Soil Judging Contest

Students, here's your chance to dig in the dirt. Soil is found almost everywhere on earth. We take it for granted but without it, life as we know it would be impossible.

The New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts sponsors a Soil Judging Contest each year to teach high school students how to identify different soil characteristics and match the properties of a particular soil to its optimal use. Teams of four students each from area high schools will be able to test their knowledge of soil functions on October 18 at Kingman Farm in Durham, NH. The competition will be a hands-on learning experience in soil pits dug for the event.

Students can prepare for the contest in several ways, including an online manual and training assistance from USDA soil professionals. Call Lisa Morin at the Merrimack County Conservation District (223-6023) if you would like to attend the contest. The event is free and prizes will be awarded to winning schools.

Annual Meeting and Conservation Awards

On June 6, 2002 NH Wildlife Rehabilitator Ben Kilham, author of Among the Bears: Raising Orphan Cubs in the Wild, spoke at the Merrimack County Conservation District's 2001 Annual Meeting at the Daniel Webster Grange, in Webster, NH.

Prior to Kilham's appearance, participants enjoyed a social hour and buffet dinner, followed by a brief business meeting and presentation of conservation awards and door prizes.

Kilham showed slides of black bear cubs as he described his groundbreaking work rearing orphaned black bears. Kilham and his bears were featured in the April issue of National Geographic magazine, two National Geographic Explorer films and a wide variety of television shows, including NBC Dateline and CBS Coast-to-Coast.

Although black bears are often raised in captivity, Kilham is the first person to succeed in rearing bears able to survive as adults in the wild. Traditionally, Kilham explained, bear cubs intended to return to the wild were kept in captivity and raised in nearly complete isolation from their human caretakers, lest they lose their fear of humans. Bears who lose their fear of humans are at high risk because they are vulnerable to becoming "nuisance" bears or walking into a hunter's path.

Turning conventional wisdom on its head, Kilham took his first pair of orphaned twin cubs, LB and LG (short for Little Girl and Little Boy) into his home. His theory was to have them bond to--and eventually leave--him as they would their mother. Once bonding was established, Kilham took the risk of taking the cubs for the first of what became many long walks in the woods near his Lyme, NH home.

Over time, through careful observation and recordkeeping, Kilham was able to let the bear cubs teach him how to rear them in their natural habitat. In the process, he discovered black bears are highly intelligent creatures. Kilham reports they can be "remorseful, empathetic, fearful, selfish, altruistic, joyful and deceitful." They have developed "mechanisms for solving disputes and demonstrating need." Kilham's work is truely groundbreaking--he found a sensory organ in the naso-pharynx of the black bear unknown to zoologists prior to his investigations.

Using his slides of the incredibly cute cubs and his dry sense of humour, Kilham helped the sixty people in attendance get to know New England's black bears a bit better.

Kilham also shared the following tips to discourage unwelcome visits from black bears. Kilham's motto is "no food, no bears," so do yourself, your family and the bears a favour by:

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Conservation Awards

One of the highlights of the annual meeting was the presentation of the following awards:

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It’s time for the annual New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts' poster contest. This year's theme is The Gift of Trees. This was the theme of the national Soil & Water Stewardship Week, sponsored by the National Association of Conservation Districts and celebrated in April.

The Gift of Trees is particularly relevant for New Hampshire, which is 83% forested. As residents of the fastest growing state in New England, we face many challenges to our traditional forest-related economy and rural lifestyle. There are five age levels in the contest. Winners of the District contest receive a hands-on presentation by a District staff member for their school or group. District-level winners vie for a first prize of a $50.00 U.S. Savings Bond in NHACD’s statewide contest. On April 28, 2002 Merrimack County Conservation District joins over 3000 US conservation districts in observing Soil and Water Stewardship Week, sponsored by the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD).

There are five age levels in the contest. Winners of the District contest receive a hands-on presentation by a District staff member for their school or group. District-level winners vie for a first prize of a $50.00 U.S. Savings Bond in NHACD’s statewide contest. If you are a home schooler, student in a public or private school or member of a youth organization, please feel free to submit a poster. Entries are due by June 30, 2002. Contact Lisa Morin at the District office for details.

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