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Front Page News
April 16, 2014
Chichester Conservation Commission
Submitted By Gordon Jones,
Chichester Conservation Commission
You may
have noticed some logging activity on the Madeline Sanborn
Conservation Area behind the Grange Hall in Chichester back in
January. The Conservation Commission acts as the town’s forest
committee, and one of the goals they have set is to increase
management of the town forests. To prepare for the logging that was
done, a forest management plan was completed by forester Charlie
Moreno. His recommendation was to have a small portion of the trees
removed in order to give the best trees more space to grow. Because
of the presence of a walking trail the Conservation Commission had
constructed and the desire to minimize the impact of the logging
operation, it was decided to have the job done using horses. The
next step was to find the right person who would be able and willing
to do the job. We asked Tim Riel of Epsom, who often gives wagon
rides with his team of Belgians and who delivered my daughter
Jessica to her wedding with his horse and wedding carriage. Tim was
helped by his sons, Jackson and Tim Jr., and Bruce Locke and his
daughters, Samantha and Christina with their team of Percherons.
They worked over a period of two weekends in the freezing cold to
get it all done. There was one wet area that needed to be crossed.
This area was covered over with additional snow and after it froze
crossing wasn’t a problem.
There was not enough timber to be cut for the town to make any
money, in fact we could have incurred a cost but for the fact that
Charlie Moreno generously donated his time to mark trees and write
the contract used for the job. Tim was also generous in agreeing to
do the work for whatever the value of the logs was. Tim was happy
just to be in the woods with his team and his family and friends,
working together.
Tim and Bruce would go to the site a day ahead of the horses to cut
trees and get the logs ready. I visited the site while they pulled
the first logs out and it was very enjoyable to watch. The ease
with which they were able to maneuver the horses and cart into
position to hook onto the logs was impressive. The horses were
eager to work and had no trouble pulling even the largest logs out.
We invite anyone who is interested to walk the trail out towards
Meadow Pond and check out the job on the way. The woods were left
very neat with the slash from the tree tops cut down as low as
possible to speed decomposition. In addition to the walking trail,
the Conservation Commission has installed two benches at the end of
the trail near the pond, and we encourage people to utilize them.
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