Effingham Hike Series Kicks Off!

Land Steward Kamal Nath took the "Field Trip 101" workshop last year, and has really fulfilled his promise to lead at least one hike on a piece of conservation land in New Hampshire.  Kamal has scheduled a series of four hikes in the Effingham area in 2014, two of which are on the Forest Society's High Watch Preserve on Green Mountain.  The first of these took place on New Year's Day.  Below is Kamal's description of the day's outing.

Several winter-hardy hikers celebrated the New Year in Effingham by enjoying a snowshoe hike up the
North-West side of Green Mountain.  On a crisp, cold, but mostly sunny morning hikers enjoyed views of
Davis top, Green Mountain, and glimpses of Leavitt Brook flowing downhill.  The return views
encompassed the NH Mountain ranges to the North and west along with the Ossipee Lake, its bays and
other water-bodies.  Walking on the powdery snow, visitors learned about recent animal activities
(tracks of hare, mice, squirrel, deer and others).  On the trees, hikers saw evidence of recent porcupine
chewed bark and bear activities on beech trees, etc.

This was the first of the four Explore Effingham Landscape -2014 programs organized by Kamal Nath (co-led by Johanna Vienneau) under Speaking for Wildlife Field Trip 101 (UNH Cooperative Extension), sponsored by the Effingham Public Library and co-sponsored by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, Green Mountain Conservation Group, Effingham Conservation Commission.  The remaining three hikes dates are below.  Contact the Effingham Public Library at effinghampubliclibrary@gmail.com to register for any of these hikes!

  April 13 (Sunday) A Bird-Watch Walk: explore birds on such wetland habitats
 as the Larry Leavitt Preserve (ECC) and the Watt’s Preserve
 (Audubon). Total walk ~ 1 ½ hours.

  July 4 (Friday) A Green Mt. Hike: on Libby Rd. Trail by a tributary to Wilkinson
Brook and an area with the aftermath of the 2008 tornado. View
southeast Effingham and beyond from Hanson Top. Total hike ~ 2
¾ hours.

 October 31 (Friday) A Forest Walk: explore a leaf-littered forest forensic walk
(stone wall, cellar holes, cemetery) by Wilkinson Brook in the
Pine River State Forest. Total walk ~ 1 ½ hours.

First Day Hikes with NH State Parks!

For the past few years, the Forest Society has partnered with NH State Parks to offer guided hikes on the first day of the new year.  The motivation is to get people out and enjoying NH's natural environments on the very first day of the year, hopefully influencing folks to make a resolution to continue that practice as the year progresses. If they can do it in the frigid temperatures of January, they can certainly handle any other month!  Land Stewards have been a huge part of that effort, helping to plan and organize the "First Day Hikes" event and leading or co-leading guided hikes.  This year, hikes were offered at Monadnock Reservation/Monadnock State Park and on the Little Harbor Loop Trail which runs through SPNHF's Creek Farm Reservation, the Wentworth-Coolidge State Historic Site, and City of Portsmouth conservation land.

First Day Hike at Monadnock

At Mount Monadnock, land stewards John and Lise Bigl led a group of about 20 explorers on a hike along the Parker Trail, which they steward for the Forest Society and Monadnock State Park.  The group had a great day- clear but cold at about 15 degrees above zero - they talked about wildlife habitat, land conservation, forestry and the storied history of Mt. Monadnock as they hiked.

Monadnock

In Portsmouth, the group of participants was large (over 60) and the group split into two factions to hike the Little Harbor Loop trail with SPNHF land stewards Marsha Richelli and Robley Hall as guides.  Children and families made up a good contingent in both hikes, which made for a fun and energetic time.  Check out this video put together by NH State Parks about the First Day Hikes program in New Hampshire.

