More than a hundred years ago, the MacDowells recognized that such rich, unspoiled natural surroundings would make a perfect haven for artists as well. For up to eight weeks, an artist (writer, composer, filmmaker, visual artist, architect, playwright, or interdisciplinary artist) can have a free-standing studio – equipped for the particular needs of their discipline – tucked in among the trees and out of reach of internet access. There, they can get the peace, quiet, and beautiful scenery needed to buckle down and produce.

Writer Melissa Febos says that there’s a “psychic shift” involved in transitioning from all the other everyday responsibilities and distractions, to actually sitting down and writing. So, she explains, it’s invaluable to be able to support it with a “landscape shift.” Going from Brooklyn, where she lives, to one of the studios at MacDowell is a pretty big landscape shift. “My Brooklyn studio is as big as this desk,” she says, sitting in one (the largest) of the colony’s 32 studios.

Then, excitedly, she tells me about the natural surroundings. “I get up in the morning and I see all these deer,” she says. “There’s this gang of turkeys… and the other day a coyote ran across the road in front of me!” But this isn’t just big because she lives in Brooklyn. “I grew up in the woods,” the Cape Cod native explains. “But not woods like this.”

“It reawakens this visceral connection with nature,” says Susan Moody, a cook at the colony. Evidence of that connection, she adds, can be found in the art; to illustrate her point, she lists off birds that live in the area and matches them to musical pieces composed at MacDowell. She even whistles a few bars and imitates the birdcalls. Amy Beach’s “A Hermit Thrush at Morning,” of course includes the hermit thrush’s song; “To a Wild Rose,” by Edward MacDowell himself, the red throated sparrow; and so on with Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland (who stayed at MacDowell eight times, and was the colony’s president from 1961 to 1968) and their respective birds.

Besides bird-inspired songs, the art created at the colony includes such notables as the plays Our Town (inspired by the town of Peterborough), by Thornton Wilder, and Porgy and Bess, by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward (who met at MacDowell). Novels written at MacDowell include The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather, and The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen. Josh Marston worked on his 2005 film, Maria Full of Grace, and Scott Frank, Michael Korie, and Doug Wright wrote the musical Grey Gardens. Past fellows, or “colonists,” have earned a total 69 Pulitzer Prizes, and numerous Guggenheim Fellowships, Genius Awards, Grammys, Emmys, Tonys, and National Book Awards. And in 1997, the colony itself was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Clearly, the “Peterborough idea,” as Marian and Edward MacDowell called it, was a very good one.

I visited the MacDowell Colony on Medal Day, the one day a year when the public is allowed into the colony to look around and talk to the artists. This year, with the crowd spilling out of the giant tent during the ceremony to honor jazz saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins, I overheard MacDowell’s recently-retired president, Carter Wiseman, observe, “I’ve never seen it this crowded.” Though friendly and willing to share their work and answer questions, a few of the artists looked a little unsettled by the masses descending on what only hours before was a peaceful near-wilderness, and I overheard one visitor apologize to interdisciplinary artist Stephen Fiehn (half of the performance duo Cupola Bobber), “This must be pretty jarring, since you kind of come here to get away from people.” Febos noted, while describing the wildlife, that the field in front of her studio only has deer in it “when it’s not a parking lot.” While Medal Day is a great opportunity for people to meet these artists, and see the colony’s beautiful environment, it is also the one day a year when we disturb what I can only imagine is, for the other 364 days, an incredibly tranquil forest environment, mostly unchanged since Marian MacDowell bought the land.

But even with all of those people around, I still managed to get lost in the woods, on what really seemed to be a trail, with no one else in sight or earshot. In all directions, there were only trees, ferns, and a few of the boulders a glacier left behind. All I could hear was the slight breeze up in the leaves, and a birdsong that might or might not also be part of some composer’s oeuvre. Of course, I sat down on a rock with my notebook and filled a few pages.

