March is sugaring season throughout New Hampshire! Maple sugaring operations range from small, backyard maple producers who gather sap in old-fashioned buckets to large, sophisticated maple orchards with improved no-sag plastic sap lines, vacuum pumps and reverse osmosis in the sugarhouse. Notwithstanding technological improvements, the duration of intermittent sap runs and the sugar content of the sap depend entirely on the weather and factors peculiar to the trees themselves.
Question: What is the approximate range of sugar content of sap as it flows from a Sugar Maple tree?
Send your answer to CaptionQuiz@forestsociety.org. All correct answers received by April 11th will be entered into a drawing for a free Forest Society tote bag!
We received a variety of entertaining answers to last month's caption quiz, claiming the animal in the picture was everything from a grizzly bear to a house cat. Katherine Delanoy was among those who correctly identified the Fisher. Congratulations, Katherine! Click here for last month's photo, question and answer.
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Conservation Measures Buck 'Just Say No'
to Spending Trend
28 Towns Vote on 30 Land Conservation Appropriations this Year
Land Use Change Tax Allocations on ballots in 18 towns
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According to a survey conducted by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, 80 percent of land conservation appropriations voted on at Town Meeting this year passed. In all, 28 New Hampshire towns voted on 30 warrant articles for land conservation bonds or appropriations at Town Meeting this year. Of the $4.7 million in proposed appropriations, 25 towns approved $2.4 million.
The proposed conservation appropriations continued to be concentrated in towns in the southern tier of the state, where more development has occurred and opportunities to conserve significant land are increasingly rare. The overall number of towns with land conservation measures on their warrants has been consistent over the last five years. In 2007 35 towns voted on $8 million in conservation-related appropriations, with 27 of those approved. In 2006, there were 33 such towns, and 30 of those passed. In 2005, 29 of 35 towns approved conservation appropriations. In 2004, 23 of 32 towns approved, and in 2003, 28 of 34 towns approved conservation appropriations.
For the full story, click here.
For all results, click here.
Good Forestry and Good Public Policy
Supporting the White Mountain National Forest Plan
by Jane Difley
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"Since the WMNF Plan's adoption, the implementation of the timber management component has run into a major barrier." |
For nearly a century, the 800,000-acre White Mountain National Forest has existed for the purpose of providing recreation, wildlife management, timber harvesting and designated wilderness. As wildlife biologists and foresters both understand, these multiple uses are not only compatible, but often enhance one another.
To balance these uses, the U. S. Forest Service is tasked with updating its master plan for WMNF every 15 years, and the most recent update was approved following a comprehensive eight-year process involving dozens of stakeholders providing thousands of comments.
For the full story, click here.
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Conservation Conference
April 5 – Register Today
7th Annual Saving Special Places Offers Workshops for Land Trusts and Municipalities
Keynote John Aber to discuss conservation and climate change
Ever wanted to learn more about land conservation or network with others involved in this important process? Plan on attending Saving Special Places 2008, New Hampshire's leading land conservation conference. Held at Kearsarge Regional High School in Sutton on Saturday April 5, 2008, the conference will feature more than 30 workshops devoted to a wide variety of land conservation issues.
For event details, click here.
Climate Change: Alaskan Changes Show That Congress Must Act
In author/artist Chris Van Allsburg's holiday classic, The Polar Express, a vintage steam engine takes a young boy on a search for the true meaning of Christmas to the North Pole. In the sequel, if one is made for a new generation of kids, the boy will have to travel by tug boat. The ice is melting that fast.
Read more at the Concord Monitor.
NH Forest Programs Face Ax with Federal Budget Cuts
By Paula Tracy
President George Bush's 2009 budget proposal cuts deep into forest and conservation programs but U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH, said he will work to keep the ax from falling.
"These cuts come at a time where we are facing ongoing threats to our forests from invasive pests, threats to our communities from wildland fire, conversion of forestland and corresponding rural character of our communities, and unprecedented pressures on our forest products industry," said Phil Bryce, director of the state division of Forests and Lands.
Read the full story at the Union Leader.
3,429 Acres of NH Forests Protected
By Paula Tracy
More than 3,429 acres of forest in Carroll and Hillsborough counties will be protected under federal funding announced yesterday.
Mark Rey, U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary for natural resources and environment, made the announcement at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests headquarters.
Read the full story at the Union Leader.
RGGI Moves to Senate
The New Hampshire House voted 214-107 on March 19 to pass HB 1434, legislation authorizing New Hampshire to participate in the 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The Forest Society strongly supported this legislation, which now moves to the Senate. We encourage all Forest Society members to contact their State Senator (click here for contact list) and encourage them to support the bill as passed by the House, without any weakening amendments. To see how your House member voted on RGGI, click here. For more information about RGGI go to www.rggi.org.
For more information on RGGI, click here.
