Category: Coös

The Length of the Story

I have a hard time expressing everything I see, everything I hear, everything I think is of value. It is almost a physical impossibility to get it all across.

Think about it: my job is to go around and talk to people all week, to find out what is going on in Berlin, and to put it down on paper. How many conversations do I have? And how many come to nothing? Lots, that’s the answer for both.

There is so much there. It is unlike anywhere else I’ve been. There is a sense I get every time I drive north on Route 16 that I’m traveling back in time to an era when neighborhoods where connected. It’s an entirely unfair feeling, since lots of people in Berlin are transient or recent emigres, but it’s what I feel nonetheless.

And every random five minute conversation tells me something more about the city. Every time I stop by the police station is see a small town going through growing pains, and I don’t know how to get that across.

Growing pains—a funny way to refer to it in a city that has lost more than half its population. But that’s what it is. Prior to the pulp mill closing, people didn’t move to Berlin. It was largely left alone to flourish, and only the resilient Berliners had what it took to live beneath the stacks.

But today, with the smell gone and the jobs gone with it, there are lots of reasons to move there. Most of them wind up in people’s pocket at the end of the month, saved from what they would have had to pay in a rental unit downstate.

Berlin is attracting an influx from away, and it isn’t the kind every resident wants. But what kind is the kind every resident wants?

I’ve heard people talk about how the smell from the mill used to be called “tourist repellent.” I grew up on the coast of Maine, so I can understand that sentiment, but I wonder how that impacts today’s environment. I have heard people express their support for ATVers visiting the area, but what happens when a different style of tourist discovers the city?

Berlin is blue-collar, and that’s largely how it wants to stay. The people flocking there now, mostly to take up residence in the slums, are not welcomed by residents. What about the other end of the spectrum? I know that isn’t currently Berlin’s problem, but I do wonder how people would like BMWs, Audis and Volvos clogging the city streets instead of ATVs and lifted four-by-fours.

Those are the things I can’t get across. Those are the feelings, the details, that tell me so much about Berlin, that make it dear to me. It is working class, maybe to the point there is too much class struggle in residents’ identities. But how does that impact them in the 21st century, when the Great North Woods no longer shelter them and no longer provide the economic engine they once did?

I am looking for a way to tell that story. That’s the one that needs to get out.

Adventure Time

Soon I’ll be rock climbing for Coös County. And biking. And canoeing, and hiking and more.

I’ve signed on to shoot photos and video for the New Hampshire Grand Initiative, to capture the adventure opportunities of Coös County for them to put on their Facebook page and elsewhere. They want to showcase the woods, the lakes, the rivers, the mountains and the adventure, so I’m going to head out there three days a month to capture it. It is less of an effort than the county needs, but it’s a start.

For the first two months I’ve planned the following:

  • Rock climb Mount Forist
  • Overnight at Grey Knob
  • Trail running in the Kilkenney Range
  • Cycling from Milan to Errol
  • Canoeing on Umbagog
  • Rock climbing or ice climbing in Huntington Ravine (depending on conditions)

Other thoughts for later this winter:

  • Cross country skiing Milan Hill State Park
  • Winter camping in Mahoosuc Notch
  • Mixed climbing in Shelburne
  • Ice climbing Dixville Notch
  • Whitewater rafting
  • Skiing at the Balsams
  • Bicycle touring around the county
  • Skiing on Mount Hale (secret backcountry powder stash…ssshhh, it’s in Coös County)

I don’t know the western part of the county nearly as well, so I’m open to suggestions. What’s a good adventure, something you’d like to see me toss myself into?

It’ll be fun and a great photo/video/multimedia project: trying to document all the outdoor adventure opportunities Coös County has to offer. Sometimes my work really isn’t bad.

Back to the Struggle

I got to interview an interesting man last week, an artist from Berlin who made his way back from a stroke to paint once again. He had to learn to use his left hand instead of his right, and his technique now involves a computer, but it is a fantastic story. (If you’re interested, his name is Daniel Roberge, and his show opens tomorrow at St. Kieran Arts Center.) He described getting back to creating art after being told he would struggle to ever sit up again on his own as “getting back into the struggle.” What elegant language.

And the struggle is back in Berlin, full swing. On Tuesday, before an empty chamber, save Bobby Haggart, Jon Edwards got up to speak during the public comments phase of the city council meeting. He talked about what he’d seen at the Laidlaw hearings in Concord, where he said numerous companies already invested in biomass raised concerns about the Laidlaw project.

He got about four minutes, and then Mayor Paul Grenier cut him off. Mayor Grenier smashed the gavel into the block, and he told Mr. Edwards not to lecture the council. Councilor David Poulin said he was interested in what Mr. Edwards had to say, and Mr. Edwards continued.

