The original suggestion by the NH Sierra Club that Hackett Hill's French Hall be used for environmental education, with the building's surroundings serving as an outdoor laboratory, primarily concerned secondary level students. At present, it seems more likely that a program of this nature could be established more readily if designed for higher education (although secondary schools could also be involved to a lesser degree.)
Ten colleges in the greater Manchester area and the Manchester Chamber of Commerce have recently formed a consortium. The participating colleges are: UNH-Manchester, Southern NH University, the College for Lifelong Learning, Chester College of New England, Hesser College, MA College of Pharmacy, the NH Community Technology College, the New Hampshire Institute of Art, Saint Anselm College and Springfield College. The purpose of this organization - The Manchester Area Colleges Consortium - is to promote higher education opportunities in the Manchester area. An appropriate project for the consortium would be to use French Hall for the purpose for which it was intended - education - and to set up a program which would take advantage of the building's surroundings. Courses in field ecology could be used as an introduction to more specialized courses such as ornithology, mammology, botany, animal behavior and wetlands ecology. There could also be opportunities for student/faculty research projects. An environmental tech program is another possibility, with specialized training in wetlands science serving as a "cornerstone" for the program. Art and photography courses might also be included.
SinceThe Nature Conservancy's ecological preserve is close
to French Hall, students and researchers could easily reach
specialized wetlands which contain Atlantic white cedar, giant
rhododendron and black gum trees. Importantly, the non-preserve
portion of the original "UNH property", like French Hall, is owned by
the city. This area, which is primarily south and southeast of the
nature preserve, is also highly appropriate for an environmental
education/research program. Although eyed by some individuals for an
industrial park, the property is heavily forested and home to many
mammalian species and abundant birdlife. Numerous vernal pools are
found in this region.
Both the protected and unprotected land are currently used by The Amoskeag Fishways for their educational programs, and both areas have been used for college-level research projects. Recently, a group from Springfield College, and their instructor, Susan Redlich, participated in a Sierra Club field trip and visited both the preserve and city properties. The Nature Conservancy, despite owning nearly 600 acres of protected land on Hackett Hill, is an organization which is not primarily concerned with educational and/or research. However, its staff could conceivably be used on special occasons for such purposes, and clearly the ten colleges in the consortium should have many available faculty members.
An appropriate
model for a Nature Conservancy-college consortium partnership is
furnished by the Hawley
Bog Preserve. The Preserve,
located in Hawley, MA, is owned and managed jointly by The Nature
Conservancy and a Five College consortium. The colleges comprising
the consortium are Smith, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire College, Amherst
College and the University of Massachusetts. The Hawley Bog is used
primarily by students and faculty for research projects. A boardwalk
constructed in the bog is similar to the boardwalk constructed by The
Nature Conservancy on its Manchester Cedar Swamp Preserve.
Manchester is fortunate in that French Hall, a classroom building, is available for teaching purposes and is located in such close proximity to an "outdoor laboratory." Certainly renovations would be required to make the building operational, but this does not seem to be a task of great difficulty.
Numerous other challenges would confront the consortium in undertaking an environmental education/research program for Manchester. Since ten colleges are involved in the consortium, it would seem that the challenges could be met fairly easily. The end product should attract more students to Manchester's colleges and furnish unique opportunities not generally found in an urban area.