Chainsaw Safety 101

Many people in NH own chainsaws and use them to cut their own firewood, manage a small woodlot, or clear trails on and downed wood on their properties. But how many of those people actually know how to operate their chainsaws in the safest manner possible? The Forest Society's Land Management Department offers an annual workshop on Chainsaw Safety and Maintenance to educate both chainsaw novices as well as those who have been using a saw for years without any formal training. This workshop was recently held at the Conservation Center and was well attended with 15 eager participants. Jake Bronnenberg, a certified chainsaw instructor from Bronnenberg Logging & Trucking (Strafford, NH), ran the workshop and guided participants in demonstrating and discussing basic saw maintenance, appropriate safety gear, saw handling, and safe and efficient felling and bucking techniques. Participants got the chance to take their own saws apart, as well as to practice making different types of cuts in the forest. Demand was very high for this workshop, which was limited to 15 attendees for practical reasons, so the Forest Society plans to offer another workshop this fall for those who missed out! Please contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org if you would like to be put on a waiting list!

geocacher group cleans up londonderry property

Many thanks to the Town of Londonderry and the Geocacher CITO (Cache In – Trash Out) group that cleaned up the the Forest Society’s 230-acre Ingersoll-Bockes Reservation in south Londonderry. Geocacher CITO volunteered to conduct a clean up on the property, and the town assisted by delivering and retrieving a dumpster to hold the significant amount of trash collected.

More than 20 people helped pull more than a few pick-up trucks worth of junk out of the forest. Highlights included a rusted car body and insane amounts of carpet, tarp, plastic, and inflatable rafts (?) out of the “paintball obstacle course” area. Thanks to the town of Londonderry for providing the dumpster & waste disposal! http://www.londonderrynh.net/?p=9109

invasive species management

Wondering what to do with the Japanese knotweed that you find in your travels? Check out the recipes at http://www.gardenbytes.com/search/label/recipe

Invasive non-native plants like Japanese knotweed disrupt the natural diversity within a given area by displacing native plants. They often possess characteristics that give them an advantage over native species, such as early and rapid development, aggressive reproduction, and the ability to adapt to many environmental conditions. If not held in check, invasives can quickly take over an area, compromising wildlife habitat and challenging endangered and threatened species.

I say we eat them.

Conservation Projects Help Protect Great Bay Water Quality

The Forest Society accepted three additions totaling 174 acres, adding to its growing collection of reservations near New Hampshire’s Great Bay estuary. Although modest in size, the three parcels expand existing Forest Society reservations and provide critical linkages to other protected properties.

Photo by Dea Brickner-Wood, Great Bay Partnership.

Help the Forest Society Conserve 230 Acres along the Pemigewasset River

Comprising 230 acres of forests and wetlands, this scenic property includes more than 2,500 feet of undeveloped river frontage. Part of the property overlays a stratified drift acquifer that has the potential to provide drinking water in the future.

Courtesy photo provided by the Forest Society.

Jennifer Platt Hopkins Photographs on Display at Conservation Center

The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests will showcase photographs by Jennifer Platt Hopkins in the exhibit “Color, Power, and Light” from May 11 to June 11, 2009. The show appears at the Forest Society’s Conservation Center, 54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, NH. An opening reception with the artist will be held on Friday, May 15, from 4 to 6 pm.

Photo "Redwoods" by Jennifer Platt Hopkins.

Key Conservation Projects to Receive Federal Funding

The federal fiscal year 2009 omnibus appropriations bill was recently passed by Congress. The bill included funding for several Forest Society conservation priorities.

Unitil and City of Concord Partner with Forest Society to Complete Merrimack River Greenway

In partnership with Unitil Energy Systems and the City of Concord, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests conserved 139 acres in East Concord.
Strategically located within a 700-plus acre block of conservation land, this property is the final link in a chain that conserves one of the last large undeveloped landscapes along the Merrimack River in Concord.

Courtesy photo provided by Forest Society.

The Brief History of an Early New Hampshire Pioneer Settlement: Monson Village

By Simon Parsons
Owned by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, this 222-acre reservation, which today straddles the border of Hollis and Milford, NH, was permanently preserved in 1998.

According to state historian Gary Hume, Monson is among the most archaeologically significant sites in all of New England. Recognized as one of the first inland pioneer settlements in New Hampshire, the Town of Monson received an official charter from Governor B. Wentworth in April of 1746. Then abruptly, in 1770, the settlers petitioned for their charter to be repealed, and the land was divided among the surrounding towns.
The story readily appeals to our imaginations: Who lived here? Why was the town abandoned? And what can we learn from these people and their relationship to this landscape?

Courtesy photo provided by the Forest Society.

The American Chestnut Makes a Slow Comeback

- by Kendra Gurney
Once a prominent eastern hardwood species that populated forests from Maine to Georgia, the American chestnut often grewmore than 100 feet high and five feet in diameter.
The tree has always been prized as a fast-growing large timber species: straight-grained, light, and rot-resistant, its wood was useful for everything fromrailroad ties andmine timbers to furniture and musical instruments. Plus, the late-flowering chestnuts reliably produced a mast crop of nuts every year. This nutritious food source was prized by humans, livestock, and wildlife—especially in the central heart of the Appalachian range.

Photo by Kendra Gurney, American Chestnut Foundation.

Urban Land Protection: Four Conservation Success Stories

- By Roger Amsden
Conservation efforts in New Hampshire's urban areas pose a unique challenge: Most of the state's cities were developed as manufacturing centers in the 19th century, resulting in a fragmented pattern of land ownership in which the land closest to rivers near water power, and eventually hydroelectric power, was the most valued and highly developed.
Over time the open land around the city core was developed for housing and, once transportation became centered around the automobile, for commerce. Open space was gobbled up at a rate that alarmed state and local officials as well as residents and organizations dedicated to preserving New Hampshire's landscape and natural resources.
Faced with the continuing loss of environmentally sensitive land to development, most of the state's cities have responded with efforts of their own to conserve open space and valuable natural resources by using a variety of means ranging from zoning to the outright purchase of land to the use of conservation easements.

Photo courtesy of Five Rivers Conservation Trust.

Heald Tract Ramble

Saturday, June 20, 9 am – 11:30 am
Join Forest Society Land Agent Brenda Lind on a tour of the ponds, old orchards, mature forest, and scenic hilltops that make the Heald Tract so lovely. More than 1,000 acres in size, this Forest Society reservation is located at the corners of Temple, Wilton and Greenville at the heart of several thousand acres of protected land.

Help the Forest Society Conserve the Bound Tree Forest

The Bound Tree Forest gets it name from the large white oak that marked the boundary between the towns of Henniker, Hopkinton, and Warner for more than 250 years. Located in the Mink Hills, the proposed easement land is a critical link to more than 2,500 acres of conserved land.

Photo by Marlie Morris.

Betsey Harris Honored for Land Conservation Efforts

Betsey Harris, the moving spirit behind the Monadnock Conservancy, was honored with the Sarah Thorne Award at the recent Saving Special Places conference in Guilford. The Sarah Thorne Conservation Award was created in 2005 to recognize the people who make successful land conservation happen in New Hampshire. Recipients are intended to be those who, in the course of their own conservation efforts, have also enhanced the capacity of others.

Betsey and two others founded the Monadnock Conservancy in 1989 to conserve land in the towns surrounding Mount Monadnock. She also helped establish the Community Conservation Partnership, a collaboration between five organizations with expertise ranging from community planning to conservation training.

Photo by John Connolly.