Community Corner
What is Growing in the Field Along the Exit 11 Off Ramp?
A huge bed of plants showed up seemingly overnight, and Merrimack residents have been asking, what are they and where did they come from?
There has been a buzz about Merrimack for the last several days about the crop of mysterious plants that showed up alongside the Exit 11 off ramp on the southbound side of the Everett Turnpike.
Set just across Camp Sargent Road from the Gulf station, a large field of "something" appeared seemingly overnight.
As part of our ongoing You Ask, Patch Answers series, Merrimack Patch set out to find an answer.
A call to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, and then a forwarded email to and from Guy Giunta, with the highway design landscape division, rendered an answer.
The mysterious plants are, drum roll please ... a large bed of wild flowers. And number of those flowers look to be the beginnings of sunflower plants.
The rows of shrubs nearby are lilac bushes – the New Hampshire state flower.
Thankfully, no blood-thirsty plants have arrived in Merrimack from outer space a la "Little Shop of Horrors."
According to Giunta, the plantings are a benefit of the state's Moose Plate Conservation Program.
The moose plate began back in 1993, an idea from fourth-graders at the Holderness School, according to the moose plate website. In 1998, legislation was approved to adopt the moose plate and use the money to supplement funding of conservation and cultural heritage programs.
According to Mooseplate.com:
"The New Hampshire Conservation License Plate (Moose Plate) program supports the protection of critical resources in New Hampshire, including scenic lands, historic sites and artifacts, and plants and wildlife. Revenues from the sale of Moose Plates are distributed to designated state agencies for the purpose of:
- Preserving and/or purchasing significant, publicly owned historic properties, works of art, artifacts and archaeological sites
- Researching and managing non-game wildlife species, their habitat, native plant species, exemplary natural communities and educating the public about these species
- Providing grants to counties, municipalities and non-profits for resource conservation projects
- Expanding roadside wildflower and lilac plantings
- Administering the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP)."
To find out more about the moose plate program or how to purchase one, visit www.mooseplate.com.
Do you have a question you want answered? Send it to carolyn.dube@patch.com, message it on Facebook or send it in a tweet and I will do my best to find an answer for you.
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