Andrew Brook Trail Project

We have been busy this fall with planning and implementing a project on the Forest Society's Andrew Brook Forest in Newbury.  This forest will eventually be the site of a new trailhead and parking area for the Andrew Brook Trail which climbs up the southern slope of Mount Sunapee to a high elevation tarn, Lake Solitude.  From Lake Solitude, hikers can and often do continue on to the summit of Mt. Sunapee to enjoy the panoramic views.  Currently, parking for the poplular Andrew Brook Trail is a small pullout on the side of Mountain Road, which is often overcrowded on beautiful summer days.  We hope that the new trailhead parking area, which is slated to be constructed next spring, will provide a safer and more practical area for hikers to park.  

Volunteer Jim Harnett surveys Wendy's handiwork notching a log

Jim Harnett, Bob Lyon, and Todd Wagner steady a hemlock log while Wendy notches it

The other great thing about the new traihead is that once the lower section of trail is re-routed, the Andrew Brook Trail will be entirely on conservation land, effectively guaranteeing that this amazing hiking opportunity will remain available to the public for generations to come.  The Forest Society has secured a grant from the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) administered by the NH Trails Bureau to fund this work.  Although the parking area has not yet been constructed, SPNHF staff and stewards had several workdays on the property this Fall to construct three bridges that will be needed on what will be the new section of trail connecting the trailhead to the existing Andrew Brook Trail.  Two of the bridges were built using felled hemlock timbers, so construction of these bridges involved a lot of time peeling logs and slowly moving them into place using a griphoist.  All of the hard work eventually paid off, though, and I think we all had a little fun in the process too!

Ray Jackson doesn't know his own strength with a pick mattock!

Wendy's dog Bella was convinced there was a chimpumk in the muddy stream

Dave Anderson rips a saw down a hemlock log, while Bob Lyon (R) drills holes for rebar

The crew on Day 3 - bridge completion!

Finished Staircase!

I thought you might all like to see the finished staircase completed during the Moose Mountains Reservation rock work training workshops held in September and October.  Thanks to all of you who participated in the workshops and to Nate Preisendorfer of Northstar Trails, who provided the instruction.  AND a huge thanks to the Fields Pond Foundation for funding the project!

Last workshop day's crew, on the finished staircase (photo: J. Morris)

photo: J. Morris

Gap Mountain Work Day

Today was a major trail work day on the North Trail on Gap Mountain.  While the SCA Trail Crew was on the mountain earlier this spring and completed some significant rock work, much work remains on this heavily utilized trail.  Today we continued the improvement effort by knocking off more of the areas that really needed some tender loving care.

This is a picture taken during the spring.
It shows a typical section of trail needing attention.

Our group of volunteers arrived and by 9 AM we were ready to get to work.  Many thanks to Bob Curly and his crew from Massachusetts and to Frank Bequaert for organizing this event !

Work crew ready for action!

Today was a super October day for some heavy lifting with fair and cool weather.  And NO BUGS.  When the SCA crew was here this spring there were swarms of black flies.  Today the flies and their mosquito friends were long gone and no one missed them a bit.

After a short 1/2 mile hike to the work sites we were ready to go at it.  Now that most of the leaves have fallen, a distant view of Mount Monadnock was our constant companion.

  

Most of the day was spent on new water bars and rock steps.  The work sites had been mapped out in advance, all 25 of them!  No, we did not expect to finish all the work today, just continue to pick away at the list. 

Frank Bequaert and Bob Curly planning the construction
of steps on a steep section. 

With the large crew of enthusiastic volunteers, a lot was accomplished.  Here is a small sample of today's activities.

Upgraded water bars

New Rock Stairs

More new stairs.  Frank Bequaert and Walter Weeks adding a bit
more brush to direct hikers on the trail.

Basic maintenance to many water bars.

At the end of the day we declared our work a success and headed home to watch the game.  Go Red Sox !!!

Thanks again to everyone that participated today.

