Star Island Pelicans

 

Star Island incoming Chief Executive Officer Joe Watts, speaks during a press conference aboard the M/V Thomas Laighton at the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company to talk about its upcoming season and Third Annnual Gosport Regatta fundraiser in support of its sustainablility program on Wednesday in Portsmouth. Seated at left is Jack Farrell, Star Island Facilities Superintendent.

PORTSMOUTH — A veteran employee of Star Island Corp. who has held just about every job available on the island and off has been tapped to be its next chief executive officer.

Joe Watts, current general island manager, was named by the Star Island Corp. board of trustees to succeed Victoria Hardy, who is retiring at the end of the year. The announcement was made Wednesday aboard the M/V Thomas Laighton, owned by the Isles of Shoals Steamship Co., which makes regular stops at Star Island during the summer months.

Star Island Corp. owns and maintains Star Island off the coast of Portsmouth. On the island is the Oceanic House hotel and a number of cottages and guest houses. Weekly conferences and retreats, some affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist and congregational churches and some not, take place throughout the summer.

Hardy, who has been chief executive officer since 2007, is retiring to spend more time with her family in Washington state.

“Since Vicky announced her plans to retire, the board gave much thought as to how to approach the search for a new CEO,” said board President Russell Peterson, a financial planner from York, Maine.

He said, before the board committed to a national search, “We knew that we had a qualified internal candidate in Joe. We had a long discussion with him” at the board meeting in Boston last month.

“Joe has done an impeccable job as island manager,” Peterson said. “It’s in the best shape it’s been in for a long time. He is mature, and he’s ready for the seriousness of the job.”

For Watts, 41, it’s the ultimate job in a long succession of work he’s done at Star Island, going back to his college years. Actually, he started coming to Star Island as a youngster, he said. In college, he was a “pelican,” the affectionate name given to the young people who do everything from waiting on tables to cooking food to helping with the many island chores.

He was hired as assistant island engineer in 1998, and that began a series of jobs with Star Island Corp., including facilities manager, volunteer coordinator and publications coordinator. As general manager, he’s in charge of all aspects of running the island from early June to late September, when it’s open.

His new job will be to guide the facility into the future, “to preserve the traditions of Star Island while on the other hand introduce change in exciting ways.”

The board has committed, for instance, to make the island as self-sustaining as possible and has instituted the Green Gosport Initiative, named for the town that once existed on the island. Its goal is to reduce the island’s use of fossil fuels as much as possible. The board hired the Island Institute in Rockland, Maine, to study the feasibility of installing a solar array that could meet the island’s power needs.

Watts said it’s exciting to be part of that initiative, as well as to find new, varied and interesting programming that is affordable and family friendly.

“I love Star Island — both the place and the people. I’m dedicated to Star, and I’m ready for the challenge,” he said.

For more about Star Island, visit www.starisland.org.

From http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20110725-NEWS-107250326

By Deborah Mcdermott

dmcdermott@seacoastonline.com

July 25, 2011 2:00 AM

In what might be some gardeners’ dream come true, Drew Clark stands inside the two-tired vegetable garden he started this year on Star Island, overlooking the ocean. Deborah McDermott photo

Jack Farrell and Drew Clark have a deep appreciation, even reverence, for Star Island.

Farrell, a longtime sustainable building contractor, took on the job as facilities manager a year ago for this small island off the coast of New Hampshire that is home to a conference center and retreat. Clark is a 23-year-old “Pelican” — the longstanding and endearing moniker used to describe the college-aged men and women who work on Star each summer.

Farrell and Clark have stories to tell — stories unique to an island that must provide or import everything that is needed to run a hotel and guest quarters that in mid-summer can house 300 people.

If only people on the mainland would consider that they, too, live on an island, we would look at our use of resources very differently, Farrell said.

“An island has all the resource issues the regular world has,” Farrell said. “But in the regular world, you don’t see it. It’s not in your face. On an island, you know immediately what those issues are.”