Like Dwight Aspinwall and Perry Dowst, the founders of Jetboil, a Manchester, NH company that makes extremely efficient outdoor cooking equipment. “Jetboil’s connection to NH goes back to our founders’ childhood vacations in the White Mountains,” says Lisa Eaton, Jetboil’s Marketing Projects Coordinator. “They both came to NH as kids to camp and hike. When they decided to launch Jetboil, their initial consumer research was done by talking to Appalachian Trail hikers in New Hampshire, and subsequent product testing was done in the Presidential Range, as it still is.” Today, Jetboil’s website showcases its products against the same backdrop that served as the location of Aspinwall and Dowst’s first camp stove experiences; most of the photos used on the site were taken in the White Mountains.

So it’s no surprise that their company tries to preserve those vistas. Besides making their cooking systems as fuel-efficient as possible, about twice as efficient as traditional camp stoves, this fall Jetboil will be releasing the CrunchIt, a fuel canister recycling tool. “This device will allow people to safely vent residual fuel from their left-over fuel canisters and then puncture the cans, making them ready for the recycling bin,” Eaton says.

This year Jetboil also became a member of the Conservation Alliance, a group of companies in the outdoor industry that fund conservation efforts. To promote the Conservation Alliance, Jetboil recently sold its Flash cooking system at half-price at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Trade Show in Salt Lake City, Utah, August 3rd through 6th, and donated all proceeds to the Alliance.

Also at the trade show was David Kulow, president of the Sunapee-based company All Terrain (and happy Jetboil customer). All Terrain was founded in 1999 by Todd Hakanson, who developed Herbal Armor after DEET bug spray from a leaky can ate through his backpack and melted the keys on his calculator. Herbal Armor is an all-natural insect repellant that doesn’t put any toxic chemicals on your skin or into the environment, and is now one of many products – none of them toxic or tested on animals – made by All Terrain.

The company is currently working on safer sunscreens, following recent concerns about a possible link between retinyl palmitate and oxybenzone (common ingredients in most sunscreens) and cancer. And, Kulow says, “many resorts are now concerned about the chemicals in sunscreens for the harm they do to coral and tropical fish, so we’re making products that are reef-safe.”

All Terrain is also working on products made specifically for children, in an effort to get kids active and outside. The company is involved with the Outdoor Foundation, with Kulow serving on its board, and helps support Outdoor Nation.

By moving to Sunapee in 2002, All Terrain was able to become a truly local company. “New Hampshire employs about 54,000 people devoted to the outdoor [industry],” says Kulow, explaining how All Terrain is able to use NH suppliers and NH contract manufacturers. “We’re very proud to be a part of that and to contribute to it.”

Kulow adds that he is also proud to work with Peterborough-headquartered Eastern Mountain Sports, serving on the board of the Outdoor Industry Association with EMS CEO Will Manzer.

EMS is undeniably a very big company, with a lot of weight to throw into conservation efforts. In 2007, EMS decided to focus its charitable contributions on a single organization to make the biggest impact, choosing the aforementioned Conservation Alliance. Their $500,000 pledge to the Alliance is the largest donation in EMS’s history.

At the grand opening of the Gilson Pond Campground in Monadnock State Park on August 18th, a partnership between EMS and New Hampshire’s state parks was announced. EMS will advertise the parks in its stores, and in exchange the parks will promote EMS and its products. EMS may also provide uniforms for park employees, and create programs for campers.

The Timberland Company – another member of the Conservation Alliance – recently caught our attention here at Conservation New Hampshire when they announced that their “Green Index” would include all of their footwear lines by 2012. The “Green Index” rates products on a scale of 0 to 10, with a lower number indicating a smaller footprint from greenhouse gases, use of chemicals, and resource consumption. This transparency allows customers to know which products are best for the environment, and increases the company’s incentive to be more eco-friendly.

Timberland’s Stratham headquarters are also noticeably green. The grounds were recently re-landscaped, with invasive plant species replaced by native, mostly drought-resistant perennials that will require less water and fertilizer. At the same time, the corporate Victory Garden, which was started in 2008 and produces food for the internal Timberland community and the New Hampshire Food Bank, doubled in size, and now includes low-maintenance and pesticide-free fruit trees and blueberry bushes.

