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The Lakes Region Conservation Trust's newest conservation acquisition was explored by about 30 people this weekend.

The 192-acre Fogg Hill property in West Center Harbor has outstanding wetlands, glacial erratics, rare plants, an old growth forest and a high-elevation kettle bog.

Ecologist Dr. Rick Van de Poll, of Sandwich, who completed a Natural Resources Inventory for the town in 2011, led the four-hour hike Saturday morning and pointed out many of the rare and important resources being protected by the effort.

He wrote in the inventory, The Fogg Hill property provides a critical conservation link between the only level peat bog in the area and the largest un-fragmented forest block of land in Center Harbor.

"It provides watershed protection to both Lake Winona and the Snake River, both of which contribute valuable public drinking water supplies to Meredith.

"This remote upland area contains a mix of unusual forest types of venerable age, complete with high value wildlife habitat and rare plant species. The conservation of this parcel provides an anchor to protecting a landscape that will be used and appreciated for generations to come.

Located at the end of Fogg Hill Road off Piper Hill Road, a very small parking area is offered right now. Those who use the property are asked to park in what looks like the trail head.

They will also need a GPS to find their way around.

A skidder road leads through a mixed forest and will be used to remove a large tractor trailer which was dumped on the property decades ago. That work is being done this fall.

Hiking trails will be built with volunteer help to take in all the aspects of the forested tract, including its "Hopper" a huge glacial cliff area with talus slope, near a ridge line with views to Lake Winnipesaukee.

Every week through the 87th Oscars on Feb. 22, 2015, The Hollywood Reporter's awards analyst Scott Feinberg will post an updated "Feinberg Forecast," wherein he presents a summary of major developments since the last update that helped to shape his current opinions and then lists his revised projections. For more about Feinberg and how he arrives at his projections, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Factoring into this week's Feinberg Forecast

BEST PICTURE Frontrunners Interstellar (Paramount) Boyhood (IFC Films) The Imitation Game (The Weinstein Co.) Unbroken (Universal) Into the Woods (Disney) Birdman (Fox Searchlight) The Theory of Everything (Focus Features) American Sniper (Warner Bros.) Whiplash (Sony Pictures Classics) Citizenfour (RADiUS-TWC, Participant Media, HBO) Major Threats Foxcatcher (Sony Pictures Classics) Gone Girl (20th Century Fox) Selma (Paramount) A Most Violent Year (A24) Chef (Open Road Films) Possibilities The Grand Budapest Hotel (Fox Searchlight) Wild (Fox Searchlight) Mr. Turner (Sony Pictures Classics) Get On Up (Universal) Still Alice (Sony Pictures Classics) Long Shots Fury (Sony) Inherent Vice (Warner Bros.) Noah (Paramount) The Judge (Warner Bros.) Exodus: Gods and Kings (20th Century Fox)

BEST DIRECTOR Frontrunners Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) Richard Linklater (Boyhood) Alejandro G. Inarritu (Birdman) Clint Eastwood (American Sniper) Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) Major Threats Angelina Jolie (Unbroken) Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher) David Fincher (Gone Girl) Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) Rob Marshall (Into the Woods) Possibilities Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) James Marsh (The Theory of Everything) Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel) Mike Leigh (Mr. Turner) Ava DuVernay (Selma) Long Shots Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice) J.C. Chandor (A Most Violent Year) Jon Favreau (Chef) Jean-Marc Vallee (Wild) Ridley Scott (Exodus: Gods and Kings)

BEST ACTOR Frontrunners Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) Michael Keaton (Birdman) Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) Jack O'Connell (Unbroken) Major Threats Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar) Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood) Steve Carell (Foxcatcher) Miles Teller (Whiplash) David Oyelowo (Selma) Chadwick Boseman (Get On Up) Channing Tatum (Foxcatcher) Bill Murray (St. Vincent) Possibilities Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner) Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year) Kevin Costner (Black and White) NEW Ben Affleck (Gone Girl) Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler) James Corden (Into the Woods) Mark Wahlberg (The Gambler) Long Shots Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel) Robert DowneyJr. (The Judge) Brad Pitt (Fury) Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice) Brendan Gleeson (Calvary) Al Pacino (The Humbling) Christian Bale (Exodus: Gods and Kings)