Maybe two minutes later Mayor Grenier was again pounding the gavel, loud enough to drown out everything else. He asked the city manager to call the police and to have Mr. Edwards thrown out. Mr. Edwards left a moment later.

What a scene. What a debate. I have come back, I feel, to the struggle.

Packed…

My two bags are packed to the limit, and I still don’t have a place for my cameras. I’ve got ice tools, crampons, a tent and sleeping bag, ropes, a harness, and all sorts of other gear.  I’ve still got to add socks and flip-flops to the mix, but mostly I’m there.

This is a project that might make me a couple thousand dollars, in addition to providing me with a great vacation. Working at the paper is a good job, but it isn’t lucrative enough to convince me to give up other opportunities. I’ve got to chase them just to make it all come together.

In many ways I’m like Berlin: I’ve got to diversify. My staple industry just doesn’t pay the bills the way I’d like it to, so now I’ve got to figure out how to spread myself around to make that work.

I just finished a video project for a nonprofit client, making three short videos aimed at their various demographics. (These are the rough cuts. I just burned the final DVD today, but I’m not going upload updated clips to YouTube before we leave tomorrow.)

These are another example of what working in the modern media landscape means. It pays to have multiple skills, because as newspapers change they are edging out the promise of a secure profession. Having a bit of photo, video and audio skills, plus some design experience and website development, really helps. It makes it possible to live in the most seemingly impossible places, like northern New Hampshire.

I’ll be chasing after another branch of my diversification in the coming weeks, and then again when I head to Iraq (hopefully) this fall. And piecing it all together, if I can make it happen, should be quite rewarding.

It’s like reviving your economy with a prison or two, a biomass plant, a resurgent paper mill and some tourism dollars—not the same as the old model, but it can work if it’s the right combination.

So while my packs are almost packed, in some ways it’s my schedule that’s even more packed. At least every piece is baggage I’m excited to carry.

More Energy, as Always

Again, as is usual, this week I wrote about energy in Berlin. I found something interesting when looking over the power purchase agreement between PSNH and Laidlaw. If you’re following the discussion be sure to check out the Reporter on Wednesday. If you can’t wait until then get a copy of the PPA and look on page 11. I don’t think anyone will be surprised, but it is confirmation of lots of people’s speculation.

Aside from that, there was good news on the Cascade mill gas pipeline project this week. We shift from biomass to methane and natural gas. If that mill goes down it’ll be pretty dark for a number of families around the Androscoggin Valley. It seems AVRRDD might have averted that fate. Quite a task for a refuse district. I’m not sure how that fits with their mission, but it certainly is something they’ve been working hard on for several months. Again, to learn more check out Wednesday’s Berlin Reporter. I’m headed to Berlin shortly for my last day before flying to Peru tomorrow, so I better get on my way.

Full Plate

It’s the end of my week, and already I’m looking at four stories. Each one is “major,” in that each one is worth at least a day of my time. When it comes to issues like the Fraser mill, slumlords in Berlin, Clean Power, Laidlaw and PSNH, or any of the development opportunities the city is looking at, each one should get at least a solid eight hours. Think about it: I’ve got to talk to a bunch of people, digest and understand it all (sometimes starting from no knowledge) and explain it to readers.

Sometimes there just isn’t the time. These four stories are all going to happen, to be sure, but never with the depth and breadth I’d like.

In a city of this size it’s remarkable there are two papers at all, particularly considering the economic conditions. I have to guess a big part of why the Reporter is able to function is because the only real expense is me. Without an office, and by sharing administration with the Democrat, the paper avoids racking up large expenses. It’s essentially my salary and mileage.

But four more reporters would be awesome, wouldn’t it? I often make a call on one story, receive a call on another and get an email about a third in a matter of minutes. Multiply that by every day of every week and you’ll understand my week. I love it.

But the city needs more coverage. It needs more people asking questions. I hate to drop stories because I don’t have the resources, but it undoubtedly happens. Luckily there is another paper able to pick up the slack, but even between the two papers there are only three reporters. Not exactly a fleet.

I’m noticing, however, that I’m starting to understand things here a little better. I’m starting to know where to poke and prod to get some interesting stories. My year plus here is starting to pay off with enough institutional knowledge and personal connections to put pieces together.

I’ve been reading that one of the challenges of modern journalism is that too many reporters spend a year or two in a place and then move on, and they take their knowledge and connections with them. I understand that perspective better now, as stories are starting to grow out of those relationships.

Berlin needs those types of reporters, those with ties to the community. Without an office, however, that will be hard for the Reporter to achieve. I work out of the community college–not exactly the center of the city. With no permanent presence in Berlin, the Reporter loses out. As the reporter, I lose out. No one can drop in to drop off a tip. People need my email or phone number to make something happen.