NEMO is also a member of the Conservation Alliance. The tent manufacturer, run out of an historic mill building in Nashua, stopped using PVC in its products back in 2006, and uses non-toxically-anodized (and recyclable) tent poles. The Nano OZ is a two-person tent made almost entirely of recycled or recyclable materials, and products in the Ditto Series are mostly made from disassembled tent samples and manufacturing seconds.

But NEMO is involved in conservation efforts beyond their products. “We do our best to get involved with the organizations and key players in the state and nationally working on issues like getting youth into the outdoors and environmental and land conservation issues,” says Kate Ketschek, NEMO’s Director of Marketing and Public Relations (who was also at the aforementioned Outdoor Retailer Trade Show). In 2007 the company adopted the northern end of Jenness Beach in Rye (“a favorite NEMO surf spot,” Ketschek says), through the Blue Ocean Society, and once a month NEMO employees pick up and document the trash on that beach. Every NEMO employee also gets a day off each month to volunteer for a conservation and/or community organization of his or her choosing. And the company donates to a number of environmental organizations, including the Access Fund and the National Wildlife Federation, as well as community efforts like Nashua’s Habitat for Humanity and Newmarket’s Club Chameleon.

“As NEMO continues to grow and mature as a company, we want to be involved in the issues we feel passionately about,” Ketschek says. And it’s clear that NEMO feels passionate about our environment – protecting it and helping others enjoy it.

NEMO, like Jetboil, All Terrain, EMS and Timberland, has a particular connection to New Hampshire’s outdoors. NEMO founder and president, and Manchester native, Cam Brensinger returned to the state after going to school in Rhode Island and Vermont, “because of his love of the outdoors,” says Ketschek. “NH offers a great coastline for surfing, the Whites for backpacking, lakes and rivers for canoeing and kayaking, and plenty of trails for mountain biking and running.”

“If you look around the state and around northern New England, you’ll notice a lot of outdoor companies have made this area their home,” she adds. “That speaks a lot to the natural environment NH has to offer.”

The fact that many of those companies give back to that environment says even more.

“There are many woods that I think are exemplary that we grow up here,” says the master furniture maker. “I’m particularly fond of a white birch.” Lucky that the white birch is the state tree, and grows in every part of New Hampshire. Lamb even has a favorite part of the white birch: “There is, in the fork, something called ‘crotch wood,’ and it is just a jewel,” he says. Crotch wood from many tree species is prized, because it is highly compressed from the pressure of the branch against the trunk; this compression also causes beautiful distortions in the grain. But because most white birch is just cut for firewood or uniform lumber, that “jewel” is usually “relegated to the fireplace,” Lamb says. “It’s not commercially available.

“So if I want it, I have to find it. I talk to loggers, land owners… so they all know that I’m looking for it.” When he can get it, he has it cut into veneers and then uses it in individually-commissioned pieces in his Canterbury studio. That studio, where Lamb apprenticed with master European cabinetmaker Alejandro de la Cruz more than thirty years ago, contains Lamb’s collection of 1880-1910 woodworking machinery. He began his collection as a teenager, because he couldn’t afford modern equipment. Much of  the machinery was made here in New Hampshire, by the John A. White Company in Concord and Dover.  Lamb displays his collection in the 19th century Belmont mill warehouse that he saved from demolition when he took it apart and rebuilt it onto his existing studio.

Lamb’s studio also connects him to tradition because of its location; the studio is right next to Shaker Village, where Lamb grew up. Although he’s not a Shaker himself, the Shakers’ furniture making traditions, and their attention to detail and careful craftsmanship, certainly rubbed off on him. He also appreciates that the village protects a lot of land with a conservation easement. “Those ponds attract so much wildlife and birdlife,” he adds. “It’s really a beautiful environment.”

His work is not limited to Shaker-style pieces, however. Competent in numerous “design languages,” Lamb works with his clients to best match their aesthetics.

