RECENT EVENTS
Community Picks up Milton Roadsides
A town wide cleanup of litter from Milton roads in celebration of Earth Day attracted close to eighty residents, young and old, to join in an effort to beautify the town. Moose Mountains Regional Greenways’ Education Coordinator Kari Lygren, who spearheaded the event planning, called the day ’a huge success’. She added, “It was wonderful to see so many groups, kids and people of all ages working together. What a great community effort!”
The roads targeted for cleanup were NH Scenic and Cultural byways, six miles along the White Mountain Highway and three miles of Applebee Road in Milton Mills. Although a few short sections were missed, passersby will notice marked improvement in the appearance of both roads, making them a pleasure to travel. In addition, some residents chose to pick up littler along streets where they live, Bolan Road, Evergreen Valley Road, Hare Road and Teneriffe Road.
Following a couple hours of cleanup, volunteers gathered at the NH Farm Museum for a group photo and community potluck lunch. A variety of crockpot hot dishes, cold salads, desserts and hot dogs satisfied the hungry crowd. Whenever some food slipped from a plate, the wandering Farm Museum chickens participated in the Earth Day cleanup!
In planning the event, MMRG was joined by the New Hampshire Farm Museum, the Milton Recreation Department, Milton Fire & Rescue, Boy Scout Troop 155, and Branch Hill Farm. The Milton Conservation Commission, Milton Public Works, Cub Scout Pack 155 and the Milton Home Schoolers also helped out, as did numerous Milton residents, including two Select Board members and the new town administrator. Thanks go to Milton Hardware which donated gloves and bags for recyclables, to Milton Fire & Rescue which donated gloves and the use of their fire trucks, to Hannafords which donated paper products, and to Milton Recreation which donated hot dogs, popcorn, and lemonade. Branch Hill Farm is enrolled in the NH the Beautiful program which lent road signs, trash grabbers and orange pinnies and donated blue bags for trash.
Enthusiastic Participants at MMRG’s Union Meadows Outing
 Moose Mountains Regional Greenways (MMRG) had nice early spring weather for its rescheduled Union Meadows Conservation Outing in late March. Nearly forty participants embarked on a couple miles of snowshoeing in order to admire the rushing Branch River, see the scenic beauty of the undeveloped Union Meadows wetland and to hear the wealth of information provided by several presenters.
Dave Mankus, Wakefield Conservation Commission Chair, spoke about the history of logging on the property, in which a small sawmill operated on the Branch River, just downstream from the bridge on Marsh Road. The likely setup circa 1805 was a river-powered under shot water wheel that ran a vertical saw. In a complementary discussion, forester Peter Kasprzyk described modern timber practices, including a ‘grab and shake’ technique to remove dead pine limbs that requires a massive piece of equipment called a feller/buncher. He spoke also about the economic considerations that go into forestry, including the patience and work that goes into developing a forest management plan to last many decades.
Wildlife values of the property were another topic. During the walk, Rich Cook of the NH Department of Fish and Game pointed out two vernal pools, areas that fill with water only in springtime and provide a unique habitat for a variety of frogs and salamanders, safe from competition with or predation by fish, which require permanent water bodies. Keith Fletcher, MMRG’s Director of Land Conservation, helped the several kids in attendance learn to identify animal tracks in the snow and showed how white pine trees can be distinguished by their typical bunches of 5 needles.
Mike Speltz of the Society for the Protection of NH Forests emphasized the conservation importance of protecting the Union Meadows wetland area for the sake of water quality in the Branch River, thus also preserving the downstream quality of the Salmon Falls River and Great Bay. The headwaters of the Branch River are already largely protected within the Moose Mountains Reservation, owned by the Forest Society, while the conservation land of Branch Hill Farm preserves downstream stretches of the river.
The permanent conservation of this Union Meadows parcel has been a collaborative project of MMRG, the Town of Wakefield, the Forest Society and NH Fish and Game. After the prospects for town ownership became uncertain, the landowner and conservation partners cooperated to make it possible for NH Fish and Game to step in as future owner and guarantee its protection in perpetuity.
We are grateful to our event business sponsor, M&M Boat Storage of Wakefield.
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