What Happens at a Nature Preserve?

Scientifically speaking, invasive species—whether they’re plants or pests—are non-native organisms that cause harm to an ecosystem. People who study invasives consider “harm” to be anything from crowding out other life to spreading diseases that affect plant, animal or human health. Everyone knows an invasive species: They weren’t invited to the party but showed up anyway, and now they’re irritating the guests. In reality, invasive species can take control, threatening rare habitats and creating problems for nature and people. Land stewards carefully monitor and remove invasive species to ensure ecosystems survive into the future.

At The Nature Conservancy’s Lime Pond Preserve in Columbia, New Hampshire, land stewards are working to remove wall lettuce—an invasive plant that spreads like wildfire over forests and wetlands. As wall lettuce grows here, it uses resources that maidenhair ferns, wild onions, orchids and other unique flora need to survive. Without invasive species management, native plants could be lost, forever altering the ecosystem.

Keep scrolling to see what I experienced at Lime Pond.

American eels hatch near Bermuda in the Sargasso Sea before traveling a thousand miles to the freshwater rivers and lakes of the eastern United States, where they grow and live for many years. Once they reach maturity, they travel back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. But in the Great Bay estuary of New Hampshire, narrow culverts prevent eels and other migratory fish from reaching freshwater systems. These waterfall-like barriers block fish from swimming upstream to the freshwater habitat essential to their life cycles.  

In 2020, The Nature Conservancy worked with the Town of Newmarket to replace a culvert under Bay Road at Lubberland Creek Preserve. With rising sea levels, more intense storms and increased surface water runoff, the old 3-by-4-foot pipe couldn’t effectively pass water between the creek and the nearby salt marsh. The concrete box culvert we built instead allows water to flow with the tides and helps migratory fish and other species navigate safely. This is the second year post-construction that our land stewards have set fish traps to see if migratory fish use the culvert to travel upstream—a measure of what scientists call aquatic connectivity.

Here’s what happened when I helped staff monitor for fish at Lubberland Creek.

On Earth Day 2022, The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire opened a fully-accessible trail at Manchester Cedar Swamp Preserve in Manchester. The All Persons Trail is a 1.2-mile accessible path that provides visitors access to unique geologic features in the preserve, including mossy glacial boulders and vernal pools nestled amongst oak forests. For three years, we worked with different community groups, Indigenous partners and experienced trail builders to plan and construct a trail that welcomes everyone. After learning about the process and writing about the project at TNC, I wanted to visit the All Persons Trail with a few staff members who made it happen and experience the magic of Manchester Cedar Swamp.

Take a peek into my summer day at the trail.