Lyme Conservation Commission

04/07/2026

Join us for Green Up Day on May 2d! Check the Town of Lyme NH website for more details!

CommunityCare of Lyme Upper Valley Trails Alliance

04/07/2026

We would love to see your pictures of Lyme’s conservation areas! We are collecting photos for our outreach and education.

Post on Facebook or email to the Conservation Commission at

[email protected]

CommunityCare of Lyme Upper Valley Trails Alliance The Upper Valley Land Trust
Connecticut River Conservancy New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests New Hampshire Audubon Big Trees of Northern New England

03/20/2026

Celebrating World 🐸 Day!

These frogs all inhabit Big Rock. Pickerel frogs have also been spotted. Mink and leopard frogs are vulnerable species’, and we haven’t confirmed their presence in the wildlife community at Big Rock. Let us know if you’ve seen them!

12/25/2025

Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays from the Lyme Biodiversity Working Group, we hope your day is merry and bright!

08/13/2025

How did Japanese knotw**d get here?

Where it came from is right in the name, but to answer how it left Japan and became problematic here in New England requires some digging.

In 1822, German physician and botanist Philipp Franz von Siebold began a six-year tenure at the Dutch trading post, Dejima, in the Bay of Nagasaki. While there, he created a hospital and helped revolutionize Japanese ophthalmology with his botanical eyedrop preparations (Jokl & Hiyama, 2003). His work impressed Emperor Ninkō, whose approval permitted von Siebold to explore the island nation and collect specimens, an unprecedented privilege for foreigners at that time. He managed to export hundreds of exotic plant and animal species to Europe in three shipments, to his own nursery in Leiden, South Holland (located in the Netherlands), and to destinations in Belgium (Bailey & Connoly, 2000). One of the shipments to Leiden contained the original knotw**d specimen.

From Leiden, clones were sent to the Botanical Gardens at Kew in 1850 where knotw**d began its heyday as a revered ornamental plant in Britain. It was admired for its staggering height and attractive flowers, its fast growth, and its hardiness in northern climates. By the time it became commercially available in the US in the late 1800s, prominent gardeners in Britain were already warning that it should be planted only with caution. These warnings were based on the plant’s ability to “turn up unexpectedly in nearly every piece of cultivated ground” (Bailey & Connoly, 2000).

Research conducted at England’s Leicester University provides compelling evidence that all of the knotw**d in the UK, and that of North America and other parts of Europe, are clones of the one sterile male 𝘍. 𝘫𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢 specimen von Siebold found nestled in volcanic soils. “The widespread clone of Japanese Knotw**d detected in this study must (using the criterion of the genet) be one of the world’s largest vascular plants” (Hollingsworth & Bailey, 2000). To date, knotw**d is considered invasive in 42 US states, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia.

References:
Jokl DHK, Hiyama F. (2003). Philipp Franz von Siebold: A medical pioneer of the 250-year Holland-Japan legacy. 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘖𝘱𝘩𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘭. 2003;121(4):562–565. doi:10.1001/archopht.121.4.562.

Bailey, J. P., & Connoly, A. P. (2000). Prize winners to pariahs - A history of Japanese knotw**d in the British Isles. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢, 23, 93–110.

Hollingsworth, M. L., & Bailey, J. P. (2000). Evidence for massive clonal growth in the invasive w**d Fallopia japonica (Japanese knotw**d). 𝘉𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺, 4, 463–472. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2000.tb01589.x.

08/13/2025

In the Netherlands, a design group called Why Knot turns knotw**d into lightweight, formaldehyde-free building panels. Vermont’s regulatory system is too antiquated to see it as a win-win.