How do you balance community connections with budgets? Beats me. I just keep running with my full plate and hope I can work fast enough for the residents of Berlin.

Speaking of, I think my phone is ringing.

Week Beginning…

And ending.

It’s always funny to me how my deadline is Monday morning. Tomorrow I’ve got the council meeting and the police log to do, but otherwise if it’s a quiet day I just finished my work week. (Only sort of, but it feels that way.)

This week is good. Real good. I got to delve into the CPD/Laidlaw issue as it pertains to the Coös County Commissioners. It’s quite a story, I think, definitely worth reading.

On top of that, I had a good discussion with the folks the New England Forest Rally about why they decided to uproot and go to Errol. It’s an interesting perspective on how Berlin works with people looking to make things happen. It’s not a glowing review, but maybe the city can learn from it.

I also hung out with Charlie Bass for a little while when he came through town to reconnect with voters. Politics is funny: he railed against earmarks, but then he said he tried to bring whatever he could back to New Hampshire. That’s his job, but the about-face is interesting to watch.

I was talking with Councilor McCue about politics just the other day. He mentioned being one of two conservatives in his left-leaning family. I’m luckier—I’m unaffiliated. I try to get honest answers out of both sides, which is tougher than picking one or the other.

I got a great response offline to my comments about dedensifying the city, and then a few day later I heard a story on Marketplace about a related topic. There are city eliminating highways, and they wind up with less congested cities. Planners thought it would create chaos, but instead it disperses traffic and supports local businesses. It’s an argument perfect to combat those people who want to see a highway to Berlin. Why? To route shoppers away from the downtown merchants?

OK, it’s late, I’m done my week (but not). I’m going to get to sleep so I’m not yawning when I get to the police department in the morning. And hopefully nothing has happened that will require scrambling tomorrow morning (did I just jinx myself?).

Al Qaeda and BP: Bringing Speed and Traffic to the North Country

I was at a meeting last week discussing business challenges in the North Country. Berlin doesn’t face this as much, but the lack of high speed Internet was one of the key complaints. But one person there had an interesting comment: Al Qaeda has done more to improve rural online access than any local effort.

Check this out — because of security concerns at the US border with Canada the US government put loads of money into the upgrading their facilities. They ran high-speed cable up to the border to connect their border checkpoints, and in the process they brought faster Internet access for people along the way.

Here’s another one that I thought was crazy — the spill in the gulf is helping New Hampshire travel. A resort manager said he’d fielded calls from people who had canceled their vacations at the beach out of fear the beaches would be covered in oil from the BP Gulf spill. Instead they booked northern New Hampshire. And, mind you, these weren’t vacations booked to Lousiana or Florida, these were trips to North Carolina and other places. People are scared the oil will get into the Gulf Stream and be to their planned vacation spot, so they aren’t taking any chances.

It’s interesting how mixed up these outcomes are. It’s sad to point out silver linings on disasters, but they are much needed silver linings here in the North Country nonetheless.

Egg…

So I went to a couple businesses locally to see how the ATV trail did on opening weekend and over the long weekend, and I realized I misconstrued something in my last post. Every outdoor recreation-focused business in Berlin is in the same chicken or the egg situation, not just those doing “green” activities.

Even the “low hanging fruit” in Berlin is in need of infrastructure. The businesses that cater to ATV riders and snowmobiles are fighting to raise awareness of the opportunities and to expand the number of participants in their markets. Their challenge, like those of every other outdoor-centric business, is that Coös County isn’t known for recreation. They need that reputation to grow in order to be successful.

They are further along, however, with an event coming up and some regional press, but they are early in the process. Everything else is even further behind, but in the last post I made it sound like ATVing was already a sure bet in Berlin. It’s not. It’s still growing and hoping to become an established industry.

But it is growing. It has a future. Now the rest of “outdoor recreation” needs to catch up.

Chicken…

Or egg? That’s where Coös is stuck.

After the Symposium, my wife and I went to Bar Harbor, Maine, to visit friends for the long weekend. There I got to talk with Jeff Butterfield, one of the local innovators in their outdoor economy.

He was there in the 1980s, when visitors to Bar Harbor were more likely to drive the park loop road than to rent a sea kayak or go hiking. When he first got there, he said, he nearly starved because people didn’t think of the area as a place for outdoor sports. Recently, he said, a sea kayaking operation sold for more than $1 million, but the process of launching an outdoor industry was painfully slow.

Coös will undoubtedly have the same challenge. Right now the effort is on the “low hanging fruit,” i.e. ATVs and snowmobiles. But there are entrepreneurs slogging their way through other types of outdoor recreation, like North Woods Rafting.

How much time, money and energy can the region invest in making itself into an outdoor destination? There is the potential, considering all the nearby destinations are crowded because of their reputation for solitude. Surely Coös can do the same thing; the question is can it do it in time?