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Natural & Cultural History:
Not much is known about the specific land use history of the interior portions of this tract. Like much of the surrounding area, it had variously been used as pasture and woodlot for the past two centuries. It was likely cleared for pasture by 1830 and it had likely largely begun to revert to forest by the mid- to late1930’s.
A single large, dead relict red oak pasture tree remains standing at the vernal pool site. Most of the oldest trees are located in the more inoperable portions of the lot. These include hemlock, red maple and beech. Several large, super-canopy white pines trees are imbedded within the surrounding red oak forest matrix. The oldest cohort of trees indicate stand origin date circa 1920 to 1930 when economic conditions changed the dominant local land use from pasture to woodland.
There is no evidence of any previous structures on the tract other than the wooden piers and rotting timbers of a frame to a small timber frame barn that was never completed at the back (north) side of the front pasture. Interior stonewalls are concentrated at the front of the tract where a single strand of woven electric fence wire encircles the remains of a more recent, 1960’s era pasture.
Adjacent landowner, David Hosmer, told me that he and his father cut oak firewood and white pine on the tract in the 1950’s using a pick-up truck to access the center and upper, back portion of the tract. There is ample evidence of both stumps from former small-scale logging operations and also of wheel ruts from vehicle access in that era. In the particularly wet areas, these old wheel ruts continue to carry water to this day.
The 19.3-acre tract is nearly entirely wooded. While substantially similar to stand 1 in terms of soils, slope and solar aspect, stand 4 has not been harvested in the 20-year ownership tenure of the previous owners, Pricilla and Alfred “Fred” Fauver.
In March 2002, Fred Fauver, offered to sell us the 19.3 acres / 750 feet of direct frontage on Meetinghouse Hill Road. At that time, Fred was preparing to list the tract for sale with local Realtors and had begun a series of showings to determine a current market value – most likely for future residential development. As the adjacent landowner on the east, I approached Fred and implied a verbal right of first refusal based on irregular correspondence and purchase inquiries I extended to him over the prior decade. I was extremely concerned about the likely loss of another locally important tract of productive timberland and critical local wildlife habitat.
We purchased this tract in May 2002 in order to protect its natural resource values and to protect our adjacent property, to expand our Tree Farm and to manage this tract as a long-term forest management investment opportunity. A happy ending and perhaps another local land use tragedy narrowly averted.
Ecological / Wildlife:
Mammal sightings and/or tracks include: deer, black bear, moose, coyote, fox, fisher, porcupine, raccoon, skunk, long-tailed weasel, mink, ermine, red squirrel, gray squirrel, northern flying squirrel, chipmunk, mice, red-backed voles, shrews, etc. Deer, coyotes, black bear, porcupine, red fox and fisher are abundant and seen relatively frequently.
Wood frogs and spotted salamanders use the single vernal pool for breeding based on the documented presence of their eggs.
Bird species include numerous species of woodland warblers particularly yellow-rumped, black and white, black-throated green, black-throated blue, and ovenbird; wood thrush, hermit thrush, scarlet tanager, pilleated woodpecker, turkey, ruffed grouse (drumming), woodcock, barred owl (nest), saw-wet owl, red-tailed hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, northern goshawk, broadwinged hawk (nest),
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