Field Notes
by Peter B Brace
SMALL FRIENDS MAKING NEW FRIENDS

Small Friends' new best buddies are the five members of the Historic District Commission who voted unanimously in favor of granting the pre-school a certificate of appropriateness at the commission's May 7 meeting. The HDC liked the porches that Small Friends Architect Steven Blashfield added to the east, west and south sides of the proposed 6,638- square-foot building. It also told Blashfield to replace the faux barn doors on the north and south sides of the building with eight-light windows.

The next major step for Small Friends' building committee is a meeting with Blashfield on May 24, when he will reveal how much their new, green building is going to cost based on the sustainability of the site, the building's water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation and design. Blashfield and Small Friends are trying to get the building certified by the U.S. Green Building Council at the gold level of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

They hope to break ground near the end of August.

LEARNING ABOUT LAND Anyone from Nantucket's conservation organizations could probably lead the following seminar on conservation restrictions, but then a little refresher course now and then can't hurt anyone. Offered by the Trustees of Reservations, the workshop, "Conservation Restriction Stewardship" on June 2 at 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is all about systematic monitoring of conservation restrictions and how to build and maintain long-term relationships with landowners.

Leslie Ratley-Beach of the Vermont Land Trust, Chris Rodstrom of the Trustees of Reservations and Kathy Sferra of the Massachusetts Audubon Society will also speak on baseline documentation reports including using global positioning system coordinates in the baseline documentation report to find photo points on the restricted property.

Want to go? Register by May 23 by calling Miriam Scagnetti at 978- 840-4446 or emailing her at mscagnetti@ttor.org. This workshop is free as long as you and one other person from your organization attend it together.

Conservation restrictions allow a property owner to sell development rights to a nonprofit land protection group that then becomes the steward of that land. In many cases, the public gains access to the property, but all CRs allow the property owner life rights and use of the property.

COLD WATER = QUICK DEATH Aword of caution from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Coasties at Station Brant Point about the dangers of accidentally falling into the cold water: spring boaters, paddlers, sailors and fishermen should be aware that so far this year 14 people in New England have died by sudden cold water immersion, according to Al Johnson, recreational boating specialist for the Northeast's First Coast Guard District.

If you're venturing out onto our waters, which are around 53 degrees Fahrenheit right now, never go alone, always wear a Coast Guard-certified life jacket, learn and know rescue techniques, carry and know how to use a VHF radio, a cell phone and flares. Tell someone where you're going and the approximate time you expect to be back, and learn the dangers of cold water. You can do that by checking out www.enter.net/~skimmer/

coldwater.html. I