BEST ACTRESS Frontrunners Julianne Moore (Still Alice) Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) Reese Witherspoon (Wild) Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) Shailene Woodley (The Fault in Our Stars) Major Threats Emily Blunt (Into the Woods) Amy Adams (Big Eyes) Hilary Swank (The Homesman) Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year) Anne Hathaway (Interstellar) Possibilities Anne Dorval (Mommy) Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night) Jessica Chastain (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them) Michelle Monaghan (Fort Bliss) Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle) Long Shots Anna Kendrick (The Last 5 Years) Greta Gerwig (The Humbling) Marion Cotillard (The Immigrant) Mia Wasikowska (Tracks) Jessica Chastain (Miss Julie)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Frontrunners Ethan Hawke (Boyhood) J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher) Edward Norton (Birdman) Miyavi (Unbroken) Major Threats Tom Wilkinson (Selma) John Goodman (The Gambler) Robert Duvall (The Judge) Alec Baldwin (Still Alice) Christoph Waltz (Big Eyes) Possibilities Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) Logan Lerman (Fury) Michael Caine (Interstellar) Josh Brolin (Inherent Vice) Long Shots Albert Brooks (A Most Violent Year) Chris Pine (Into the Woods) Garrett Hedlund (Unbroken) Benicio Del Toro (Pablo Escobar: Paradise Lost)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Frontrunners Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game) Laura Dern (Wild) Meryl Streep (Into the Woods) Emma Stone (Birdman) Major Threats Octavia Spencer (Black and White) NEW Jessica Chastain (Interstellar) Sienna Miller (American Sniper) Carmen Ejogo (Selma) Kristen Stewart (Still Alice) Possibilities Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer) Julianne Moore (Maps to the Stars) Rene Russo (Nightcrawler) Ellen Burstyn (Interstellar) Long Shots Vanessa Redgrave (Foxcatcher) Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice) Marion Bailey (Mr. Turner) Carrie Coon (Gone Girl)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Frontrunners The Imitation Game (Graham Moore) Unbroken (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen) The Theory of Everything (Anthony McCarten) American Sniper (Jason Dean Hall) Into the Woods (James Lapine) Major Threats Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn) Wild (Nick Hornby) Still Alice (Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland) Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson) Possibilities The Fault in Our Stars (Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber) Men, Women & Children (Jason Reitman, Erin Cressida Wilson) The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (Ned Benson) Long Shots How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Dean DeBlois)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Frontrunners Boyhood (Richard Linklater) Birdman (Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giabone, Alejandro G.Inarritu) Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan) Whiplash (Damien Chazelle) Wild Tales (Damian Szifron) Major Threats Foxcatcher (Dan Futterman, E. Max Frye) The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson) Chef (Jon Favreau) Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh) A Most Violent Year (J.C. Chandor) Possibilities Selma (Ava DuVernay, Paul Webb) Magic in the Moonlight (Woody Allen) Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy) Love Is Strange (Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias) Dear White People (Justin Simien) Long Shots Fury (David Ayer) Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev, Oleg Negin) Big Eyes (Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski) Begin Again (John Carney) The Immigrant (James Gray, Richard Menello)

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FEINBERG FORECAST: The Oscar Landscape Post-Hamptons, Pre-AFI

Pittsburgh has had a number of urban-planning disappointments and a few outright disasters over the years.

But it's good to report that the recently released Pittsburgh Penguins' plans to redevelop the Lower Hill District are a clear winner. The Penguins' group has come up with a highly sophisticated preliminary plan that incorporates values that can be important to all of us.

The plans cover a 28-acre tract of empty land next to Consol Energy Center that used to be occupied by the demolished Civic Arena and its seemingly endless parking lots. They take an appropriately conservative approach to a redevelopment that will likely stretch out over a decade or more and will require participation by what may well turn out to be a large number of private developers.

The plans create, in effect, a concept that will guide what the planners are calling the form, the density and the character of what developers may do in the Lower Hill, without specifying precisely who will do exactly what or exactly where.

Areas are specified as to the height of buildings, how they will relate to the streets and other factors, but, within those allowances, developers will have considerable flexibility. The development is likely to contain a mix of high-rise and low-rise office and apartment buildings, shops, restaurants, hotels and townhouses.

There are still issues of concern to the nearby communities in the Hill and Uptown such as the proportion of low-cost housing to be provided, the use of minority contractors and exactly what the height allowances might be for certain important parcels. But after those are settled, the city should move ahead with this plan and resolve to scrupulously maintain it over the years as development proceeds.

Provisions for the buildings themselves, for traffic management and parking, for street and sidewalk design, pedestrian spaces, public amenities and parks all are exemplary.

The plan even takes into account the views the vista that residents, pedestrians and motorists will encounter as they look from the Hill toward Downtown. This is no small matter. Think of how the experience of a baseball game at PNC Park is enhanced by the view of Downtown. There's an even more dramatic view from the streets of the Hill. To preserve it, the plan envisions clustering high-rise buildings to two sides of the funnel-shaped development and low-rise to the middle streets.