But a few things do show up in a lot of his work: plants, especially wildflowers, are found in the finely carved patterns on many pieces of Lamb’s furniture. These plants, of course, are mainly ones found in New England. “I’ve always been a lover of wild flowers,” he says, “the wild iris, cattails…”

He also notes that his father worked at Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum, “So I utilized that as a form.” (Interestingly, this year the Arboretum is having a show from August 7th to September 16th.) References to the arboreal source of his materials are visible in the shapes and textures of what Lamb makes from them; one of his recent tables even uses burled stumps for legs, as if the table was growing out of the floor, and the tabletop’s edges show the curves of the tree it was cut from.

Some of Lamb’s most recent work is currently on display at the New Hampshire Historical Society’s Library in Concord until September 9th, and will be included in a silent auction at the Currier Museum in Manchester on the 12th, as part of an event by the New Hampshire Furniture Masters Association.

Lamb is a founding member of the Furniture Masters Association, and his involvement with that organization, as well as sitting on the board of Shaker Village, and of course creating individualized and extremely well-crafted (not to mention beautiful) pieces of furniture, keep him pretty busy. But he gives credit where it’s due: says Lamb,“I’m in the woods whenever I can be.”

The Gilson Pond Campground adds significant capacity to one of the state’s most popular parks. It features 35 drive-up sites, accommodating tents, trailers, and RVs, as well as 5 remote hike-to sites. The campground also has a brand new bathhouse with showers and a children’s playground.

A number of speakers opened the festivities and highlighted the significance of the new facility, and the park system as a whole.  Division of Parks and Recreation Director Ted Austin introduced Ann Royce, the former Chair of the Monadnock Advisory Commission, and George Bald, the Commissioner of the Department of Resources and Economic Development. Commissioner Bald acknowledged the contributions of the many groups and individuals involved with getting the new campground off the ground, highlighting in particular the efforts of Charles Royce. He also read a letter from Governor John Lynch in honor of the opening.

Also speaking were Will Abbott, Vice President of Policy and Land Management at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, and Ted Manning, Vice President of Merchandising for Eastern Mountain Sports. Abbott praised the many partnerships that are involved in making Monadnock State Park such a spectacular destination, and also alluded to the need to ensure adequate funding for the park system so that such successes continue. Manning spoke of the importance of a robust park system to businesses like his, and also highlighted a developing partnership between EMS and NH State Parks.

After a ribbon cutting ceremony, event-goers were treated to a State Parks birthday cake. Visitors also got to take a tour of the facility, led by Park Planning and Development Specialist Johanna Lyons and Department Architect Thomas Mansfield. The tour guides spoke about the many features of the campground that are new or unique to the park system. These included signs made out of recycled plastic, stone excavated during construction reused on-site, and sites designed with tent platforms to prevent site erosion.

Gilson Pond Campground is open Memorial Day through Columbus Day. Monadnock State Park is open year-round.

Pinchot can be credited with the rise of forestry – the science and practice of taking care of forests – in the United States. He studied forestry in France because there was no American college with a School of Forestry at the time. Later there were only two, at Cornell and Biltmore, before Pinchot started a third at Yale in 1900; now the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Pinchot’s is the oldest continuously operating forestry and environmental school in the country, and the oldest post-grad forestry program. That year he also formed the Society of American Foresters, further professionalizing the protection and management of forests.

Under Pinchot, the Division of Forestry (part of the Department of Agriculture), renamed the United States Forest Service, protected and managed millions of acres of forest, using its authority to find the best long-term uses for one of the country’s major resources. Constantly at odds with John Muir, who wanted to preserve wilderness strictly for its beauty, Pinchot developed a system to allow such uses as logging, fishing and gaming, and hydropower, for fees and under strict guidelines. As Roosevelt wrote in his 1913 Autobiography, “[Pinchot] led, and indeed during its most vital period embodied, the fight for the preservation through use of our forests.”

After twelve years as the leader of American forestry, Pinchot was fired from his position as head of the Forest Service in 1910, after calling out President Taft’s Secretary of the Interior for favoring private business interests over conservation. One year earlier, Pinchot said something at the Joint Conservation Conference that is worth repeating: “Conservation is the application of common sense to the common problems for the common good.”

