete photographic guide to birds ever published and contains over 3,400 stunning photos, many taken by Lillian.  Don and Lillian were also the creators, producers, and hosts of the PBS television series Stokes Birds at Home, which was seen by 40 million viewers.

For more information, contact Eric Masterson at (603) 525-3394 or masterson@harriscenter.org. Cosponsored by the Harris Center and the Toadstool Bookstore.

White Mountain Wanderers Debuts This Summer

May 6, 2013

This summer, the Harris Center is offering a new hiking, camping, and citizen science adventure in the White Mountains for middle school kids (Grades 5 through 8).  From July 8 to 11, this small group of explorers will set up a base camp at Dolly Copp Campground in White Mountain National Forest and day hike nearby ridges, peaks, and streams.  They will also participate in the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Mountain Watch citizen science program by photographing bloom stages of mountain wildflowers.  Leaders Janet Altobello (Harris Center) and Carter Judkins (Peterborough Elementary School) have spent decades hiking the trails of White Mountain National Forest and climbed all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4000-foot peaks.  Altobello and Judkins agree, “We are very excited to share this experience with the next generation of hikers.  Roaming the White Mountain ridges and living outside makes us come alive!”

Registration is now open!  For more information on the White Mountain Wanderers or any of our other adventuresome summer programs for kids, please visit our Camp webpage.

Congratulations to the 2013 New Hampshire Environmental Educators of the Year!

May 1, 2013

Congratulations to Emily Wrubel and Stacy Egan, eighth-grade science teachers in the ConVal school district, for receiving the 2013 New Hampshire Environmental Educator of the Year award!  Emily, eighth-grade science teacher at South Meadow School, and Stacy, eighth-grade science teacher at Great Brook School, both collaborate with the Harris Center on the Otter Brook Farm Project, which provides students with monthly ecological studies experiences throughout the school year.

In the words of Harris Center Outreach Coordinator Susie Spikol Faber, “Both Emily and Stacy embody the best of what teachers have to give to the world. They are compassionate and dedicated to their students. They are innovative and dynamic teachers, understanding that science is a process that is typically messy, a bit noisy, often unpredictable, and demands student questioning. They are courageous.  In a time when our educational system demands performance on high stake testing, these teachers believe in the value of leaving the safety of their classroom and Xeroxed labs for the unbound wilds of a Peterborough property. They are believers in the value of hands-on inquiry learning in the real world.”

Read more about the award, and about Emily and Stacy’s involvement in the Otter Brook Farm Project, in this article from the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript.   Thank you, Emily and Stacy, for your incredible dedication!

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