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The Forest Society Needs Your Help to Purchase the The Forest Society is working to purchase a conservation easement on more than 900 acres on the northern slopes of Ragged Mountain, immediately adjacent to the Ragged Mountain Ski Area. To complete the project, we must raise $40,000 from private donors and we need your help today. If you ski, fish, hike, appreciate wildlife, love our glorious fall colors, or simply live in the area, the March Pond Forest is much more than a beautiful view – it's a very important place for the wonderful quality of the life we enjoy in this region.
March Pond Forest sits amid a 10,000-acre landscape of large unbroken woodlands – a high-priority area for regional conservation plans. In addition to its scenic beauty, there are a remote pond and pristine headwater streams that flow into Gulf Bog in Danbury, and later feed into the Smith River. Conserving these small coldwater streams is vital for protecting water quality, as well as critical spawning habitat for native fish species including salmon. Located in the southwest corner of Hill, along the boundaries with Danbury and Andover, March Pond Forest connects with more than 750 acres of protected land in the Town of Andover that reaches all the way to Highland Lake, creating a block of 1,650 forested acres that will remain permanently protected for recreation and wildlife habitat. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has already awarded the Forest Society a substantial grant to support this conservation easement, and the landowner has agreed to sell the easement to the Forest Society at a discounted price. Now, we are seeking to raise the final $40,000 needed by May 15, 2008.
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Forest Journal:
In The Sugarbush
By Dave Anderson
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Winter rarely ends before the alleged first day of spring on March 20 when days and nights are equal length. The real first day of spring is more subjective. Like beauty, spring lies in the eye of the beholder: when redwings arrive, crocuses bloom or – dare to dream – Home Opener at Fenway Park.
In the rugged hill country of the Sunapee region, spring arrives early, even before winter has quite finished. Spring truly begins in the snow-clad maple groves known as a "sugarbush."
When deep winter snow finally begins to melt, sap buckets with lids are hung on sugar maples in the lower village. Up in the hills, maples may remain frozen. The maple sugaring season began slowly this year and the intermittent spring sap run is a few weeks late in many locales this year.
Last week, the sap wasn't running, but local candidates were. Rancorous Town Meeting debates remind me that generosity of spirit may be hard to come by in March. When traditional harbingers of spring are late, March is virtually indistinguishable from January. Folks are desperately searching for hopeful signs that spring is indeed on the way. While there seems to be little comfort in maple woods where snow remains 2 to 3 feet deep, that is the right place to start.
Ted Young's sugarbush is high on the south flank of Mt. Kearsarge in Warner. With the deep snow, reaching maples to place taps and affix plastic sap tubing requires snowshoes and persistence. Ted is working alone this morning – morning after Town Meeting – tapping ancient maples in strengthening sunshine.
read more of Dave Anderson's Forest Journal
Forest Journal appears in the Travel & Leisure section of the New Hampshire Sunday News and online at UnionLeader.com
Upcoming Events
Vernal Pools and Breeding Amphibians Workshop
Wednesday, April 23, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
As the spring days grow warmer, new life begins in the forest. Vernal pools come alive as wood frogs and mole salamanders re-emerge from the ground to migrate and breed in their natal vernal pools. Learn how to locate and protect woodland vernal pools, identify their inhabitants and eggs, and about the unique role amphibians play in forested ecosystems. This popular annual workshop will include an opportunity to see live amphibians and their eggs. Families are welcome.
Register by calling The Fells at (603) 763-4789.
Cottrell-Baldwin Environmental Lecture Series
The annual Cottrell-Baldwin lecture series honors the environmental, conservation and scholarly legacies of late conservationists Annette and Bill Cottrell and the late Research Forester Henry Baldwin, both from Hillsborough and both supporters of the Forest Society.
This year’s speakers will address broad changes in New England forests – forest history through time, succession trends, historical disturbance regimes including the Chestnut blight and restoration efforts and the possible effects of global climate change on New England Forests. The series will conclude with a history presentation to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Caroline A. Fox Research and Demonstration Forest. Click here for the series brochure (324 KB PDF).
All programs are held in the Henry Baldwin Classroom at Fox State Forest in Hillsborough. Click here for a map.
For more information on these and many other exciting events, click here.
This edition of Tree Mail was made possible by support from
Eastern Mountain Sports
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If you'd like to sponsor an upcoming edition of Tree Mail please contact
Jack Savage at NewsEditor@forestsociety.org.
Forest Society News is a monthly update from the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
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The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is the state's oldest and largest non-profit land conservation organization. In order to preserve the quality of life New Hampshire residents know today, the goal of the Forest Society, in partnership with other conservation organizations, private landowners, and government, is to conserve an additional one million acres of the state's most significant natural lands for trails, parks, farms and forests by 2026.
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
www.forestsociety.org
info@forestsociety.org
54 Portsmouth St. | Concord | NH | 03301
603-224-9945