On Saturday February 9, fifty hardy guests and forestry and education staff braved windy conditions to conduct a public timber harvest tour on a roughly 200 acre portion of the 1492 acre Forest Society Heald Tract in Wilton.
The Forest Society works to keep NH forested. Our mission as both a land trust and a forestry organization includes protecting and managing a network of 185 permanent Forest Reservations totaling 56,000 acres.
On these special tours, learn from forestry experts with Meadowsend Timberlands, UNH Cooperative Extension, and the Forest Society about the roles of the landowner, consulting forester and logging contractor. You’ll see an active timber sale layout from stumps to the landing and learn which trees are marked to cut and why. You’ll learn about wood markets, timber volumes and values. We’ll also discuss how non-timber features including water quality are protected during logging and how wildlife habitats and recreational trails can be enhanced.
On these special tours, learn from forestry experts with Bay State Forestry, UNH Cooperative Extension, and the Forest Society about the roles of the landowner, consulting forester and logging contractor. You’ll see an active timber sale layout from stumps to the landing and learn which trees are marked to cut and why. You’ll learn about wood markets, timber volumes and values. We’ll also discuss how non-timber features including water quality are protected during logging and how wildlife habitats and recreational trails can be enhanced.
People always think it’s all about granite in New Hampshire – the “Granite State” identity dates back to the early nineteenth century, even before the First Geological Survey was authorized by the state legislature in 1839. Although the nickname is well-deserved given the widespread occurrence of granite and early importance of granite quarries as local, then commercial, sources of building stone, it fails to convey the true complexity of the geology that is found here.
The Loon Preservation Committee was formed in 1975 with its mission to restore and maintain a healthy population of loons throughout New Hampshire; to monitor the health and productivity of loon populations as sentinels of environmental quality; and to promote a greater understanding of loons and the larger natural world. Come learn more about loon natural history, challenges facing loons, and LPC’s activities in support of loons in New Hampshire. Speaker: Harry Vogel, Senior Biologist/Executive Director of the Loon Preservation Committee.
Speaker Charles Cogbill, forest ecologist and co-author of The Changing Nature of the Maine Woods, will provide a fascinating introduction to the forests of New Hampshire from the emergence of the forests 12,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age to the time of European arrival. We will learn about the latest in scientific research that helps explain how the forests have changed over time to what we have today. Charles will also discuss the role of key ecological forces such as climate change, insects, disease and wind storms and other agents of forest change.
Welcome to the fascinating world of the insect order Odonata! You may be familiar with the dragonflies buzzing over your yard in the summer, or the damselflies that land on your kayak, but what do you REALLY know about these ancient insects? Speaker Dr. Pamela Hunt, Avian Conservation Biologist with NH Audubon, will provide an overview of the biology and ecology of dragonflies and damselflies, from their amazing life cycle (content alert: some pretty crazy reproductive behavior is involved!) to their incredible diversity.
