UVLT Takes Hypertherm To The (Norwich) Woodshed

The Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT) recently took Hypertherm North America to the the woodshed, not for punishment but for good works, as the trip was to the Norwich Woodshed. 

About a week before the annual Norwich wood bee, "UVLT took a group of Hypertherm volunteers to the Norwich Woodshed where we bucked and split 10 cords of wood together," said Alison Marchione, UVLT Programs Director in an email. "Most of those 10 cords were logs donated from the Robert Areson Conservation Area near Butron Woods/Bragg Hill roads."

Winter logging at the Robert Areson Conservation Area in Norwich. Source: UVLT.org

The Robert Areson Conservation Area is owned and managed by UVLT. Some logging was done there last winter (see picture above).


The ten cords of wood are now part of Norwich Wood Fuel Assistance Program. The program provides firewood to needy residents of Norwich and other communities in the Upper Valley to heat their homes.


UVLT Outreach and Donor Programs Coordinator Paul Balzevich said on Facebook:

WOW, what a special group. Thank you for coming out to volunteer again ... . There will be many families kept warm this winter because of the work that you all did on Friday. Your impact will be felt throughout the entire winter. TEN CORDS! IN HALF A DAY! The Firewood Assistance Program managers could not believe it, and neither could we. Just remember, Hypertherm CST workdays make a world of difference on our conserved properties and to the members of our Upper Valley community. Especially when working on projects like this.

Check out the 22 second time lapse video of the Hypertherm volunteers at work on the Facebook page of the UVLT.

The Norwich Woodshed project was part of the Corporate Volunteer Program run by UVLT. Volunteer opportunities are available for groups large and small. The UVLT website says:

UVLT staff are always looking to foster new partnerships with Upper Valley businesses. Workdays can be scheduled at any point for all seasons of the year, featuring indoor and outdoor projects, and a large variety of group sizes can be accommodated. UVLT is also exploring options to create a multifaceted experience by including team building activities, mindfulness, and environmental education in the volunteer workday.

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 Originally posted on HereCast on 10.30.19

Weekly Roundup - Norwich News, for week ending June 08, 2013

College Student Drowns Near Patchen's Point 

An international college student drowned in the Connecticut River on June 5 after he jumped off a rope swing at Patchen's Point in Norwich, VT.   The man was attending Riverfest, an annual event by Dartmouth College seniors, celebrating his brother's graduation from Dartmouth. Police do not believe alcohol was a factor.
Divers recover drowning victim’s body
Times-Argus 
June 7, 2013
Divers have recovered the body of a 20-year-old international student who drowned late Wednesday afternoon while attending a party with his older brother, a graduating Dartmouth senior who was among hundreds of students who’d gathered for the annual pre-graduation bash known as River Fest. 
The victim recently attended college in Texas, officials said. 
The victim’s name is being withheld until authorities make sure his family members — who are traveling to attend his brother’s graduation Sunday — have been properly notified. 
Shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday morning divers with the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game, which has jurisdiction over incidents on the Connecticut River, located the body in about 18 feet of water not far from the rope swing on Patchen’s Point in Norwich. The victim was last seen struggling in the water there just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to police.
Read the rest of the story. 

Related stories:
Drowning victim identified
Students Tried in Vain to Mount Rescue

ValleyNet Ends Nicole's Suspension From Listserv

Perhaps it was the Free Nicole movement or Vermont common sense or maybe Ms.Hastings learned her lesson … whatever the reason, ValleyNet will allow Ms.Hastings to resume posting on the Norwich Listserv.  To the Norwich Observer, the suspension cost ValleyNet good karma points as it seemed its opaque enforcement of "rules" about Appalachian Trail posts was petulant.

Ms.Hastings was gracious in her return.  Read her June 7th listserv post here.

Sunday Storms Down Trees and Power Lines

The weather front that cause the tragic tornados in Oklahoma reached the Upper Valley on Sunday June 2nd.  About 400 residents of Norwich lost power and downed trees closed Route 5. 

