Buxton-Simons Forest Workday

View clearing at the top of Mount Wallingford is fun for all ages! (photo: T. Irwin)

In June, a group of volunteers led by Land Steward Terry Irwin completed their third trail workday on the Buxton-Simons Forest in Weare.  Terry has been a steward for this property since 2009 and he was instrumental in the restoration of a hiking trail on the property to the summit of Mount Wallingford.  Views from the summit had all but grown  in when the trail was restored in 2010, but Terry and a group of local volunteers has set to work maintaining the trail and expanding the view.  Expanding the views from the summit will have other tasty consequences too, as the understory vegetation here is mostly low-bush blueberries!  Come check out this great trail if you get the chance!

Working hard (photo: T.Irwin)

The crew (minus Terry) on the most recent workday. (photo: T. Irwin)

Hanson Top Trail

If you have ever been to the top of Green Mountain in Effingham, you know that there are abundant blueberries and a Forests & Lands firetower at the summit.  Climbing the firetower offers the only view you can see from here, but if you do climb it, you are well rewarded with a 360-degree mountain vista.  Just to the west of Green Mountain's summit is a secondary peak called Hanson Top, which boasts some rocky ledges with spectacular views to the south - but without climbing a tower!  Although many people climb the three different trails to the summit of Green Mountain each year, few make it to Hanson Top these days.  This is primarily because an old trail to Hanson Top had completely grown in and the route had become almost indiscernible.  Until this Tuesday.

Land Steward Kamal Nath has been exploring High Watch Reservation (which includes most of Green Mountain and Hanson Top) for over a year now, and last fall he flagged a new line out to Hanson Top using both what remained of the old trail, and some new sections to avoid wet areas.  After SPNHF staff approved the "new" trail layout, we scheduled a workday to clear the corridor and install directional signage. Thankfully, we got a beautiful day for our workday this week, and the work went smoothly.  Nine volunteers and staff members climbed to the Hanson Top trailhead (near the summit of Green Mountain) and cleared and marked the new half-mile trail.  The view from the ledges at Hanson Top made a perfect lunch spot, and we celebrated with a group photo holding the Hanson Top sign.  If you do make it to the top of Green Mountain, it is well worth the extra (easy) half-mile jaunt out to Hanson Top to enjoy the view from these spectactular ledges.

View from Hanson Top

Crew eating lunch at Hanson Top

How many Signs can a Wooden Sign Maker Make?

Volunteers Cathy Bailey, Wendy Everson and Seth Benowitz work on stenciling signs

Well, the answer to this riddle is... more than 60 in two days.... if s/he has lots of help!  Fifteen volunteers and four Forest Society staff members worked very hard during the first week of June to construct or refurbish an amazing number of wooden routed signs.  These signs will be installed at more than a dozen Forest Society Reservations.  Some are the large property signs on the "Y" post that welcome people to our properties, and some are smaller signs to be installed at trail junctions or trailheads to keep hikers from getting disoriented.  The 14 step sign making process involves planing and sanding rough-cut pine boards, rasping edges, stenciling letters, routing the letters, sanding again, several coats of stain, several coats of varnish, and finally several coats of white letter paint.  Oh...and then installation!  Anyone want to hang some signs?

Land Steward Jason Morris routes a sign while volunteers Steve Hanssen and Mike Kluk  sand rough-cut pine.

Cathy Bailey and Hilary Thomson stain signs that have just been routed and sanded.

Grafton Pond participating in Lake Host Program!

Grafton Pond on a cloudy day

The Forest Society's Grafton Pond Reservation in Grafton NH is over 900 acres of forest that includes most of the shoreline of beautiful Grafton Pond.  There are more than a dozen small islands dotting the pond, and only three man-made structures can be seen around the entire shoreline thanks to the protection efforts of many groups including the Forest Society, the Grafton Pond Land Trust, and the Upper Valley Land Trust.  Grafton Pond is truly a wild and undeveloped place, where moose can be seen munching on aquatic plants in the early mornings, and loons call to one another over the water.  Because it's so unique to find an almost entirely undeveloped pond in Central NH, Grafton Pond is also a popular place with paddlers and nature enthusiasts.  In recent years, many people have "discovered" the pond and on sunny summer weekends it's now so busy with visitors that the parking area overflows many times over and the loon families barely have a secluded nook left to hide in.  What can be done to keep Grafton Pond from being "loved to death"?  This is the question that the Friends of Grafton Pond, a small group of nearby residents, volunteers, and stakeholders have been asking for several years.

