North Uncanoonuc Timber Harvesting

[surf88]

I know I’m not the only one on this site that regularly hikes on the Uncanoonucs so I figured I’d make other hikers in the area aware that there is a large area of forest in close proximity to some beautiful hiking trails on North Uncanoonuc that is apparently about to be harvested for timber. If you want to know what this area will look like for the next decade or so hike or drive up South Uncanoonuc and check out what the huge timber harvest from 2010 still looks like. Or you can save yourself the trip, its the big brown area on Google Earth.
This area is Goffstown Village Water Precinct Land and part of their source water protection area. Those of you who know me know that I am professionally in the environmental science field related to water supply. It makes no sense to me that a drinking water supplier would want to deforest any part of its source water protection area, but that is what has been happening over the past several years on precinct land. Several large areas have been harvested. I’ve researched public meeting minutes a little bit into why they are doing it and the only justification I have seen is to mitigate forest fires from all the dry branches that fell in the ice storm. I hike off trail a lot on the Uncanoonucs yesterday was the 487th time I've climbed North Unc, and South has been bagged 123 times by me and this argument is laughable because I have hiked around the areas that have already been cut in the last few years and have noticed the loggers have left far more slash (future dry tinder)behind than the ice storm did. In addition there were times I observed oil and grease spills from leaking skidders. I don’t like that in my drinking water, and this source is my drinking water.
I only wish I had been aware of the proposed cut on North Mountain sooner so that I could have been at the Meeting when this foolishness was discussed. There is a lot of very valuable timber being harvested and I’m very suspicious where the funds received for the timber are going, hence the motivation to do it. Since the Water Precinct is Quasi-Public these sorts of things don’t get as much scrutiny as they should and would if it were actually a town department.
Unless anyone has any suggestions I fear it may be to late to do anything about this before they start cutting.

I highlighted in green the approximate area of the marked out area. The brown shaded area is all Water Precinct land.

 

[Becca M]

Thanks for posting - I haven't been back there in a few years and keep meaning to do it....

This is a SHAME!!!!!

 

[peakbagger]

I respect your passion for this but I would expect that if you contacted the district and looked at the timber management plan you might have a better understanding of the process and reasons for the cut. I expect being a public utility you can find out exactly where the money is going by asking, rather than representing it as a potential conspiracy.

NH has a odd rule on the books that watershed management land has to be treated as taxable land even though its owned by a public entity. This law was put in place as Manchester's watershed land in other towns would have starved the adjacent towns of tax base. This impacts all the watershed lands in NH so odds are the revenue from the cut goes to pay the property taxes. Gorham NH has a large watershed in Randolph and is one of Randolph's largest taxpayers. The watershed land is indistinguishable from conservation land to the average person but its makes a big difference to the tax man.

There are definitely poorly managed timber operations in NH, but to the untrained person its hard to distinguish between a hack job and a properly managed cut. I have seen many properties impacted by the 1998 ice storm including the Gorham town forest (water shed) and the Randolph town forest and in many cases much of the canopy was heavily damaged and the overall stand quality was poor. In both Randolph and Gorham, the respective organizations rapidly did clear cuts in many areas and significant thinning in others. When hiking through the area post harvest, its looked like a typical logging cut that would match your description, 15 years out, the area is regenerating nicely and in 30 years it will be hard to determine it was cut.

The WMNF used to put signs in areas where there was active forestry with the year cut. I have seen older versions of these signs sitting in what are now hardwood forests that most hikers would not recognize as a prior harvest site. The lower skookumchuck trail has some nice examples of this.

I generally use the analogy that if someone is accustomed to walking through a corn field, it is quite a shock to walk through it post harvest, wait six months and it will be green again. Tree farms do the same thing unfortunately their rotation is 30 to 60 years which doesn't correspond well with a human lifespan.

I would encourage you to do the research on this cutting, if it truly is a poorly managed and executed cut, its worth publicizing but far more likely its legitimate land management by a responsible owner.

 

[RoySwkr]

I know nothing about the politics or whether it is a done deal.

I agree with the suggestion to look at the timber management plan. One watershed I know of hard the desired condition of large softwoods to hold the snow longer so spring runoff was later and more could be captured. Another issue is to avoid vegetation that sucks up a lot of water in late summer when drinking water may be in short supply.