An out-of-state organization is spending thousands trying to convince you that it should.

The group, American Action Network, is running television ads targeting Congressmen who voted for a bill that would have – get ready – put a cap on carbon pollution.  Oh the horror!

The group claims that a cap is nothing more than a tax. And of course, that tax means elderly women will be up all night, cowering under blankets in a blue-colored world, wondering how they will pay their utility bills.

For the record, both Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter voted for a bill that would have regulated carbon pollution through a cap and trade mechanism.  The idea hit a brick wall in the Senate last month, in part thanks to Senator Judd Gregg, who would not support the concept.  Many observers believe that we will not see another climate bill until after the next presidential election.

We wonder what NH voters think about all this?

Polling done by Conservation New Hampshire shows that a vast majority of people in both parties support limiting carbon pollution, even if it costs them more.  Those same polls show that voters – Republicans, Independents, and Democrats – would rather vote for a candidate who makes the environment a priority.

It is also interesting to note that New Hampshire is already part of a regional cap and trade program called RGGI (regional greenhouse gas initiative).  As far as we know, this program hasn’t caused many sleepless nights.

All that aside, our thinking is that these ads will not amount to much unless Congressman Hodes and others try to run away from their forward-thinking position on limiting carbon pollution.  We hope they continue to tell voters that they support limiting pollution and providing incentives to help industry clean up their act.  Less pollution makes for a healthier New Hampshire.  Who would be against that?

Many call election time the silly season, and we are certain this won’t the last ad that will attempt to distort issues and records.  We just hope that candidates of both parties do not get sidetracked pandering to a small group of out of state activists; activists who do not believe in climate change and would rather do nothing than work to solve the problem.

The American Action Network may not have noticed, but New Hampshire voters are savvy enough to see through attempts to frighten them – scary voice and all.

The month long celebration is being put together by the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food, as well as many businesses, individuals, and groups around the state.

Opportunities abound to learn about NH’s locally produced food. Check out your local farmers’ market during NH Farmers’ Market Week from August 1st-7th. At the Manchester Farmers’ Market, enjoy chef demonstrations every Thursday as your favorite cooks incorporate products from the market into their dishes. Or on August 25th, take part in the 2010 New Hampshire Grower’s Dinner, to benefit the New Hampshire Food Bank.

More events are being planned, so be sure to visit the NH Eat Local Month website, or connect with NH Eat Local on Facebook, for the latest information.

But if beautiful weather isn’t enough to get you out from behind the wheel, the folks at the Program for Alternative Transportation and Health (PATH) will provide some extra incentive to use feet instead of fuel with this month’s edition of Fossil Free Friday on July 30th. The event, to be held in front of the State House in Concord from 7:00 – 9:00AM, will feature food, drinks, music, and fun while promoting alternatives to the single-occupancy vehicle for the commute.

PATH, a program of the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission, seeks to encourage all alternative forms of transportation. Through walking, biking, carpooling, and taking public transit, the citizens of Central New Hampshire can reduce pressure on their transportation infrastructure, improve air quality, and live healthier and more active lives. The once-a-month Friday events are just one way PATH is getting more people to regularly think about changing their commuting methods.

According to PATH’s Craig Tufts, Fossil Free Fridays are a year-long expansion of the group’s annual Green Commute Week, held each May. Just a few months old, the event has seen 20-30 folks register as alternative commuters, with up to 100 people attending the festivities. With Concord quickly becoming a leader amongst NH communities in encouraging greener and healthier transportation methods, it’s anticipated that this number will continue to grow.

Besides the environmental and health impacts, one other benefit to seeking alternative transportation Tufts is quick to point out: “It’s fun!” Conversations with fellow carpoolers, the fresh air of a morning walk, or the adrenaline rush of an afternoon bike ride all could make that lonely, traffic-jam prone traditional commute seem like the drag it is. Even without the added bonus of snacks, drinks, and music at the end.

Fossil Free Fridays take place the last Friday of every month. For more information on this and other ways PATH is changing the way Central New Hampshire residents travel, see the PATH website.