One thing that the Friends of Grafton Pond is doing to mediate impacts recreational use is to participate in the NH Lake Host Program.   This program is administered by New Hampshire Lakes Association, and strives to reduce the spread of invasive aquatic plant species in New Hampshire’s water bodies.    

The Friends of Grafton Pond has been able to hire two paid lake host interns to work the majority of busy weekend and holiday hours at the pond, and will also have volunteer lake hosts filling in the gaps and helping out at especially busy times.  Lake hosts will greet boaters as they enter and exit near the pond’s boat ramp, and check canoes, kayaks, and other boats for pieces of “tag along” aquatic vegetation.  They’ll also provide visitor outreach about loon conservation, packing out all trash, and other recreational guidelines as a means of reducing impacts to wildlife and the sensitive shoreline habitat.  

Lake Host Heidi Hutchinson teaches kayakers how to inspect their boats for invasive aquatic plants.

To date, Grafton Pond does not have any known invasive aquatic plants, but many other lakes in New Hampshire do have infestations of plants like variable milfoil and fanwort.  Boaters spread these invasive plants when pieces of vegetation hitchhike on rudders, paddles, boat trailers, and propellers.  When they do get established, these invasive plants can spread quickly and completely choke out all other vegetation, changing the aquatic ecosystem drastically and even making recreational boating difficult.  They are also almost impossible to eradicate once established, so prevention is definitely the key! 

A new "iron ranger" donation box next to the kiosk will help pay for stewardship activities at Grafton Pond, including the Lake Host program.  Land Management interns Will Walker (left) and Eric Foley (right) pose next to the ranger after installing it.

Mike Barskey (lake host) conducts an inspection of a visitor's canoe

Lake host interns Heidi Hutchinson and Mike Barskey have already been hard at work at Grafton Pond this season, assisted by a handful of dedicated volunteers.  Over Memorial Day weekend, they conducted over 300 boat inspections!  That’s over 300 people who received information about not only aquatic invasives, but also appropriate recreational behavior on our beautiful, wild pond.  We are confident that in the long run, this outreach will help keep the pond as pristine possible – keeping invasive weeds out, limiting trash and other dumping, reducing inappropriate activities, and protecting the pond’s loon families and other wildlife.  If you are interested in supporting this program or becoming a volunteer lake host yourself, please contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org or 603-224-9945.

Candis Whitney (land steward, left) and Mike Barskey wait at the boat ramp for visitors to arrive.

Yatsevitch Forest - Buckthorn Battle Royale

The Michael and Claudia Yatsevitch Forest in Cornish and Plainfield is unique in that it has the greatest plant diversity of any Forest Society reservation.  The reason for this lies in the rich soils of the Connecticut River valley - moist soils rich in mineral nutrients and organic matter that support a great variety of plants, particularly herbaceous plants on the forest floor.  There are many unique types of plants that are found in this Rich Mesic Forest natural community, but unfortunately invasive exotic weeds also grow here perfectly well too!  In order to protect this exceptional example of a Rich Mesic Forest, the Forest Society has been battling non-native invasive plants on the Yatsevitch Forest for a many years now, using both professional labor and volunteer/staff efforts.

