Saturday August 24, 2019 – Public Welcome
8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (rain or shine)
Registration Fee/lunch is $8, payable at the site.
The meeting this year will be held at Shatterack Forest, 450 acres which have been owned by the same family for four generations. The story of the family, their forest, and their connection to the wider Jamaica State Park/Glebe Mountain Preserve area will be the bulk of our program.
The Homestead was bought in the 1920s and the family ran a boys’ school there for 25 to 30 years, into the early 1950s. The next generation then bought 450 acres. It has been managed in various ways such as through herbicide experimentation and white pine management. A conservation easement was bought on the forest by the Vermont Land Trust and the property has more recently been entered in Current Use. Hayden Lake is the current forester and the family decided to start cutting timber after a number of years of no active management. The homestead on the property is the oldest registered building in the town of Jamaica, dating to the 1770s. The forest incorporates some old cellar holes that were settled around that same time and borders an old cemetery. Hamilton Falls was part of this property and was sold to the State of Vermont which incorporated it into a state park.
Ownership has become much more complicated over four generations; going from one, to three, to eight, and now to 9 or more owners. Currently the management is done through a board and annual meetings. The family is in the planning process of changing the land from a corporation into a family trust. All these changes have effects on the family, the management process, and priorities for the land. Their experiences are a good chance to reflect on long term forest management in all its complexities.
Daniel Dubie, a fourth generation family member, will talk of highlights of the importance of this land as a connector between the Jamaica State Park and the Glebe Mountain Preserve, and then Jon Binhammer of the Nature Conservancy will then talk about the geology and ecology of the high valley and ridges, TNC’s conservation efforts in the area and the value of this ridge line in the eyes of the larger conservation picture.
- The reasons for TNC’s interest in Glebe Mountain and nearby Turkey Mountain as conservation goals. (large intact tracts of habitat, Black Bear conservation, bird habitat)
- TNC’s larger conservation model that encompasses these core tracts of intact old forest surrounded by buffer properties that likely are working forests with management plans and harvests (The model that we see here in Cobb brook Valley)
- The story behind how Glebe Mountain parcel got to be 3500 acres and how TNC got it while still an intact forest
Full meeting schedule and list of what to bring (click here)
After the Annual Meeting portion of the schedule, lunch is always the highlight of the day with potluck side dishes and, and organic burgers grilled to perfection. Please call ahead and let us know how many burgers/hotdogs/veggie burgers you would like. (802) 254 -8325.
Directions: 535 West Windham Road, West Townshend VT
From Route 30:
Heading West: Travel through Townshend past the Townshend Dam into West Townshend. Take a right turn up Windham Hill Road at the West Townshend Store and post office.
Heading East: Travel through Jamaica along the West River into West Townshend. Take a left turn up Windham Hill Road at the West Townshend Store and Post Office.
- Windham Hill Road goes up a very steep hill.
- In 4.3 miles turn Left on Burbee’s Pond Road soon after passing through the small village of South Windham.
- In just under a mile, turn Left at the pond onto West Windham Road.
- Continue 2.8 miles while bearing left at intersections, to a parking area and a short walk to the tent site.
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