And it all comes down to power — where it comes from, how it’s distributed, how much is used, when it’s used, how it’s stored, what it’s used for.

It is, perhaps, not surprising that the island’s electricity comes from three diesel-powered generators. The diesel is stored in three 5,000-gallon tanks, which are filled periodically from a barge that comes down from Portland. The diesel is pumped uphill from the dock to the tanks “very carefully,” Farrell said.

These generators power everything, from dishwashers to the island’s own secondary sewer treatment plant, to light fixtures, he said. To minimize power use, Star has implemented a series of energy saving measures over the years: fluorescent lights, most rooms devoid of extra electrical outlets, no television, highly efficient washing machines and dishwashers, limited showers.

Still, Farrell said, Star Island Corporation spends $100,000 on energy every season it’s open.

The biggest energy hog by far is the island’s reverse osmosis machine, he said. While it converts ocean water to drinking water, as much as 5,000 to 6,000 gallons a day, it eats electricity, he said. It is, however, a necessary part of island life. And so, he’s left with the puzzle: how can the island become more sustainable while meeting the needs of a fully functioning conference center?

The answer, he’s hoping, is solar power.

“We spend $100,000 on power. We’re spending enough so that we can do something special here,” he said. The Star Island Corporation board has made a commitment to more sustainable power, and that’s the reason Farrell said he took the job. He’s working with a company to design a solar power grid that would take care of much of the island’s power needs.

“I don’t want to leave here until I make a change,” he said. “If any place should be sustainable, it should be this pristine environment where people come to be spiritually renewed.”

It is difficult not to be spiritually renewed standing in the tiered vegetable garden created by Drew Clark and Maggie Cerveny on a cliff overlooking White Island Light. This garden is literally a labor of love — the stones in the wall surrounding it taken from the cleared ground by many of the “Pels” (short for Pelicans) who work on the island. Compost came from on-island and donated sources, including Earthtenders in Farmington, N.H.

Clark is passionate about sustainability, well read in the likes of Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan and others. “I feel like I don’t really understand the way people live,” he said. “They take without giving back. I’ve never understood why.”

This is the first summer garden, and it’s an experiment to see what will grow in the harsh environment of wind and salt air. Included are corn, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, blueberries and peas.

Produce will go to feed the Pelicans, reducing the amount of produce that will have to come from the mainland. Clark is presenting a proposal to the corporation board this fall for a Pelican gardener, and he thinks they will approve it.

As I’ve said many times before, I am so hopeful about Clark’s generation, and he is no exception. It was renewing to talk with him.

Star Island has many cool programs open to everyone. Among those of a sustainable bent this summer: sustainability through food, water as a resource, cooking up slow food and others. Visit www.starisland.org.

This coming Sunday, I’ll be writing about my trip to Appledore and a wonderful internship program there.

From: “Priscilla Hodgkins” <phodgkins@starisland.org>
Subject: NH Chronicle features Star Island August 13

Star Island will be featured in a new New Hampshire Chronicle episode to be broadcast on Friday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m. on WMUR-TV.  The show will also be available on line at http://www.wmur.com/chronicle/index.html following the air date.

The Jennifer Crompton, the producer, and Chris McDevitt, the videographer, spent last Wednesday on the island.  Jennifer interviewed Vicky Hardy, Sarah O’Connor, Molly Mansfield and Jeff Cullinane. Thanks to all of you for giving such splendid interviews.  Chris recalled doing the camera work when Fritz Wetherbee filmed a segment on Star about five years ago.  Chris shot a lot of extra film around the island; he clearly likes the place.  Jennifer is related to the Haley’s of Smuttynose – she and Sarah has a lot to talk about. They had a wonderful time and were pleased with all the material they gathered.

Thanks to everyone who added their support for the film crew and a special thanks to Deskie Noah Braiterman who set up a room for the crew to videotape on very short notice.

Priscilla Hodgkins
Community Outreach Coordinator
Star Island Retreat and Conference Center
30 Middle Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801
(603) 430-6272