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The mission of Great Mountain Forest is to be a leader in forest stewardship. We practice sustainable forest management, promote biodiversity and resilience to climate change, support education and research, and welcome all who love the woods. |
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In this issue:
Forest Wetlands Benefit GMF
Wetlands Store Carbon
Vernal Pools
Nurse Logs
FEMC's Climate Change Monitoring Tool
Purple Pitcher Plant
GMF Intern Looks Back
Wreath Workshop
Forest Closures for Wildlife Monitoring
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GMF Wetlands: Heavy Lifters of the Forest
Great Mountain Forest wetlands are working hard to sustain and create a healthy forest ecosystem. While not always visible to the naked eye, a lot is happening in the spongy, soggy depths of wetland soil and water.
It is home to various species--from microbes and insects to plants to various reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish, and mammals. Each wetland is unique and depends on the weather, climate, water sources and abundance, and the shape and texture of the land and rock around it.
Wetlands are performing forest work on a micro-level. This process involves the breakdown of plant matter to create food webs that the EPA calls "biological supermarkets." They're the megastores of GMF that up the food chain feed larger animal species, such as moose and deer.
Tom Stansfield, soil expert and deputy director of health at Torrington Area Health District, asserts that wetlands play a pivotal role in the health of a forest, and GMF is no exception. "No forest is complete without a good wetland. They aid in nutrient retention, wildlife habitat, forest and soil diversity, and flood control. For him, wetlands are under-appreciated heavy lifters of a forest.
Most of GMF's seven ponds (Camp, Tamarack, Crissey, Old Man McMullen, Wapato, Wampee, and Bear Swamp) have wetland vegetation around their periphery. Several possess large wetland ecosystems that have thrived through sustainable forest management.
For Stansfield, two examples of forested wetlands at GMF are Great Bear and Wildcat Swamps, both created by glacial action. "These highly productive areas of poorly drained soils have organic soils that can exceed two feet in depth. Rife with microscopic and macroscopic life, there is more diversity in the swamps than in the open water wetlands we all tend to gravitate to," he explains.
"Not every wetland is a pond," clarifies Stansfield, "Several of the ponds are relative newcomers to the GMF landscape. The founders of GMF created some to enhance their wildlife management goals and others for farm use. Most employ earthen berms and dams."
He explains that the wetlands "created" serve the forest flora and fauna, but they don't want to be ponds. They want to be marshes and swamps. The natural process of eutrophication slowly transfigures ponds into vegetated wetlands over hundreds of years. Humans often hasten this process through land use, such as clear cutting for the iron industry or agriculture.
A sustainably-managed forest like GMF allows eutrophication to occur more naturally, preserving all the wetlands from rapid erosion and sediment deposition.
According to the GMF Forest Stewardship Plan, GMF's 78 acres of ponds and 341 acres of wetland in a matrix of over 6,200 acres of forest cover provide extraordinarily high wildlife habitat values for waterfowl and other migratory birds, amphibians, beaver, otter, mink, raccoon, and moose. Most of the larger ponds have stable fish populations dominated by pickerel, bass, and other species.
For more information on wetlands, click on the links below:
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Sinking Carbon in Wetlands
Wetlands pack a carbon-storage punch greater than standing trees in forests and biomass on the forest floor. Why? Because of the density of their water-logged content and murky darkness, they are less apt to be disturbed and create a more stable carbon "storage facility." In the plants, shrubs, and trees that emerge above and the decaying leaves and logs below, the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) estimates that the global carbon storage of wetlands is 225 billion metric tons globally. To keep this carbon locked up, wetlands need to exist.
Here are some other wetland and carbon-storage facts from NRDC:
- wetlands cover about 4 percent of the surface area of the contiguous U.S.
- agriculture and development cause the destruction of U.S. wetlands, far outstripping wetlands created
- 95 percent of all wetlands in the U.S. are inland freshwater wetland areas like GMF's
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Freshwater inland sites store 10.7 billion of the estimated 11.5 billion MT of wetland soil carbon in the U.S.
Read more here:
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Vernal Pools: Integral to Biodiversity and Forest Health |
By Thomas Stansfield, MPH, R.S.
GMF is also home to several vernal pools. Vernal pools are highly sensitive areas that exist as open water in the wettest months of the year, particularly in the spring.
Created by the compact glacial till or ledge prevalent throughout GMF, they are simple depressions in the forested landscape. Distinctive because they have no inlet or outlet, the pools are relatively stagnant but host many of our amphibian friends, who utilize the transient water as a breeding and brooding ground free of ravenous fish that would otherwise deplete their populations.
The slow percolation rate of water into the soil profile and the shaded perimeter, which slows evaporation, allows the surface water to persist just long enough for the animals that rely on them to complete their life cycle relatively unmolested. Protection of these often overlooked or unidentified areas is vital to the health of a forest.
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Nurse Logs Provide Excellent Forest Care |
Nurse logs are forest healers and sustainers on the forest floor.
A dead tree remains standing until its structural lignin has been broken down to the point when the tree falls. The now horizontal decaying log becomes a safe haven and a rich growing environment, thus creating a nurse log for tree and plant seedlings.
