Forest Society to Host Tour of Harmon Preserve
Join the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests on Saturday, November 19 for a tour of one of New Hampshire’s remaining pitch pine barrens. Forest Society staff and other will lead a tour of the Forest Society’s Dr. Melvin A. Harmon Preserve in Freedom from 10 am to noon.
Find out about this unique natural community and the Forest Society’s plans to restore it. The tour will begin with a walk through a recent timber harvest along the Ossipee River, then cross the road to look at planned harvest along Loon Lake. The walk will be approximately 1 to 1.5 miles.
The 334-acre Harmon Preserve was protected by the Forest Society in 1999. The current effort to restore the property’s native pitch pine - scrub oak natural community is part of the organization’s long-term management plan for this reservation.
The multi-year restoration project began this spring with a timber harvest to remove most of the competing tree species that are not a part of the pitch pine - scrub oak natural community, such as white pine and competing hardwoods. Over the next several years, the Forest Society plans to use prescribed burns as well as mechanical methods to perpetuate this unique forest.
The Forest Society owns 170 reservations totaling 50,000 acres, all of which are managed for multiple values including rare species and unique natural communities, timber, public recreation, water quality, and wildlife habitat.
Pre-registration for this tour is requested. For more information or to register, email signup@forestsociety.org or call Tina at 603-224-9945 ext. 313.
Founded in 1901, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is the state’s oldest and largest non-profit land conservation organization. Supported by 10,000 families and businesses, the Forest Society’s mission is to perpetuate the state’s forests by promoting land conservation and sustainable forestry. For more information, visit www.forestsociety.org.