Carl Forsaith Forest, Chester NH

[grouseking]

So after my short trip to Pack Monadnock, I decided to take another walk in my home town. I read about an forest area named the Carl Forsaith Forest recently had a trail cut thru it, and decided to check it out. I was quite surprised with all the extremely interesting trees that were surviving in that habitat.

First off, I walked into what was a highly acidic bog, and came across some sort of spruce tree (probably a red spruce) and that surprised me. As I continued to walk I came across the Atlantic White Cedar tree, which is rare in NH, and several Black Gum trees, also very rare. There were puncheons that led me thru the middle of the bog. I kind of felt like I was in the White Mtns with all the puncheons. Then I got out of the bog and nearly stepped in moose droppings, which completely took me off guard! I bushwhacked off trail and tramped around for a bit, looking for old articfacts, when I stumbled upon a very old grave on top of a little knoll! The trip was getting interesting, and I was only 3/4 of a mile from my house.

Then it was time to head back towards the trail. I walked though what was a definite moose bedding area (crap and matted down grass) and found the trail which then looped back to the beginning. I was quite impressed with this area of land and I'm glad it is being protected from further development.

On the way back, I walked up an old road in town (circa 1770s) called Slaughterhouse Lane, named after the 4 slaughterhouses along the route. It is basically a trail these days, but a stone wall lines the sides and you can see remnants of what were houses along the road. I used to walk it when I was 9-10 yrs old, so walking down Slaughterhouse Lane was like a walk down memory lane .

So, I know this trip won't make any top 10 for breathtaking pics ( I have quite a few) as its no mtn in NY or New England, but I wanted to talk about it because it is really nice to see these rare locations have been saved from further development. I was convinced there are no spruces in southeast NH, but I was proven wrong! It goes to show that NH is doing their job with protecting land.

Here are some pics if anyone is interested
pics

grouseking

 

[forestgnome]

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

 

[audrey]

Thanks! I'll put this on my list of springtime plant walks.

 

[arghman]

Thanks! I'll put this on my list of springtime plant walks.

ditto.

anyone want to schedule a trip for plant geeks?

 

[arghman]

<begin soapbox>

So, I know this trip won't make any top 10 for breathtaking pics ( I have quite a few) as its no mtn in NY or New England, but I wanted to talk about it because it is really nice to see these rare locations have been saved from further development. I was convinced there are no spruces in southeast NH, but I was proven wrong! It goes to show that NH is doing their job with protecting land.

The kudos should probably go to the town's Conservation Commission or the local land trust (or possibly SPNHF or TNC)... the state doesn't really have staffing to actively pursue land protection, though I'm sure it does lend some assistance in exceptional cases (like the Connecticut Lakes project), and it does process matching grants for programs like LCHIP (which are unfortunately very low on funding).

to all: if you know of some place with interesting terrain / habitat in your town, please support your local conservation commission or land trust, they are almost always looking for help (or of course $$$, for land trust anytime and for CC's when a warrant article comes up for a vote)

<end soapbox>

 

[jjmcgo]

Atlantic White Cedar

There are 30 locations containing Atlantic White Cedar in New Hampshire. This website (http://www.unh.edu/herbarium/AWC/Chamaecyparis.htm) gives an overview of a paper this group presented to the EPA. I wish there was access to the whole report. No mention of Chester, which is fairly close to where we used to vacation at Phillips Pond in Sandown.
Here's some info on Black Gum, which is common in New England.
http://www.mv.com/ipusers/env/bgum.html
"Black gum trees, like the Atlantic white cedar, prefer the acid content of swamps. Other constituents of swamps where black gum trees are located often include red maple, yellow birch. and white pine, as well as a variety of shrubs and ferns. While the branches of the black gum tree grow generally perpendicular to the trunk , they lack symmetry in their arrangement."

 

[arghman]

There are 30 locations containing Atlantic White Cedar in New Hampshire. This website (http://www.unh.edu/herbarium/AWC/Chamaecyparis.htm) gives an overview of a paper this group presented to the EPA. I wish there was access to the whole report. No mention of Chester, which is fairly close to where we used to vacation at Phillips Pond in Sandown.
Here's some info on Black Gum, which is common in New England.

off topic slightly, but here's arghman again taking the bait...

See NH Natural Heritage Bureau's website publications; the 5th bullet point down, in particular, on what's known to occur in which town. (edit: not quite the report you mention) Both Atlantic white cedar and black gum swamps are rare natural communities in the state (even though the trees themselves are not considered rare).

There is a listing for Chester for a cedar swamp (actually an "Atlantic white cedar - yellow birch - pepperbush swamp" as opposed to an "Inland Atlantic white cedar swamp", don't ask me to tell the difference) but not for a black gum swamp (or rather, a "black gum - red maple basin swamp"). Another document I've read does seem to indicate that NHB does know there are black gum trees in Chester, probably at this or a nearby site. In some cases like this it may be that there are trees but not enough for it to qualify as an exemplary natural community, or the landowner in question has not given permission for them to document it properly (though it sounds like this forest is public land), or maybe they're not aware of that site. (they're not omniscient & NH is still large enough for NHB not to be aware of everything)

FYI, NHB presently counts individual plant occurrences, for rare plants, as all of the same species within 1 mile of each other. not sure if it works that way for natural communities, but they would have some guideline for determining whether things are two separate occurrences. Their data manager told me that the towns list is supposed to count distinct occurrences but list in each town something occurs in. So if there's one cedar swamp (or group of nearby cedar swamps) that straddle the town lines between, say, Chester and Sandown and Fremont, the state count goes up by 1 but should be listings in each of those towns.

 

[grouseking]

Well, I didn't expect to see all of this great reaction. As for directions, I may PM them to people, as I don't really want to give it away. Its easy enough to get to, but I'd like to keep it quiet.

BTW....there were mini spruce trees in there as well!! I'm no tree ID man, but they looked like red spruce. I only saw about 8 or 9 spruces, and they were all along the edges of the bog. Neat stuff! I wonder if any fir can survive in town?

grouseking

 

[lamerunner]

Thanks. I will email you for directions. I am in Manchester so not far. I sometimes bike in Chester. There is a Nature Conservancy area in Manchester/Hooksett which has some rare plants also. It has faced some development pressure recently. There are also cool plants on Peaked and Middle Mts in Conway, part of another Nature Conservancy area up there.

 

[Jazzbo]

I checked my handy Tree Guide and it lists a species of Spruce called the Black Spruce that is found in wet and boggy areas. You took some nice shots of the tree, but the identifying traits require closeup views of the needles etc. It's cones are also used for identification. It's a nice healthy swamp that has mature ceder trees.