A great day at Great Mountain Forest

FALLS VILLAGE — The directors of the Great Mountain Forest celebrated its  centennial last Saturday with Open Forest Day 2009, an all-day event including lectures, demonstrations and an excellent lunch.

The 6,041-acre forest is in Norfolk and Falls Village and is a working forest as well as a teaching forest — and a haven to animals and many tree species.

Executive Director Paul Barten compared the development of forestry practices at the Great Mountain to national trends.

“We were way ahead of Congress� in developing and applying sustainable growth and multiple-use management practices, for example, he said.

Founded in 1909 by Starling W. Childs, Edward C. Childs and Senator Frederic C. Walcott, the forest hosts students from the Yale Forestry School and provides a living laboratory for studying forest ecology.

“My father wanted people to see the forest as productive,� said Starling Childs (grandson of the first Starling Childs and son of Edward Childs). He noted that the organization harvests some of the trees that it grows. “We are responsive both to the marketplace and to practices that make sense for the land,� he said.

“The forest is comprised mainly of northern hardwoods, maple, ash, beech, and oak,� said Forester Jody Bronson.

Charles Canham described the Great Mountain Forest as “an incubator for new sciences,� and Elisabeth (Childs) Gill spoke of the annual summer ecology program (in cooperation with the Christadora Foundation) that brings high school students from New York City to experience a hands-on introduction to environmental science.

Treasurer Bill Gridley laid out the short-term goals of the organization: road maintenance; establishing an endowment for the summer intern program;  renovation of the older cabins dotted about the property for the use of visiting students and scientists; and building a new sap house for the maple syrup operation.

He also noted that revenue from timber sales is down.

Barten added that the Great Mountain Forest hopes to develop a speaker series and incorporate more (and smaller) field groups into the mix.

There were lectures for the adults — on forest ecology and invasive plants, forest biometeorology and climate change, insects and the Eastern hemlock, and quantifying forest change — and activities for youngsters, including a woodworking class taught by Joseph Brien.

After lunch, smaller groups ventured forth for walks focusing on forest soils, restoring old growth forests, tree felling and wildlife habitat management.

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