Somerset Old-Growth Forest

Thursday, March 29 – 9:30 AM – 3 PM. (This trip is highly dependent on weather and snow conditions so date and time are tentative.) WRWA Members Only

County Forester Bill Guenther will lead a tour to a Somerset woodlot in what we believe to be a stand of old growth, which consists mostly of yellow birch. This 60-acre property was a gift to Leland & Gray High School many years ago. About 12-15 acres of this property are stocked with the big birches, the remainder in spruce/fir and beaver flowage.

Bill went out last spring just before leaf-out and measured what he thought was the largest yellow birch. Since the State champion yellow birch died up in Victory few years ago, a new champ was crowned out here in Somerset.

We offer this trip only to WRWA members and the group size is limited to 12. Bill will need to hear from you by March 20th if you are interested in going. We need a minimum of five folks to sign up for the trip, so please contact Bill by phone or email to let him know you want to go.

We will meet in West Brattleboro at 9:30 a.m. to carpool (with a later stop in Wilmington) as parking can be very limited out there in the winter. We will travel 1.5 miles up the Old County Road to the western edge of the property, then bushwhack east out to the old growth. We recommend that people bring a combination of skis and snowshoes: skis for the road and snowshoes for the bushwhack woods where brush complicates movement on skis. So take your pick, but Bill probably will bring both.

At about lunchtime, we’ll stop at the campsite and have a picnic lunch. It will be a nice warm-up if you also bring a thermos of your favorite hot beverage. After lunch we’ll head out into the birch stand and look at these magnificent specimens; many are well over three feet in diameter.

We hope to conclude our day by about 3 p.m. Keep in mind that Somerset is the icebox of Windham County, and even though the trip will take place in March, we could easily have some pretty severe winter conditions, so dress warmly and in layers. We want to assure a safe and enjoyable day for everyone.

You need to call Bill Guenther at 257-7967 X 305 to reserve a spot, get the specific meeting place, and to make sure you’ve got the right gear. This trip is moderate to somewhat strenuous, and we’ll be a long way from anywhere. Bill also needs to ensure that the private road up to the dam has been plowed. Adverse road conditions could cause us to cancel. Spring comes very late out there!

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