Forest Society to Host Information Session on Merrimack River Floodplain Reservation
Concord, NH, May 18, 2011— The Forest Society will host a Community Night on Tuesday, May 24th from 6-7 pm to discuss its Merrimack River Outdoor Education and Conservation Area (aka Merrimack River Floodplain) on Portsmouth Street.
Forest Society staff, volunteers, and Concord neighbors will gather to learn and discuss both the recreational and conservation aspects of this popular riverside Forest Society reservation.
Located along the Merrimack River, this 103-acre property includes oxbows, back channels, and high terraces that host a dynamic collection of overlapping natural communities. A walk down the Les Clark Nature Trail takes visitors past a pine forest planted in the 1960s, a wooded swamp and beaver-influenced wetlands, a maple-oak-hickory terrace community, and a native silver maple floodplain forest.
The floodplain offers a natural sanctuary for not only people, but also for wildlife, including turtles, beaver, migratory waterfowl and other birds such as the cardinal, oriole, and bald eagle.
The Merrimack River Floodplain is one of 170 reservations owned and managed by the Forest Society for multiple values, including unique natural communities, timber, public recreation, water quality, and wildlife habitat.
This Community Night is part of the Forest Society’s long-term management plan for this reservation. Topics to be discussed include guidelines for visitors using the property’s trails and river access, updates on parking and security issues, and insights into the ways in which the Concord landscape is changing and how conservation efforts on the property are affected. There will also be time for questions.
This Community Night will take place in the Conference Room of the Forest Society’s Conservation Center at 54 Portsmouth Street in Concord. Light refreshments will be provided.
For more information or to preregister, contact Jason Teaster at jteaster@forestsociety.org or 603-224-9945 ext. 339.
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.