More than 40 Volunteers Help Restore Mount Monadnock Trails
Volunteers from across the state helped the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests to restore the trails on Mount Monadnock. According to Forest Society Forester Wendy Weisiger, who managed the day-to-day coordination of Monadnock Trails Week, this was one of the best years yet.
“Many people who participated in the past returned this year, and several folks had so much fun on the first day that they came back to help out for several more days,” said Weisiger. “Many people had never done trail work before, and they walked away having learned some new skills.”
More than 40 volunteers worked with Forest Society staff during the five-day trail work event, including seven Forest Society volunteer Land Stewards, who lent their help and expertise. Because many individuals participated for several days, the total number of hours invested by volunteers approached 500.
Participants worked in teams to complete several very technical large and small projects. The week's most ambitious project took place on the Harling Trail, where a failing stone ford and culvert were removed and replaced with a bridge over the stream. This project took several crews the entire five days to complete.
Weisiger said that bridge construction and repair had been a key focus of this year’s improvement efforts. Volunteers replaced two bridges on the Parker and Hinkey Trail; constructed a new bridge along the remote camping sites from Gilson Pond; re-decked a cross-country ski bridge near the park’s headquarters; and built 30 feet of bog bridging on the White Cross Trail.
The work teams also showered attention upon the park’s White Dot Trail in the form of 15 water bars, six rock steps, three metal culverts, two new log check steps, and one open box culvert.
The work was completed as part of the Forest Society's sixth annual Monadnock Trails Week. This volunteer trail work initiative was started by the Forest Society in 2005 to help restore the heavily used trails on the mountain.
Mount Monadnock is one of the most-climbed mountains in the western hemisphere. In 1915 the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests conserved its first tract of 406 acres on Mount Monadnock, beginning a long-term effort to protect the natural integrity of the mountain and its surroundings. Since then, the Forest Society has acquired a total of 5,200 acres at Mount Monadnock and Gap Mountain in the towns of Dublin, Marlborough, Troy, and Jaffrey. The Forest Society leases much of this land to the State of New Hampshire to be operated as Mount Monadnock State Park.
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.
For more information about trails on Mount Monadnock, including maps, visit www.monadnocktrails.com.