Another key feature of the plan is a re-creation of the urban street grid on the site. It provides for reconnection to the streets of the upper Hill at the top of the plan and to the Golden Triangle at the bottom, integrating people and businesses. The plan recommends building a broad park that will bridge-over part of the Crosstown Expressway (Interstate 579). This may well be an expensive undertaking, but it should not be slighted.

Reconnecting to the Downtown will improve development prospects for offices and stores considerably at the new site, and reconnecting to the existing upper Hill grid should have positive spin-off effects for that long-beleaguered neighborhood, too.

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Hill District redevelopment plan shows great promise

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Theyre an improbable bunch. A spinster, a seamstress, a sculptress... and Bill Oddie. Crouched beneath a Gloucestershire hill at 3am, their head-torches light up a surreal landscape of scattered peanuts, Smarties and a smear of congealed blood in the dirt at their feet.

Only their hi-vis jackets emblazoned with the words Wounded Badger Patrol offer a clue to their mission. This is Team Badger, here in force to fight the cull.

The nuts and chocolate have been left by hunters to bait the 25 badgers in this one sett. The blood left by a shot male crawling home to die marks one of the many entrances. Bill makes short work of the peanuts.

You have to wee on them, he says matter-of-factly as the three women avert their eyes. It puts the badgers right off and renders the bait redundant. But, for some reason, only mens wee works.

Game spinster Edith tonights her first-ever shift heaves a giddy sigh of relief as she quickly re-buttons her late fathers WWII great coat.

Seven nights a week, from dusk until dawn, the WBP a Mums Army made up of mostly middle-aged women patrols the beleaguered setts of Middle England armed only with binoculars, biscuits and sensible shoes.

Farmers claim badgers are infecting their cattle with tuberculosis and so last year the government approved a six-week trial in Gloucestershire and Somerset to kill 2,000 badgers.

Despite being extended by a fortnight, the first attempt was a failure. The hired guns a motley crew of farm workers and ex-soldiers barely made half their quota.

The League Against Cruel Sports (the charity behind the WBP) claims the indiscriminate cull is, at best, pointless, but this year theyre trying again with a few days of the trial left to run.

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Bill Oddie's badger cull-busters on patrol looking for wounded animals after they have been shot

Landscaping a hill can be a bit of a challenge. You can hire a landscaping company, but that can be expensive. So here are a few ideas if you're a DIY kind of person. The first thing to consider is water drainage. If you are landscaping a hill, chances are, you will be rerouting the flow of water. Make sure you can direct the water to a safe place (not your neighbor's yard!) If you don't have a clue about this, I would hire a landscaper so you don't have problems. 1. Build terraces on steep slopes using railroad ties or large flat rocks (the ones used for landscaping). Don't use railroad ties around edible plants because the ties might contain creosote. The ties/rocks will mark the edges. Then use soil to create level spaces for planting. 2. Guide the runoff water to appropriate places through the placement of your railroad ties/rocks. 3. Spread mulch between the terraced steps to protect the soil. 4. Select plants. Creeping plants like periwinkle, ivy, and creeping juniper work well. At the bottom half, use shrubs to help prevent erosion. Japanese yew, day lilies, and hostas are good choices. At the bottom, have flood-tolerant ornamental grasses and trees. 5. Embed medium sized boulders in the bottom half to add visual interest. Don't just plop them down, though, or they'll end up rolling. Bury the stones to a third of their height and pack dirt around the base. Other things you can do, are cover the bottom half of the slope with landscape fabric (cut holes for trees and shrubs), to reduce weeds. If you want, rather than covering the fabric with dirt, you can cover it with a four inch layer of pea gravel. The gravel creates an interesting visual effect for the slope. You can also add steps. Retaining walls at the base are another possibility, but I would leave that job to the pros. With careful planning, you can create a beautiful landscape for your slopes.

Continued here:
Gone Gardening: How to Landscape a Hill - blogspot.com

PEOPLE living on both sides of Pendle Hill could be brought together under a 2.24million pioneering partnership being promoted by local councils.

Environmental campaigners are looking to unite Pendle and Ribble Valley communities, on either side of the historic landscape, with the help of an ambitious bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

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Not only will the initiative look to use the latest digital technology, to create smartphone-friendly honeypot hubs, detailing the landmarks history and benefits, but supporters will aim to carry out plenty of physical work on the ground.

Dry stone walls and hedgerows, which may have become eroded due to the hills enduring popularity, will be restored and it is hoped that families who have farmed the uplands for generations can play a key role.

The hills well-known association with the Pendle Witches will be an important theme, as will the leisure pursuits such as cycling, rambling and dry-slope skiiing, for which the area is now famed.