Matt Herbert of the Norwich Fire Department directs traffic around a fallen tree and a downed power line on Turnpike Road in Norwich yesterday. (Valley News - Libby March)

Riding Out the Storm: Weather System Leads to Power Outages, Road Closings in Valley
By Ben Conarck, Valley News Staff Writer
June 3, 2013 
A series of powerful thunderstorms crackled across the Upper Valley yesterday, bringing downed power lines and forcing road closings in what amounted to some of the storm system’s worst damage in northern New England.
Plainfield Fire Chief Frank Currier said his department had seen “all kinds of mayhem” in the aftermath of yesterday’s storm, but no one was seriously hurt.
Currier said that lightning struck an electrical transformer near Center of Town Road, and that the strike did “very minimal damage to one house but pretty well wiped out the electrical wiring in the second house.
“It blew the electrical receptacles right out of the wall,” said Currier, who added that his department received about nine calls yesterday. The lightning strike near Center of Town Road forced the closure of Route 12A traffic in both directions for about four hours.
In Canaan, a man and a woman in their 20s were injured in a lightning strike while getting back into their car at the town boat launch on Goose Pond, according to ambulance squad member Alan Ricard, who declined to release the names of the victims.
Storm
Read the rest of the story. 

Rickards Of Montshire Museum Receives Noyce Foundation Fellowship

Upper Valley Business Briefs: People on the move
Times-Argus
June 04,2013
Jennifer Rickards, associate director of the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, VT, has been selected to participate in a year-long sponsored fellowship, with the aim of increasing the public impact of science centers, museums, and related institutions.
Rickards will focus on developing a community partnership model to determine how the Montshire should engage underserved families in the region, and implement new strategies to do so effectively.
The Noyce Leadership Institute (NLI), in partnership with the Association of Science-Technology Centers, the European Network of Science Centers and Museums, and the Association of Children’s Museums, gathers leaders in informal science education from around the world to focus on societal trends, global issues, and the cutting edge of science. The effort is funded by the Noyce Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Read the rest of the story. 

LINKS: 

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20130607/NEWS03/706079939/0/SEARCH

http://thedartmouth.com/2013/06/07/news/river

http://www.vnews.com/news/police/fire/courts/6877254-95/students-tried-in-vain-to-mount-rescue

http://www.vnews.com/news/6758847-95/riding-out-the-storm-weather-system-leads-to-power-outages-road-closings-in-valley

http://lists.valley.net/lists/arc/norwich/2013-06/msg00152.html

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20130604/BUSINESS11/706049989/0/SEARCH

Tierney of Norwich Leads Valley Community Loan Fund

New Fund Offers Businesses Lending Option

By Warren Johnston, Valley News  January 27, 2013
Lebanon — A new nonprofit group is hoping to begin soon making commercial loans to under-served small businesses and projects that will create jobs and help Upper Valley residents living in poverty.

The Valley Community Loan Fund will lend money to marginal or higher risk projects and businesses that aim to provide new jobs or workforce housing in the Upper Valley and that don’t qualify for money from banks or other conventional lenders, said Paul Tierney, of Norwich, one of the organizers and chief executive officer of the loan fund.

“We estimate that there are 35,000 people living under the poverty level and 12 percent to 15 percent of them are children,” Tierney said. “There’s a need for about 2,000 workforce housing units in our area,” The fund will serve southwestern New Hampshire and southeastern Vermont, with an initial focus on the Upper Valley.

Recent changes in the federal banking laws make it even more difficult for some small businesses and projects, such as building affordable housing, to get loans through banks. “We want to make the loans that will provide a permanent fix to help move these people out of poverty,” Tierney said.

The Valley Community Loan Fund is one of about 500 community loan funds in the country. Most of them are run by municipalities and county governments to provide economic stimulus, Tierney said.

Read the rest of the story.
LINK:
http://www.vnews.com/search/4029532-95/valley-fund-tierney-loan