Story and Photos by Dave Butler During the past two summers a dedicated group of volunteers made improvements to LoFlo, a meandering trail on the eastern part of Piscataquog Land Conservancy’s Florence Tarr Wildlife Sanctuary in Bedford. One of … Read More
The Piscataquog Land Conservancy acquired the 330-acre Florence Tarr Wildlife Sanctuary in July 2017. In the fall of that year, a team of volunteer trail builders working on a section of trail over Holbrook Hill at the western end of the property discovered a large boulder that had been cut into pieces, apparently by hand.
Earlier this month, fifteen volunteers gathered on a grey, blustery day at PLC’s Rose Mountain Preserve in Lyndeborough. Their goal was to accomplish several long-planned tasks that would improve the recreational experience on the mountain. First, they created a new section of walking path that re-routes hikers around a badly eroded section of one of the two main trails to the summit. Next they did some ditching to drain standing water along the trail in two locations, and placed stepping stones to prevent erosion and give hikers better footing in times of high water.
Since PLC acquired the Florence M. Tarr Wildlife Sanctuary in the summer of 2017, a dedicated group of volunteers have been working with PLC staff to transform the property’s unofficial network of mountain bike trails into a marked trail system … Read More
On September 9th, a small group of volunteers gathered to plant native trees and shrubs at PLC’s new Charles and Calvin Proctor Preserve in Lyndeborough. The plantings will help stabilize soil, increase wildlife food sources, and eventually restore shade and lower water temperatures in Cold Brook. We’re hopeful that the few hours spend planting saplings will repay us with a healthy land and water ecosystem for many years to come!
Every property protected by the Piscataquog Land Conservancy requires annual monitoring. PLC currently has a committed community of more than 50 property monitors – but as we keep adding new lands and easements, we also need to keep adding monitors. We will be training new volunteer monitors this June when we have our next annual training and monitors’ appreciation day. Care to join us?
If you ever wanted to learn more about what foresters and loggers do, and how conserving land and cutting wood can co-exist, here’s your chance — join us on February 10th for a guided tour of the timber harvest currently under way on PLC’s Tuthill Woodlands Preserve in New Boston. The walk will be led by foresters Jeremy Turner of Meadowsend Timberlands, who is overseeing the harvest, and Ethan Belair of UNH Cooperative Extension.
I was bitten by a horse bug 33 years ago and I have been caring for and riding horses since. Over the past few years I have been most interested in trail riding and enjoying the land with my Morgan … Read More