Features

"Usually when there's an oil spill," says Nancy Kinner, professor of civil engineering, "salt marshes just get trashed. Nobody knows what to do with them." In the past, people would cut all the grass--or even bulldoze the whole mess, scouring the marsh as "clean" as possible and leaving behind an exposed stretch of mud to slowly rejuvenate itself.

The UNH team at work in Fore River Creek is in search of a better solution. Kinner is on her knees in the mud, hauling on a slender metal rod. "One, two, three--pull!" she shouts. "And again!" Stephen Jones, research associate professor of natural resources and marine sciences, along with environmental engineering student Josh MacCulloch, are working with her. The trio could be mistaken for participants in some bizarre mud wrestling event--but this is saltmarsh remediation in progress, supported by CICEET funding.

"The idea is to speed the remediation process," says Kinner, between tugs. "We want to see if we can stimulate the soil bacteria and encourage the natural degradation process." Behind her, masters student Geoff Grant grabs a sledge hammer and swings it hard against the end of the metal rod. A few more hits and the pipe is in. He feeds a 20-foot piece of plastic tubing into the hollow pipe, and then the tug-of-war begins. The rod just hammered into the earth is slowly extracted, leaving behind the deeply buried plastic tubing. Teams of three repeat this process 15 times, until one carefully measured plot of saltmarsh has a tangle of white tubes curling out of the earth.

During a long morning of labor, working against the tide, two other plots receive the same treatment, and then the two-year experiment is set to begin. One plot will be fed a steady supply of air, another receives a nitrogen concoction, and the third gets a special nutrient mix. Three high school students from the nearby Waynflete School will come every day throughout the summer to check the air pump and mix the nitrogen stew. They will also help the UNH professors take test samples for analyzing in the lab. "High school students almost never have the chance to participate in original research like this," says Carol Tillerton, chair of Waynflete's science department. "This is a terrific opportunity."

CICEET Acting Co-Director Rich Langan (at left) and graduate student Dan Marquis hoist a buoy overboard which carries a device that measures water quality 24 hours a day. Assisting them is Erica Kreutziger '98

Spreading the Word

Learning about estuaries helps people care enough to protect them. "Our CICEET projects are ways to connect research to the people living in the communities around the bay," says Julia Peterson, extension specialist with the UNH/University of Maine Sea Grant Extension program. Last spring, Peterson led a team of Portsmouth fourth graders armed with bright orange paint in search of storm drains. Next to each one, the graffiti artists left a message painted neatly on the street: "Don't dump here." "It's amazing how many people don't realize that dumping stuff in a storm drain is just the same as walking down to the water's edge and tossing it in," says Peterson. Thanks to a bunch of fourth graders, the word is spreading.

Word is also spreading to tourists in the Seacoast area, who can tune in to AM radio station 16.10 for Great Bay information. Driving across the Route 4 bridge they might learn, for example, that Great Bay is the wintering spot for the largest number of bald eagles in New Hampshire--about 15. Or that samples of estuary sediment reveal a layer of woodchips, evidence of a time when logging was a main industry in the area. "We'll also broadcast information about CICEET projects and dates and times of educational events," says Peterson.

Some of the most significant information comes straight from the bay itself, every 30 minutes, throughout the day and night. "This is the mixing bowl here in the middle," says Langan, "where all the rivers flow into the bay." He is working in the bow of a Southern Skimmer, struggling to attach a shackle to the counterweight that hangs from the bottom of a giant telemetry buoy. Manuevering against the wind and current, Langan and two student assistants edge the buoy forward, then heave it overboard. It bobs away, reduced suddenly to a tiny bathtub toy in the midst of Great Bay.

Researchers have been monitoring water quality at this spot for years, but in the past, someone had to head out every few weeks, retrieve the sonde, or data logger, hook it up to the computer, and download the information. Now, with the new buoy, the sonde can be set afloat for weeks on end, and scientists at Jackson Lab can check their computers for water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and other water quality measurements 24 hours a day.

News from the buoy will be available to the public, too, thanks to a CICEET-funded interactive computer exhibit at the Sandy Point Discovery Center in Stratham. "It's what I call 'science in the making,' says reserve manager Peter Wellenberger. "During a big storm, you'll be able to see the salinity in the bay dropping before your eyes."

For more information about the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology, check the Web site (another CICEET project-in-progress): http://ekman.sr.unh.edu/idems

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