Exploring the Olsen Forest

Last weekend was a great weekend for hosting hikes on Forest Society reservations! Land Stewards Roger and Ann Sweet hosted a snowshoe hike on the Olsen Family Forest in Sullivan on Sunday February 13th. Their walk also meandered onto other properties, including some private, as yet unprotected lands. It was sponsored by the Mondadnock Conservancy and the Harris Center, where Roger and Ann are also volunteers. Below is the write-up that Ann and Roger wrote following their winter excursion!

Twenty-three people met at the Sullivan Town Hall and car-pooled to Mark Smith’s generously offered parking area near his house overlooking Chapman Pond. Donning snowshoes, they filed over a snow bank on to the Boynton Road extension and up to the gate to the Olsen Forest, where Roger Sweet (Harris Center, SPNHF) and Ryan Owens (Monadnock Conservancy) talked about the importance of protected lands such as Piper and Olsen (owned by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests), and the Otter Brook Preserve (owned by the Nature Conservancy), noting that unbroken forest land preserves water quality and quantity and also provides wildlife habitat. The group could see the hills of Stoddard and Nelson from the old SPNHF log landing, passed the snowed-in Cummings cellar hole, just above which two pileated woodpeckers were chasing each other, and turned south toward Mark Smith’s land and then on to land belonging to Dick Smith of Arlington, MA. Trees creaked, but the snowshoeing was easy. No deer tracks, however, because of the snow depth. Fox tracks were plentiful, and the hikers crossed a porcupine path and a fisher trail. Twisting down to Chapman Brook, the group followed the brook to Chapman Pond, solemnly beautiful under gray skies. Skirting about 1/3 the shore of the pond, where loons are known to feed in the summer, the hike climbed back up to the starting point in Mark Smith’s yard. Several asked whether they might come back in another season to enjoy the quiet beauty of the area. The leaders expressed the hope that the land around the pond might be eventually protected from development.

If you are interested in hosting a hike, field trip, or other program on the reservation you monitor, please feel empowered to do so! If you need some assistance, just contact Carrie or Dave Anderson and we'd be happy to get you started. We can offer assistance like advertising your walk on the Forest Society's website, providing copies of Forest Notes magazine to distribute, giving you talking points about the Forsest Society, and/or providing tips for planning and leading a successful outing. Be sure to let us know if you do plan an event, so we can make sure there are no management conflicts involved in what you want to do, and so we are aware of the date(s) and times!