Letters to the Editor

Little Lambs Eat Ivy

Wouldn't your story on the Grazing Power Project (Fall '99) have been a little more of interest to alums if you had pointed out that, in support of the project, PSNH had contracted with two UNH professors to carry out an independent scientific evaluation of the project? There was far more to this story than blowing the horn for Cooperative Extension. Also, the three assistants on the scientific evaluation team were a junior, a senior and a recent graduate, not three recent graduates. The four types of trees specified as preferred by sheep are the target species of the project, not preferred food; sheep actually dislike birch intensely.

James T. Taylor
Professor and Chair of Zoology, UNH
Durham, N.H.

Editor's note: We are happy to correct the record and give credit to professors James Taylor and Thomas Lee for a study that is assessing the effectiveness of the vegetation control project. Suzanne Conrad '00, John Wiedenmann '01 and Brent Mellen '99 assisted. The four trees named were studied because sheep will eat them (vs. conifers, which they will not), but we appreciate Taylor's news that birch is not tasty, at least to sheep.

The phasing out of the Hackett Hill campus of UNH Manchester (Fall '99 ) has a serious downside. The 800-plus-acre Hackett Hill property, sold by UNH to the city of Manchester, features numerous wetlands. Some of the forested wetlands are home to rare or threatened species. The property is a valuable "living laboratory" and should be used for education and research. Tragically, Manchester plans to develop an industrial park on the property. An accompanying plan for a swamp- containing 375-acre preserve has been approved by the EPA and DES, but this scheme is badly flawed. For details, visit my Web site, http://www.mv.com/ipusers/env/. Concerned alumni should contact Manchester city officials, and UNH, EPA and DES administrators. Conceivably, UNH could lease the property for a grant-supported wetlands field station. This plan would complement the interest UNH has shown in protecting the Great Bay estuary. It would demonstrate that New Hampshire's coastal and inland wetlands are of equal importance.

Priscilla Mattson '71G
Manchester, N.H.

It has been many years since UNH had an alumni magazine, but what you have restored is wonderful. It was a special treat for me to read the brief article about Marion James—advisor for senior history papers for me and hundreds of others. Thank you; good work!

Marianne Patricia Smith Stevens '62
Upsala, Ontario, Canada

As director of the UNH Center for International Education, I was pleased to see that you chose to include a story on last April's symposium, "In Celebration of Polish Poetry Today" (Fall '99). I would like to add some important details. The symposium was sponsored primarily through the Center for International Education by the Stella Pinska Keene Fund, which was given to promote Polish poetry at UNH. CIE also received funds from the New Hampshire Humanities Council for this event. Ronald LeBlanc, associate professor of Russian and humanities, conceptualized the symposium, invited the poets and translators and prepared the written materials. Finally, Merideth MacLeod, CIE student programs assistant, brought the program to fruition and enriched it in many ways. Successful programming at UNH often depends on alumni support and significant extra effort by faculty and staff members. Thank you for allowing me to offer my thanks to them publicly.

Cathy A. Frierson, Director
Center for International Education, UNH
Associate Professor, History
Durham, N.H.