Moose Mountains is Cooking!

Recent snow and fall colors at Moose Mountains (photo: J.Morris)

Land Stewards Jason Morris and Scott Lavoice have been super active at Moose Mountains Reservation in Middleton ever since they decided to take the steward training last May. They've jumped into things with what I like to think of as "wild abandon," marking and clearing out all the neglected trails, making and installing signage, and creating cool trail maps for hikers that they leave at the kiosk. And the really great thing is that as they work, they're always exploring too... turning over leaves to look at delicate little spiders, discovering glades of beautiful wildflowers, or having run-ins with the local wildlife. Jason, who has been blogging about hiking in NH for years, has also started a blog and a facebook page just for Moose Mountains, where he posts his amazing photographs and describes their adventures in stewarding. Check out the blog here, and there's also a link on the sidebar of this blog too.

Scott installing snow markers for their routed signs (photo: J.Morris)

A recent wild encounter! (photo: J. Morris)

Recently the Forest Society led a hike on Moose Mountains to raise funds and awareness about our efforts to add additional conservation lands to this already 2,300 acre block. Mike Speltz, SPNHF Land Protection Specialist, led the trek up the steep slopes of several mountains to an unusual pitch pine natural community with over two dozen people in tow. Jason and Scott were extremely helpful to Mike on that day with such a large crowd, and Jason also wrote up a neat description of the day in the MM blog. Be sure to check that out when you get a chance! Originally I was apprehensive about assigning such a huge reservation to any particular steward, but now I'm just hoping that Moose Mountains is large enough to keep Jason and Scott interested for years to come!

Moose Mtns hike on Oct 22nd (photo: J.Morris)