Visitors toured Greenfield’s Blanchard Hill and Woodland Hill Farms properties on a Woodlot Walk presented by the Monadnock Conservancy and UNH Cooperative Extension on Thursday evening.
The properties are part of more than 1,000 contiguous acres managed under a conservation easement with the Monadnock Conservancy. Rebecca DiGirolomo, of the Monadnock Conservancy, described the site as an especially unique management situation: it is rare, she said, to have five or six private landowners coordinate such exemplary conservation management across property boundaries.
Many of the ten or so attendees said they were looking for ideas to apply on their own properties in Greenfield, Hancock, Jaffrey, Temple and Massachusetts. Landowners Sheldon and Penelope Pennoyer, and Sara and Jesseca Timmons, as well as managing forester Charlie Koch spoke about the decisions they made on the site, and the abundant wildlife they encounter. DiGirolomo and UNH Cooperative Extension forester Steve Roberge provided additional insights on land management for conservation.
Roberge emphasized the importance of timber management to increase diversity in forest age and type across the landscape. That diversity supports wildlife species that require a young, regenerating forest, and also creates resilience throughout the landscape in case of a major natural disaster, he said on Monday.
Koch first drew up a management plan for 100 acres of the Timmons’s land in 1996. He pointed out the circular clearings that perforated the forest on satellite photos of the property, and said he cuts new clearings in different areas of the property every ten or fifteen years. “So, 100 years from now, we’ll start over again,” he said.
“He does it so well, you can’t see it,” said Sara Timmons of the forestry activity on her property.
The Pennoyers relocated to New Hampshire in 1999. Sheldon described conversations with Sara’s late husband Jeffry Timmons, when the two would walk their woods and discuss the beauty of property with no borders. The landowners all spoke on the diversity of wildlife they see in their forests. Jesseca Timmons told visitors about finding a turkey nest with a clutch of 20 eggs near a trail, and Sheldon related a standoff between his Australian shepherd and three growling otters in a stream.
At one point the group stopped at a section of regenerating forest. The trunks of the trees were narrow, but almost too dense to walk through. Roberge explained it was similarly inconvenient for predators to travel through such a dense stand, and as a result, it was excellent habitat for grouse and snowshoe hare (if they can find their way to the cut). The two foresters pointed out the diverse regrowth: black birch, red oak, red maple, beech, hemlock, and pine were all growing where it’d been cut. “We’re blessed in the area with the diversity that naturally comes back,” Koch said.
The tour also featured two fields that the Pennoyers reclaimed, bulldozing the woody, weedy growth and treating and seeding the soil with grasses and clovers. Presenters emphasized the importance of field edges and clearings for habitat. Sheldon said the fields made for great hunting, and he’d heard the trails that extended off the field edges provided corridors for bats to travel in and out of the forest. Roberge said that even the uprooted stumps could provide homes for wildlife like porcupine, gray fox, and black bear, depending on the site.
Pennoyer said he’s partnered with a local farm to periodically graze cows on the fields, and appreciates the cows enriching the soil while keeping the grass down. He left several trees standing in a field to shade the cows. Roberge added that orioles and hawks also benefit from the isolated trees.
Many private landowners don’t have a plan for their land, Roberge said. He said a lot of local landowners are interested in improving recreation, aesthetics, and wildlife habitat, but feel guilty cutting trees. He described his work as making landowners aware of all the options available to them, including benefits that could come from a managed cut or, alternately, leaving a tract alone.
“The work I do, the work that Charlie does, we’ll never see [the results of it]. But we have landowners like Sheldon willing to implement our ideas,” said Roberge.
The Pennoyers said they received a grant from the Fish and Game Department for some of their management work. DiGirolomo suggested that attendees check with their regional forester for grant opportunities and incentive payments for certain management tactics.
One of Sheldon’s pet management priorities concern the miles of mountain bike trails that loop across the properties. Penelope cited the trails as a way the families’ conservation efforts reach the next generation. She told attendees about a high school mountain bike race that was hosted on their land last year, attracting riders, spectators, and more than 350 cars onto the Timmons’s land. The most impressive part of the event for the Pennoyers? “Not one piece of trash,” she said, on the trails or the staging areas after the race. Sheldon said he likes seeing the high school kids riding around in the woods. “This is what it’s all about.”
Members of the public are encouraged to get in touch with the Greenfield Trails Association for information on accessing the trails.
The final Woodlot Walk of the season is scheduled for this Thursday, Sept 26, at Roaming Badger Farm in Peterborough.