07/21/2025

Summer isn't over yet! Check out our upcoming events to keep the summer fun going ☀🎉

📅Thursday, July 24th: Invasives Academy- Managing in the Face of Upland Invasive Plants, led by UNH Extension 🌱
📅 Saturday, August 23rd: Annual Stargazing Party at hosted with our friends at the Orford Conservation Commission! 🌟
📅 EVERY Monday and Thursday: Volunteer work days at our food pantry gardens in Norwich, VT and Charlestown, NH! 🍅🥕

🌸For more info on our events, visit uvlt.org/events. Let’s keep the good times rolling in the great outdoors! 🌸

07/21/2025

07/21/2025

Planning to spend some time swimming in New Hampshire’s lakes, rivers or ponds this weekend? Be sure to visually assess the water before dipping your toes in. Stay up-to-date on cyanobacteria blooms using the NHDES Healthy Swimming Mapper, and report any potential blooms to NHDES: https://www.des.nh.gov/water/healthy-swimming/healthy-swimming-mapper

07/21/2025

This Eastern Milksnake is common in the Eastern US and widespread in open and wooded habitats. They are non-venomous and rarely emerge in the open during the day. Their common name comes from the mistaken belief that they drank milk from cows since they are often seen around barns, where they hunt mice and other small mammals. It’s uncommon to see one basking in the sun or on a trail, so if you do, please give them room to continue on their way. Their first instinct is to freeze if frightened, so enjoy them from a distance.

We hope you've enjoyed (and learned something new) this World Snake Week! Visit NH Audubon Centers to learn more about snakes from our wonderful educators and naturalists.

Photo and article by Anita Fernandez.

07/21/2025

Why bother cutting the knotw**d if it’s just going to grow back?

To answer this, we have to think of plants as producers. When plants photosynthesize, two processes happen in tandem; water and light are converted to oxygen, and carbon dioxide is converted to glucose.

During the “photo” stage, when water molecules are split by chloroplasts in a plant’s tissues, light drives the transfer of electrons and hydrogen atoms that will be used in the “synthesis” stage, and oxygen is given off as a waste product through pores called stomata.

Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is taken up by the stomata, and compounds (NADPH and ATP) produced by the transfer of electrons and hydrogen atoms from the water are responsible for converting the carbon dioxide to glucose, which the plant uses to make the cellulose needed to build its tissues.

Knotw**d uses modified underground stem structures called rhizomes for storage. In the fall, its foliage transports glucose to the rhizomes in preparation for the next growing season, and when the dormant plant awakens in the spring, it utilizes some of these reserves to produce new growth. Over decades of growing seasons, a stand of knotw**d will expand this underground storage because it produces more glucose than it uses for growth.

It works akin to a bank account accruing interest; left unhindered, the balance continues to grow larger over time. However, when the season’s growth is cut back, the rhizome responds by producing new shoots, which is like making a withdrawal from the account.

Frequent, repeated cuttings not only deplete the glucose reserves stored underground, they prevent the plant photosynthesizing and making new deposits into the account each fall. Persistently diminishing the rhizome in this manner results in an account that dwindles over time.

07/10/2025

Big Rock hosts a generous variety of non-native invasive plants, and our Biodiversity Working Group team members test lots of tools to figure out what works best for managing them.

In this photo, you can see the tools I routinely carry.

1–Short-handled lopper, for chomping through very mature bittersweet vines and trunks of buckthorn, honeysuckle, and burning bush saplings that are too large to pull out of the ground.

2–Hand pruner, for trimming bittersweet and multiflora rose vines, and for clearing barberry stems to access the roots.

3–Clearing billhook, for slicing through knotw**d stalks. A variety of tools can be used, depending on personal preference and the growth habit of the knotw**d. A machete, brush axe, sickle, or grass whip are all great options. I like this one because it’s small and lightweight.

4–Weeder, for easing out stubborn roots. Used mostly for saplings, multiflora rose, and barberry.

5–Flooring knife, for girdling buckthorn trunks. A saw is handy for dispensing of buckthorn expeditiously.

If you’re tackling these invaders on your own property and you’d like more information about our strategies and results, or if you’d like to help us increase biodiversity at Big Rock, please message us to chat or schedule a site visit with our team.