Now, Gaudreau says, “I strive to use my work as a tool for generating discussion about environmental issues.”

With the green, sustainable Tim Gaudreau Studios,  run out of a barn next to his house in Portsmouth (“to reduce my daily commute to zero”), he produces art and installations to more directly bring attention to our impact on the environment.  His best-known piece – in several variations, as installed as a collage in several galleries – is the self-explanatory Self Portrait as Revealed by Trash: 365 days of photographing everything I threw out (2004).

He was commissioned by the Timberland Company to create a series of interactive installations, and the sculpture Give Plastic the Boot (2008), a giant boot made out of plastic bottles. He built Sprawl Viewers (2002), empty frames at eye-level through which passers-by could look at fields and forests outside of Portsmouth; some frames had transparent screens in them with images of houses and businesses, showing how quickly a beautiful place can be developed. For Found Posters (2001), Gaudreau put up posters with pictures of pieces of litter, offering to return them to their owners.

Gaudreau is currently working with local students to artistically design public recycling bins in Portsmouth. The bins are being built and installed throughout the city as part of the Downtown Portsmouth Zero Waste Project. The project, begun by the Islington Creek Neighborhood Association in 2009, and aided by EcoMovement Consulting & Hauling and Middleton Building Supply, is an effort to reduce the city’s overall waste by making it as easy to find a place to recycle as it is to find a trashcan. “For me, this project is about translating conversation into real action,” Gaudreau says. At the same time, it produces more conversation, as the local students, by taking part, are made more aware of recycling, pollution, and other environmental issues. And instead of having ugly, mass-produced recycling bins, Portsmouth will become a more attractive city, with unique bins created by members of the community.

Gaudreau, who holds a B.F.A. in Photography from the University of New Hampshire, and an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Art & Critical Theory from the Maine College of Art, says that he is better able to appreciate New England (and New Hampshire in particular) after traveling abroad for his work over the years.

While in Brazil in 1998, he showed a photo exhibition, People and Places of New Hampshire, at the Museu do Imagem e Som, a museum in Ceara, New Hampshire’s sister-state; the next year, he had an exhibition at the State House in Concord: Images of Our Sister State: Ceara, Brazil. “ I feel that I see and understand where I am from much more clearly as a result of these experiences,” he says.

“ I think the [New Hampshire] landscape is so important to me, with its variation in terrain from coast and hills to mountains and cliffs. I love the trees and thick foliage, the crunch of snow beneath my feet, the breath-taking views from so many of the White Mountains, the smell of salt wafting from the ocean.”

As a New Hampshire eco-artist, Gaudreau demonstrates a give-and-take with the state’s natural beauty. His work is both inspired by, and meant to protect, the Granite State’s environment.

“I once stood in a wide open field in Nebraska,” he recalls, “And remarked on my utter discomfort at that flat open space without any tree cover, beating sun without shade, or dust-kicking wind over grass without the howl of our trees.”

He adds, “There are many beautiful places in the world, but there really is only one home.”

Over the course of the phone conversation I learned that the Christos & Mary Papoutsy Distinguished Chair in Ethics at Southern New Hampshire University was funding Dr. Goldsmith’s trip to Africa.  Dr. Goldsmith has studied Gorillas in the mountains of the Congo and Uganda since 1991 (click here to read more about Dr. Goldsmith’s research) along with examining the role of ecotourism on the behavior and well-being of endangered mountain gorillas as a National Geographic researcher.  With the funding from the Papoutsy Chair in Ethics, she is continuing this research.

After discussing the trip with colleagues, the idea took shape that a student should come along to assist in the research and write a blog about the experiences.  When Dr. Goldsmith asked if I would be willing to go, I  said yes!

After three shots, two prescriptions and a lot of packing, I’m still not sure what to expect, but I think that’s a good thing; Uganda will certainly be exciting.  We leave from Boston on July 27th.

The blog, which will change and grow as content is added, can be found at:

http://blogging.snhu.edu/intoafrica/

Check it out from time to time, and by all means leave feedback.