Volunteers tackling a large forest of Common Buckthorn 

On a recent workday, a group of 12 volunteers and Forest Society staff  met to tackle a large concentration of Common and Glossy Buckthorn shrubs (Rhamnus, spp) that were identified on the property.  Buckthorn was introduced to the United States in the 1800s, probably as an ornamental shrub, but it quickly expanded beyond the bounds of residential gardens and invaded other habitats.  Like many invasive plants, buckthorn is a generalist, meaning it wills survive (and thrive!) in a variety of different soil types, moisture conditions, and light levels.  It spreads by seed, eaten and dispersed by birds and small mammals, and can rapidly spread in a forest habitat once plants have reached fruiting maturity.  On the Yatsevitch Forest, a large and very established area of Common Buckthorn shrubs (really small trees, many almost 25' tall!) were waiting to be dispatched by volunteers.  Most of the plants were so large that we decided to girdle them (cut through the bark all the way around the tree) as a means of treatment.  Smaller plants were cut or hand-pulled.  Forest Society staff and land stewards will be back to check on this area in the Fall and early Spring next year.  If significant stump sprouting occurs, we'll have to treat that as well.  As with most invasive species treatment, keeping the threat of invasive plants at bay on the Yatsevitch Forest will be an ongoing battle, and one that I know we will need land steward help with for many years to come!

Land Steward Bob Lyon (Foss Forest, Gilmanton) girdles a large buckthorn.

Girdling process- two cuts through the bark cambium, all the way around the tree

Wendy did get to cut a few trees down :)

Happy "Birthday" to Lost River

Lost River is the Forest Society's oldest forest reservation, protected in 1912.  That makes this year the 100th anniversary of Lost River's protection, which is (of course) cause for celebration!   The Forest Society, along with White Mountain Attractions, which operates and maintains the gorge boardwalk and facilities, have some great events planned this summer to honor Lost River's milestone.  (If you're interested, you can find a listing of these events on Lost River's website here).

New steward Elaine Bernier and friend  prepare sign mountings at Lost River

In preparation for a busy summer, we recently held a land steward "spring cleaning" workday at Lost River.  The spring cleaning workday is something we do every year at Lost River, but this year we had some special tasks to accomplish.  One of these was to install a new set of 30 interpretive signs around the Lost River Native Plant Garden, a series of short boardwalk loops that start just outside the visitor center.  We also cleared and re-marked two popular hiking trails on the property, the Kinsman Notch Ecology Trail and the more strenuous Dilly Cliffs Trail which heads up talus slope to an overlook on the cliffs above the gorge.  Landscaping and view clearing were two other significant task areas this spring as well.  It was a busy day but sunny and breezy enough to be bug-free, so I didn't hear any complaints!  White Mountain Attractions provided a delicious BBQ lunch, and in the late afternoon many stewards and volunteers decided to take a walk through the gorge and boulder caves to cap off the day.  I hope you can all get up to Lost River sometime during this centennial season to celebrate a bit of the Forest Society's (and New Hampshire's) history while enjoying a spectacular natural wonder!

Landscaping volunteers!

Mulching flower beds

New interpretive signage will make it easier to identify and learn about many of the region's native plants

The crew enjoying a barbecue lunch on Lost River's deck

Welcome Land Steward Class of 2012!

Land Steward Class of 2012 (photo: W. Weisiger)

Earlier this month we held the annual Land Steward Core Training at the Barbara C. Harris Conference Center in Greenfield, NH.  Twenty-eight new land stewards went through the two day in-residence training to become full fledged Forest Society land stewards.  This year's training went very smoothly, from the excellent facilities at B.C. Harris Center to our field trip exploration of the nearby Tom Rush Fores in Deering.  New stewards learn about the Forest Society's history, mission and goals, management of SPNHF properties, trail maintenance, boundary monitoring, map and compass navigation, recreation management and sustainable timber harvesting.  It's a very full two days!  As you run into members of the "Class of 2012" at different workdays, workshops, and Forest Society events, be sure to welcome them and share your experiences stewarding a SPNHF forest reservation.  For our part, we're very appreciative that all of you (both new and veteran stewards) are out there helping us steward NH's forests!

Carrie giving some trail maintenance pointers (photo: J.Bigl)

The class walks a recent harvest site at the Tom Rush Forest in Deering (photo: J.Bigl)