Mascoma Watershed Conservation Council

Please join your board for our annual meeting on Saturday December 28th at 4:30pm at the Enfield NH Community Center. Board member Len Reitsma will present his work on managing his forest for avian habitat. We hope to see you there!

Avian Community Response to Group-Selection Harvest on an American Tree Farm in West-central New Hampshire

Len Reitsma and Kelsey Pangman

Plymouth State University

Saturday 4:30PM, December 28 2019, Enfield Community Center

Many species of birds rely upon disturbance that creates early successional plant structure. Our research documents the bird community response to an experimental group-selection harvest that created small openings in a forest canopy. Our work chronicles the community prior to the harvest and for seven years after it.  The change in the diversity of the community was measured with standard censuses, and the reproductive success of marked individuals of selected species was documented. The results have important implications for the role forestry can play in both increasing and sustaining bird diversity in New England forests, particularly on American Tree Farms.  

Kelsey Pangman                                                                    

We completed the transfer of the property to the UVLT in June of this year. Since then the UVLT has been busy blazing trails, installing kiosks, and appropriate signage. We hope our members will get a chance to wander Bear Pond while the foliage is in full color and enjoy the fruits of all the labor! Hope to see you on a trail soon.

On September 23rd ten intrepid hikers came out for our first Walkabout on our newly acquired parcel. Our latest trail follows the Mascoma River to the NW corner of the property. We hope to lead a snowshoe hike across the property once snow starts to fall. Hope to see you there.

Thanks to all of you for making our purchase of the “Rubinstein” parcel in Canaan NH possible. This parcel of approximately 46 acres connects the Mascoma and Herman L Webster Wildlife Management areas, and includes significant wetlands as well as valuable river frontage on the Mascoma River. We hope to develop a system of trails on the property over the next year. Stay tuned for pictures soon! Thanks again!!

Just a quick note that we hope to have the bridge completed by month end. Stay tuned for further announcements. As of 7/1/18 the bridge is now open!

NOTICE
In 2016 the Mascoma Watershed
Conservation Council
initiated a fund raising campaign
aimed at purchasing
the Bird- In- Hand Farm in
Canaan NH. Unfortunately
that fund raising campaign
was unsuccessful. In 2017 a
letter was sent to all donors
offering to return their contribution.
For any donors
who did not receive this letter
or who have not yet responded
to it, please be advised
that you may request
that your contribution be returned
by writing to Mascoma
Watershed Conservation
Council, PO Box 704, Enfield
NH 03748. All contributions
for which a request for return
has not been received by
June 30, 2018 will be transferred
to the General Operating
Fund of Mascoma Watershed
Conservation Council
for use in our ongoing conservation
and education activities.
Donald Lacey, Treasurer

The Switch Road access to BPNA is temporarily closed while we have the decking over the Mascoma River replaced. The deck will be replaced with locally harvested and milled Hemlock, and it will be spaced to allow water drainage. The hope is to have the project completed over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for further announcements.

This installment of the monthly Walkabout series had our intrepid adventurers in search of Cole Pond. Judging by the pictures I would say they made it. What’s with the crazy pattern on the Maple? Please join us for the next round on October 15th!

Three members of the MWCC and one volunteer met on Sunday August 20th, 2017 for a trail maintenance and invasive species removal party. Len attacked the Scotch Pine population that is invading the sand pit area, while Alice, Elizabeth, and I focused on opening up the trails around the Switch Road access. The three of us later joined Len to help with the cleanup of his project and noted that he had cut down easily 25+ trees. While this was the bulk of the trees, sadly there are still more that need a visit from a chainsaw. That said the property looks much better. In addition to this work the MWCC is getting bids for the replacement of the hemlock on the bridge off Switch Road, as it is rotting apart. We hope to have someone contracted to complete the replacement by year end. Stay tuned for further developments.

In addition, as a follow up to the previous post. The Stephen Long presentation was a complete success! Over 50 people attended his wonderful presentation, and he did manage to sell most of the books he had brought with him. Thanks Stephen for the great job!

Please join the Canaan Conservation Commission and MWCC in welcoming Stephen to the Canaan Meetinghouse.

Join us for a presentation from Stephen Long, author of Thirty-Eight: The Hurricane That Transformed New England. Long is the founder and former editor of Northern Woodlands magazine and author of More Than a Woodlot: Getting the Most from Your Family Forest. For more than twenty-five years he has been writing about the forests and people of New England while exploring his own woods in Corinth, VT.

We are very excited to have Stephen join us! More information on Stephen can be found at http://stephenlong.net/. The presentation is free, however donations will be accepted to defray the cost. We look forward to seeing friends there.