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Forestry workshop will look at logging techniques

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Logging workshop participants get a good look at a mechanical harvesting head. (Courtesy photo)

Moose Mountains Regional Greenways and Branch Hill Farm/Carl Siemon Family Charitable Trust will offer two free forestry workshops led by consulting forester Charlie Moreno. The first, 'Logging Showcase', is set for Friday, Oct. 26, from 1-4 p.m. in Branch Hill Farm's Salmon Falls Woodlands in Milton Mills. The second, 'Wood: From Forest to Workbench' will take place on Sunday, Nov. 4, from 9 a.m.-noon in Branch Hill Farm's Branch River West forest on Plummers Ridge in Milton.

Logging Showcase will be a unique outdoor workshop in which four forms of logging will be demonstrated on a sustainably managed forest. Woodlot owners, students, conservationists and interested members of the public are invited to watch both high-tech and 'micro' equipment in action. Participants will gain understanding of the timber harvest practices they may observe in our local forests, and learn new possibilities for forest improvement.

Brent Day, Wm. Day & Sons, Inc. will showcase in-progress cut-to-length and biomass harvest operations. Larry Hersom of Hersom Logging will show conventional logging and micro-harvesting techniques. Moreno will discuss the various timber harvest systems being demonstrated and the forestry principles associated with each. "What are the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of these four modes of timber harvesting? For what situations is each type of logging best suited? What equipment is used and what forest products are produced? How can logging improve the forest?" Moreno will answer these questions and more, as the crews work.

The Sunday Forest to Workbench workshop will be of interest to woodworkers and wood enthusiasts. Moreno's goal is to make the connection between the wood that woodworkers love to use for woodworking and the forests that it comes from, such as wood grown in the backyards or woodlots of New Hampshire and Maine. He'll walk participants through the sustainably-managed Branch River West forest, showing the high quality timber that can come from this mixed-age forest and how it is being grown for the future. He'll talk about the products and values that come from trees, the common tree species and their wood qualities for use in different projects, and the process of milling and drying your own wood.

As a consulting forester, Moreno manages over 30,000 acres of forests for private landowners, conservation organizations, and communities in southern New Hampshire and Maine, including the forests of Branch Hill that are the sites of these workshops. In addition, he is a long-term hobbyist woodworker, learning 'everything he knows' at the Homestead Woodworking School in Newmarket. Moreno wants to teach the Forest to Workbench workshop again this year, because, as he says, "Everyone had a blast last year! And as a forester, I love to connect woodworkers to trees and forest management."

Both workshops are free and open to the public but pre-registration is required. For more information, directions, and to register, contact MMRG's Education Coordinator Kari Lygren at (603) 978-7125 or email info@mmrg.info. Please do not bring pets to these events.

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