Bryan Jones is a new member of the Salisbury Planning Commission, and attended his first meeting this month when four members of the Conservation Commission were present to help start a discussion of management options for the Salisbury Municipal Forest. Bryan and I continued this discussion during a three hour walk through the eastern part of the municipal forest yesterday. The Planning Commission will have to make recommendations about generating revenue by harvesting trees on the property, so we noted the quality of the merchantable timber as we walked.
Overlooking Salisbury from the Town Forest. April 24, 2010.
There is almost no sugar maple anywhere in the town forest, so the most valuable trees are red oaks and white oaks. The forest near Upper Plains Road includes some good quality oaks, and stands near the town shed and recycling barn will be attractive to loggers because road access is very good. As we travelled east, away from the road, there was more beech and red maple, and the oaks were smaller and not as straight. A couple hundred yards from the road we reached the base of a steep bedrock slope which would stop a logging skidder, the heavy equipment which drags logs to a landing. At the top of the ridge, the thin soil supported a stunted forest with lots of chestnut and white oaks (Dry Oak Forest), so there was not much for a skidder to retrieve there. There is one place along this ridge where one can get a view to the west over Salisbury.
East of this ridge, deeper, wetter soils nourish some oaks, hemlock, beech, red maple, and yellow birch in a small valley surrounding a vernal pool. Although the quality of the timber is less than that near Upper Plains Road, there is probably enough of it to support a timber sale. However, a skidder would have to cover a lot of territory to gather enough logs, and the logs would have to be taken out to the south across land owned by the Keewaydin Foundation and the US Forest Service along some roads that would have to be newly built or restored. The expense of this might reduce the profit margin substantially.
Shadbush blooming on the southern slope of Bryant Mountain, April 29, 2009.
Farther east, the town forest’s largest area of Dry Oak Forest covers the south slope of Bryant Mountain. This is an unproductive forest of stunted chestnut, white, and red oak, and red maple with little commercial value. I was expecting an impressive display of shadbush on the slope, but only a few scattered trees were blooming. The photo here was taken last year on April 29, so maybe the display will be better in a few days.
We ran out of time and had to turn back before we got into the hemlock forest at the eastern margin of the town forest. Maybe next time there will be less talking and more walking.