By Helen Dalbeck
On March 8th our riverside year round environmental education center that we know and love as the Amoskeag Fishways undergoes a major change. The partnership between NH Audubon, Eversource, NH Fish & Game, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service is ending. The new owners of the Amoskeag Fishways facility will continue to staff a program during fish season–the four months between April and July when fish are migrating up the Merrimack River.
We have had an amazing run as partners, science interpreters, educators, and creators of meaningful programs and exhibits that Celebrate the Magic of the Merrimack. We are so grateful to all of our original partners, and especially to our colleagues at NH Audubon. To past and present Fishways staff members: we truly made a difference, every day, for the city of Manchester, for river wildlife, for our urban wildlife classrooms, and for the unique diadromous fish migration that occurs at Amoskeag every spring. As one student once wrote to us in a thank you note after we taught urban wildlife for his class, “If the only way to save the earth is to eat broccoli, I will!”
Please, continue to visit the fish ladder each spring, continue to care for each other and our beautiful world and continue to support conservation and science education in New Hampshire and beyond. And eat broccoli!
Thank you, all.
Helen Dalbeck,
Amoskeag Fishways Executive Director
Join Fishways for a special party and send-off on Friday, March 1 from 3-5pm
—
These are the epic numbers accomplished through Fishways programming since we began teaching in 1991 and became a partnership in 1995:
Visitors: 660,000
Program participants: 180,000
School programs: 5,350
Reach: 127,000 Manchester area school children
What Other People are Saying:
“We have been proud to partner with NH Audubon, NH Fish & Game and the US Fish & Wildlife Service for more than 20 years managing the Amoskeag Fishways, which has engaged thousands of Granite Staters in an exciting program to learn about the environmental importance of the Merrimack River fishery and riverine birds and wildlife. NH Audubon has been an exemplary partner, providing professional staffing and delivering a wide array of leading environmental education programs. While their presence will be missed at this facility, we know that NH Audubon will continue to be a strong environmental leader in the Granite State.” -Bill Smagula, Eversource
“It has been a true honor to be a part of the Amoskeag Fishways and help people connect to the Merrimack River and natural world around them. I am incredibly proud of what the Fishways has accomplished and the number of people we have reached over the years. I am blessed to have worked with so many wonderful staff members and partner organizations. I am so grateful to have been a part of this truly special and unique place.” -Kathleen Neville, Fishways Education Coordinator
“The US Fish & Wildlife Service has been fortunate enough to have been a partner with NH Audubon, NH Fish & Game, and the dedicated personnel at the Amoskeag Fishways in Manchester for many years. The variety and quality in environmental education programming has been second to none. NH Audubon along with Amoskeag Fishways has taught thousands of students the environmental importance of the Merrimack River fishery both from a historical perspective as well as from a modern day fisheries management perspective. I’d like to thank Helen and her staff at the Fishways for their many years of service.” -Keith McGilvray, Project Leader, Nashua National Fish Hatchery