Some Follow-ups...

Hi everyone!  The field season has finally wrapped up for the year (with the exception of some burning some accumulated piles of brush once we get snow cover...stay tuned for that!) so I have been posting less often and getting some much needed time in the office to work on record keeping, maps, and other projects.  I did want to follow up on a few stories from this busy summer though.  First, here's a shot of the cleared view on the top of Sunset Hill on the Hay Reservation.  It's not the greatest photo since my phone was running out of battery and I only got in one shot before it died.  The view is even better from a little further up the slope.  So, even though we couldn't see anything for the socked-in fog on the Hay Reservation workday, we managed to improve the vista significantly.  Nice work everyone!

We also recently held a little dedication ceremony at the new Kennelly Forest bridge for those of you who worked on that this past summer.  A small brass plaque was installed, and we had a toast to the completion of this project, which took over 300 hours of volunteer labor to accomplish.  I'm happy to report that the bridge held up well even with all of us standing on it at the same time!  Cheers, everyone, and happy Thanksgiving to you all :)

Chainsaw Time Again...

Twice a year we offer a Chainsaw Safety and Maintenance Workshop at the Conservation Center in Concord.  The course is designed to give participants instruction on how to operate a chainsaw safely in the woods.  Land Stewards are required to take the class in order to use a saw on Forest Society property, so there is usually a good number of stewards or soon-to-be stewards in the class.  This week's class was no exception.  Of the 12 participants, 8 were land stewards with varying amounts of prior experience operating chainsaws.  Forester Jake Bronnenberg of Bronnenberg Logging &Trucking, along with SPNHF Forester Wendy Weisiger, led the group through saw maintenance, safety gear, and proper felling and bucking techniques.  Particpants practiced at each step, using their own saws when possible.  Even long-time saw users generally learn some new tips at the workshop, and novices get a head-full of information to practice and remember the next time they start up their saw!

What is this strange totem pole?  Well, it's the result of many chainsaw students practicing making open-faced notches  and bore cuts.  We've got a few of these in the woods at Forest Society reservations thanks to our years giving this safety course!   If you ever find one, you'll know what it is now!

View Cutting by Memory at Hay Reservation

Well, the rain hasn't let up any since our soggy Trail Maintenance Workshop last week.  Despite the bleary forecast, a group of hardy land stewards and staff headed out to the Hay Reservation in Newbury yesterday to work on the trails and expanding some of the views from the top of Sunset Hill.  Luckily, most of us had been up to the top many times before and knew where the view was supposed to be, since it was so socked in that the only views were of were of gray masses of cloud.  With fifteen workers, the job of expanding the (temporarily) imaginary view went quickly, and we had time to clean out a lot of silted in waterbars, brush out the trail corridor, and expand a view of Mt. Kearsarge (again, imagined, on that day) to the north from the Kidder Trail.  It was a full day of trailwork by the time we were done, and we had to keep moving all the time or else risk getting seriously chilled in our waterlogged clothing.  I, for one, know that as soon as I got home and had a hot shower and a hot meal, it was all I could do to keep my eyes open that evening!  Looking forward to some photos of the improved views from Hay land stewards Bruce Barton, Bruce Healey and Tom Nowell once the skies dry out.  I'll post them as soon as they arrive!

A quick lunch before we get chilled on the top of Sunset Hill

Todd Wagner (left) and Bob Lyon (right) clear a view with loppers and hand saws

Trail Maintenance & Design

Andrew Norkin (left) of AMC talks about sustainable trail design last Friday in Concord