Radicals inspired by the landscape, from Quakers founder George Fox to Richard Cobden and Thomas Leonard, who established the Independent Labour Party, should also feature.

Villagers either side of the 557-metre high landmark, from Barley, Roughlee and Newchurch in Pendle to Sabden, Sabden Fold and Chatburn on the Ribble Valley side, will be encouraged to devise their own heritage projects through a new Pendle Hill Fund.

A spokesman for the newly-formed Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership said: Each of these elements has two sides the physically different two sides of the hill, its divided economy, and the variety of people who live, work in and visit the area.

Our proposal is to weave together the two sides of each element with a creative approach, building cohesion, introducing dialogue and creating shared points of view.

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Climb ahead with 2.24m Pendle Hill project

A LAKES-based sheep industry boss has blamed environmental policies for a decline in upland breeding flocks.

John Geldard, chairman of the National Sheep Association, spoke out after a study by sheep and beef industry organisation EBLEX revealed a drop of 2.2 million ewes being mated in Britain between 2003 and 2012, the latest year for which figures are available.

He said government schemes were encouraging landowners and farmers to 'take sheep off the hills'.

"These are detrimental rather than beneficial as they are creating an imbalance. What people must realise is that sheep are not just about providing meat but about managing the landscape which both the environment and tourism depend on.

"Once these sheep are lost from the fells, you have lost them forever."

In its report summary, EBLEX highlighted that a reduction in ewe numbers in the three main hill breeds - Scottish Blackface, Swaledale and Welsh Mountain - was responsible for most of the drop in ewe numbers nationally since 2003.

The study was based on a questionnaire sent to 42,215 wool producers registered with the British Wool Marketing Board.

It revealed that while upland breeds were in decline, lowland breeds such as the Texel and its derivatives, the Lleyn and the Bluefaced Leicester had 'notably increased'.

EBLEX said the number of sheep breeds found in Britain continued to increase, with 106 identified in 2012.

"New breeds were either imported foreign breeds, re-imported UK breeds (for example, the New Zealand Romney) or composites made up from existing genetic material."

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Survey reveals extent of hill sheep decline across Britain

LANDSCAPE architecture is a unique profession that blends science with art to create aesthetic and functional outdoor spaces.

Janelle Berkley has chosen a career that keeps her constantly in touch with nature. She has always been surrounded by nature from her early days at Zion Hill, Belle Garden, where she had the foundation of a sound and well-rounded primary education at the St. Edwards Anglican School.

Her class field trips would include visits to the Belle Garden Bay, hikes to Big River and, on occasions the classes were held under the almond or mango trees in the schoolyard.

She entered Bishops High School, being among the top five achievers in Tobago at the 1997 Common Entrance Examinations. While there, she took part in extra-curricular activities such as dance, drama and music; at the Schools Music Festival Championship Finals she was a member of the Bishops Choir in the classical and folk categories.

Her appreciation for the arts and things of beauty would have been evidently enhanced when she was exposed to piano music up to Grade Five during her early teenage years, and she was in the first batch of students to sit Music when it was offered at the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) level. Being a well-rounded student, she was chosen as the Head Girl.

As Berkley approached her teenage years, the family moved to Louis Dor. This agricultural district is noted for the Propagation/Demonstration Station and Nursery filled with horticultural plants, the river and other natural settings; this provided the perfect setting for her growing love of nature. From then, she knew that she wanted to do something environmental.

Based on her outstanding A-level results, she was awarded the Tobago House of Assembly scholarship for Environmental Science. She enrolled at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus in Jamaica, where she graduated in 2008 with a Bsc in Geology (Major) and Geography (Minor).

Studying in Jamaica gave her a new perspective on the unique flora and fauna of the Caribbean, as she was able to visit sites at Dunns River Falls in Ocho Rios, hike up the Blue Mountains and tour along the idyllic beaches at Negril.

Her passion for the environment propelled her to dig deeper into the science, and at the University of Greenwich, London she completed the Post Graduate Certificate in Landscape Design, where she specialised in Design with Nature, Site Design, Planting Design, Ecology and Conservation. Berkley continued studies at that institution, and in 2013 she earned the Master of Arts Degree in Landscape Architecture, which included among other areas specialised studies in GIS, Landscape Engineering, Assessment and Advanced Planting Design.

While in England, she embraced the opportunity to observe various gardens such as the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Garden at Wisley; she never missed the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which is the most famous flower show in the United Kingdom and perhaps in the world; it attracts visitors from all continents. She also journeyed to France, where she observed French landscape designs such as Parc de Bercy, Jardin Atlantique and Parc de la Villette.

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