September 4, 2022: Forestry Lessons

This week I attended a public forestry tour at the Page Pond Town Forest in Meredith sponsored by the Meredith Conservation Commission.  It was led by Dan Stepanauskas, a highly qualified forester who focuses on forest and wildlife habitat improvement, and he passed on a tremendous amount of information to the attendees.  One of the highlights for me was seeing this stand of hemlock trees which he estimates to be 350 years old.

Hemlocks estimated to be 350 years old.

That means these trees have witnessed American history from the time before there was an America - back to King Phillip's war.  I don't know why these trees escaped the axe; most of the old-growth trees I see in the Lakes Region are twisted, gnarly, knotty trees with no timber value so the loggers left them behind.

They couldn't get a good board out of this crooked white pine.

An important exception to this is sugar maples.  These weren't cut because they provided a cash crop for the land owner.  There are still several old-growth sugar maples in the Hamlin Conservation Area and the Red Trail takes you right through them. 

One of several remaining ancient sugar maples on the Red Trail

The average life span of a sugar maple is 200 years (though they can live over 300 years).  The few trees that are still hanging on in Hamlin are showing their age and won't last too much longer.

The old maples are showing their age.

On the tour I also learned about black oak, a species I wasn't familiar with, as well as black birch, a tree with a beautiful sweet aroma when the twigs are scraped.  This is the tree that's tapped to make birch beer; appropriately, it's also known as sweet birch.  

Back on Lake Wicwas I enjoyed some late summer bird watching, including brilliant goldfinches tearing into the seed pods of black-eyed susans and evening primrose. 

A male goldfinch feasts on evening primrose seeds.

They are not particularly neat diners.

He needs a napkin.

On a kayak yesterday I came across a bird I always think of as a shore bird though I have seen them on the lake several times. 

A sandpiper on the lake.

I think this is a solitary sandpiper; I've also seen spotted sandpipers at the lake.

Finally, our little Maddie isn't so little anymore. 

Mom and Maddie.

She's now lost most of her baby fuzz, revealing more and more of her juvenile plumage.

Photo by Debby Crowley

Maddie spends most her time with mom while dad's fishing nearby.

Mom, as seen by her bands, splashes water in Maddie's face.  She didn't seem to mind.

But dad brings fish to her when he catches the right one.

Maddie chokes down another good size fish.

With all that attention from her parents she's grown quickly and at this point the likelihood of her surviving to adulthood is high. It's never a sure thing, but as large as she is now, I expect she'll have no problem making it until she flies off to the mighty Atlantic in November.