Rock Work Training Days at Moose Mountains

"Griphoist UP!"  The Forest Society has been hosting a series of trailwork training days at our Moose Mountains Reservation in Brookfield and Middleton, to give volunteer land stewards a background in how to safely participate in projects involving construction with large rocks.  The trainings are funded via a generous grant secured by the Forest Society from the Fields Pond Foundation, an organization whose mission is to "provide financial assistance to nature and land conservation organizations that are community-based and that serve to increase environmental awareness by involving local residents in conservation issues."  With this funding, we're accomplishing two goals at once:  the first is to build a new, sustainable hiking trail to the summit of Phoebe's Nable (a local mountain); the second is to provide land stewards an opportunity to learn about rock trail construction in a relaxed and accessible learning environment.

Nate Preisendorfer and Jim Harnett position a rock that has just come down the highline

So far, we have held two training days in September, where small groups of stewards helped construct part of what will be a rock staircase on the new Phoebe's Nable trail.  Large rocks had to be excavated from the nearby surroundings, and were moved to the staircase site along a "highline" cable strung between two trees, pulled by a trail winch/pulley system called a "griphoist."  Participants learned about basic operation of the griphoist, safety aspects such as where not to stand in relation to components of the griphoist/highline system, and the steps involved in building a staircase from scratch.  One of the most common mistakes that beginners make when they try to build a rock trail structure, such as a waterbar or staircase, is using rocks that are too small for the task, according to instructor Nate Preisendorfer of North Star Trails.  "For this project, we're looking for rocks that are at least three feet wide and a foot deep,"  he said, "three to four-hundred pounds minimum."  Those are very big rocks, so mechanical assistance to move them is a necessity.  The best news?  When a rock staircase of this caliber is completed, you can expect it to last hundreds of years.

Volunteers excavating rocks from where the staircase will go

Land Steward Jason Morris scales a tree to set one of the ends of the highline

Instructor Nate Preisendorfer (far right) gives a safety briefing before using the griphoist

Jim Harnett and Scott Lavoice operate the griphoist

Stewards who have participated in the first round of training days were very enthusiastic about what they learned and the great sense of accomplishment they got from moving and setting rocks that big and heavy into place.  We'll be holding four more rock work training days at Moose Mountains this Fall- October 11, 12, 18 and 19 - if you're interested in trying this type of work, be sure to contact me to save your spot on one of these crews, as spots are limited each day.

Searching for rocks of the appropriate size and shape to excavate

Lunch is pretty amazing with the views from the top of Phoebe's Nable

Nate hooks up part of the highline

Yatsevitch Forest Invasive Plant Workday

Gale Tobbe plucks up tiny buckthorn plants, roots and all (photo: B. Charpentier)

A group of volunteers met recently at the Michael & Claudia Yatsevitch Forest in Cornish and Plainfield to work on removing an exotic invasive plants from the forest understory.  The offending plants are common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) and glossy buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula), two invasive shrubs from Europe and Asia that are threatening the native plant community at the Yatsevitch Forest.  The workday was a continuation of work that has happened previously here- last year many larger buckthorns were girdled (the bark was cut through all the way around the trunk) in effort to kill them and reduce the great number of seeds that were being produced from these mature trees.  This year we concentrated on the smaller seedlings coming up on the forest floor, hand pulling them one by one and getting up the roots as well.

Left: girdled buckthorn stem from last year's workday; Right: Fred Tobbe with a handful of buckthorn (photos: B.Charpentier)

Control of invasive plants is a never-ending battle, and one that the Forest Society can afford to undertake only in areas where exotic invasives pose a direct threat to rare or uncommon native species.  This is the case at the Yatsevitch Forest, where the rich mesic soils and geology provide the perfect habitat for certain native plants that are rarely found elsewhere in the state.   As we headed out of the forest on our recent Yatsevitch workday, many volunteers noticed that there were thousands of buckthorn plants on abutting properties here too- unless everyone else also controls the invasives on their land, we'll never be able to rest on our laurels (or loppers) and claim victory over the invasive plants.  It's not a simple problem, and solutions will likewise be complicated and require lots of trial and error.  I'm happy that we have a great army of volunteer stewards to call upon for projects like these when we need them!

The crew at Yatsevitch Forest (photo: B.Charpentier)