Last week the Forest Society and the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) co-hosted a workshop entitled "Trail Maintenance and Design Basics" at SPNHF's Conservation Center in Concord.  The workshop was for land stewards (SPNHF) and forest stewards (NEFF) who assist with trail development and maintenance on conservation lands but have not had much in the way of formal training in the past.  Many other trail maintainers from local and regional groups also attended.  Instructors Andrew Norkin and Kris Kebler, both from the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), spent a great deal of time describing all of the planning and factors which go into the creation of a truly sustainable trail, one that will need only routine maintenance over time and will not be overwhelmed by soil compaction, displacement and erosion.  The take-home message was definitely that this process is not a simple or a "quick" one...trails that are delineated arbitrarily, or along existing "social trails" or woods roads, are not likely to be sustainable over the long term, depending upon how much and what types of use they get.  Sustainable trails require a lot of time in exploring the land and planning a layout, getting buy-in from the community and potential maintainers, determining user groups, access and control points, and planning erosion control infrastructure.  For better or for worse, we rarely have the opportunity to do all of that on Forest Society reservations, as our properties often come to us with trail networks already in existence, and already in use! Still, knowing how to create a sustainable trail from scratch can also be helpful for figuring out options to make an existing trail better.

After a morning indoor session, the group of 25 participants braved the chilly rain and headed outdoors to look at some local examples of trail construction.  Both good and poor examples were highlighted.  As a final exercise, the group planned a mock "reroute" of an existing trail, flagging out a new route for an existing section of trail that would help shed water using grade dips and reversals.  The shorter (less distance, and less time) and slower (less steep) that water runs on/down a trail, the fewer erosion problems will result!  We didn't actually re-route the trail, but everyone gained a better understanding of how to lay out a sustainable natural surface trail.  Thanks to the folks at AMC for a great workshop.

Gap Mountain

It was quite cool this morning so I thought it would be a great day to do a little trail work.  There is a point on the North Trail of Gap Mountain where hikers create short-cuts along a switchback in the trail.  I needed some new material to brush it in so I figured I may as well take the brush from a nearby view point in an old orchard.  One thing led to another and now the view is open again.  Maybe I will return in the spring to do a little trimming on the apple trees.

Before

After

If you have never hiked to the top on Gap Mountain in Troy, autumn is the time to do it.  The trail is much quieter than any of the trails on Monadnock and the view at the top is great and at only 1 1/2 miles, about half the distance of Monadnock.

Thank You Volunteers!

More than 50 people gathered this week for our annual Forest Society Volunteer Appreciation Dinner.  Guests included not only land stewards but also office volunteers, participants in Monadnock Trails Week, and green building and floodplain tour guides.  President-Forester Jane Difley welcomed the group and announced our Volunteer of the Year award, which is being given to land steward Linda Howes this year for her wonderful work providing visitor outreach at Grafton Pond Reservation.  Then it was time dig in and eat lasagna, salad, bread, and cake...while of course socializing with fellow volunteers and staff.  Thank you to everyone who came to the dinner and made it a great success, and thank you to those who could not make it, but should absolutely still be thanked!!

Dump Pickers 101

Last week we had probably one of the least appealing land steward workdays I can think of at Moose Mountains Reservation: a dump clean-up.  This wasn't just a collection of materials left by people not wanting to pay a dump fee to dispose of their waste now and then; this was years (decades even) of household trash dumped in a single location.  Since that location is very visible - right next to the Moose Mountains parking area and kiosk - we scheduled this workday to get as much of it cleaned up as possible.

 "before" shots of the MMR dump

Land Steward Bob Lyon and DRED employee Bob Spoerl haul trash to the dumpster

Jason finds an old knife

 The metal pile (L) and the site when we were finished (R)

Thankfully the trash had been there long enough that most of the organic material was gone, leaving mostly glass bottles and metal, but when we started digging and bottles started breaking it definitely got stinky pretty quickly.  From some of the items we found (old license plates, soda cans, etc) we were able to date the dump to the late 40s and early 50s.  The coolest finds were probably old bottles and farm equipment (including a horseshoe); the creepiest were old doll parts, and the grossest a full jar of cold cream from the 1950s (wrinkle treatment, anyone?).  When we had cleaned up several layers of trash, we covered over the site with branches and leaves to conceal it, and called it a day.  Only about a quarter of the 30yd dumpster was filled, but we also hauled out a half dumpster full of metal (taken by scrappers within minutes of Wendy listing it on Craigslist) and about 25 tires.  We are truly grateful for the 8 volunteers who came out to help on this workday- it was not a pretty one!

creepiest find

The dump crew (minus Wendy, taking the photo)