Nurse logs promote a favorable set of growing conditions including increased moisture due water retention of decaying logs; beneficial fungi that aid in growing; more access to light due to their elevation off the forest floor; and more nutritious soil and humus in which to take root.
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Nurse logs at GMF are the perfect prescription to enable new tree growth. Photo: Jody Bronson |
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FEMC Launches Climate Change Monitoring Tool
Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC) created The Forest Impacts of Climate Change: Monitoring Indicators (Version 1.0) to provide land managers and professionals with the data and necessary methods to monitor the impacts of climate change on northeastern forests. With input from a panel of regional experts, the FEMC identified 24 commonly measured and important indicators of climate impacts.
Forest ecosystems are experiencing the impacts of climate change in many forms, and monitoring is critical for tracking and understanding these impacts. This tool lets users find methods and protocols for monitoring climate change impacts. It shows where monitoring efforts are being conducted in our region. It also provides a quick visualization monitoring gaps.
According to Jim Duncan, FEMC director, "Large data collection is challenging in the Northeast, due to relatively small forests compared to other parts of the US. The Climate Change Monitoring Tool is FEMC's attempt to help land managers, and researchers understand what information is being collected, where the information gaps are, and potentially structure their data collection to align with other models. This collaborative approach will enable better assessment of climate change impacts in our region."
Duncan hopes this crowdsourcing approach will encourage people to reach out to FEMC about what's missing from the existing research. He also urges organizations to structure their data collection analysis and research efforts to align with existing models. "We have funds to provide technical support to help organizations use the tool and streamline research about identified climate change indicators."
GMF is a member of FEMC and the Connecticut FEMC State Partnership Committee.
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Plant of the Month: Purple Pitcher Plant |
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Purple Pitcher Plant is the Hotel California of GMF. You can check out any time you like but you can never leave. |
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Located around the edges of Crissey Pond, the Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea L.) lies in wait for unsuspecting visitors.
The Pitcher Plant is a unique GMF species, typically growing in more northern locations in the Adirondacks.
It is a richly colorful carnivorous plant that attracts its prey. Its broad lips provide a welcome resting place for flying and crawling insects.
As the insects venture farther, the pitcher plant's rigid hairs ensnare them and pull them down and into the plant's rainwater-filled basin.
The plant's enzymes that help digest the insect and release its juicy goodness from which the Pitcher Plant absorbs nutrients are mixed with the accumulated water.
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Looking Back to 1965:
Former GMF Intern Roger Gordon
Reflects on His Time in the Forest
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by Roger Gordon
Roger was a GMF intern in 1965. Recently, he visited the Forest from Butte, Montana with his wife Shirley to reconnect and reminisce.
In May 1965, I boarded a train in Iowa, heading east for a summer job in a private forest in northwestern Connecticut. I soon found out the “job” was more like a three-month hands-on seminar in forest management.
I joined three other college forestry students from Mississippi, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. We lived in a cabin across the road from the Child’s house and became part of the full-time forest crew.
Forest Manager Darrell Russ was our “boss,” although mentor would be a more accurate term. We learned woodsmanship from real experts while performing a wide variety of forestry tasks, all new, interesting, and enjoyable to an Iowa farm boy.
In addition to working on the forest, we took several trips around New England and Canada, primarily to observe the production of wood products ranging from paper and lumber to small one-person craft enterprises.
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I graduated from Iowa State in 1967 and spent the next four years in the Air Force, followed by graduate school at the University of Idaho’s College of Forestry. My graduate research and initial work focused on the reforestation of land impacted by hard rock mining. My career eventually became more diverse, doing all sorts of environmental work related to mining.
Although most of my work was not directly related to tasks I learned during my summer at Great Mountain Forest, the broader lessons of making work enjoyable and satisfying and recognizing and respecting the abilities of my colleagues have served me well over the years. I am forever grateful that I had that opportunity.
Since 2003, GMF has been a private non-profit organization. While its robust internship program has grown and evolved with the times, its roots remain strong: an introduction to hands-on forestry, forging collaborative relationships, and teaching and mentoring the next generation of forest stewards.
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Turkey Photo: Steven Schumacher |
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Save the Date:
GMF Wreath Workshop
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The GMF Wreath Workshop returns this year! There will be two workshops, limited to 20 registrants each, on Saturday, December 4 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Cost: $35 per person. Watch your email for the invitation to sign up! |
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Forest Notices
Welcome to the forest!
GMF is a place of peaceful co-existence for everyone
- Keep your dog on a leash and if you pack it in--pack it out.
- Sign in at kiosks at the East and West Gates.
- Watch for inclement weather notices on social media and website.
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- Fall hunting season is underway for wildlife monitors registered and authorized by GMF who keep the deer population balanced. Please remember the following:
- GMF will be closed for recreational use Monday through Saturday from November 17 to December 7, 2021.
- During that time, the forest will be open for recreational activities on Sunday, November 21, 28, and December 5 only.
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If you have any questions, please contact the Forest Manager at 860-542-5422or jody@greatmountainforest.org.
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Stand with the Trees!
Donate to Great Mountain Forest.
Your generosity makes our work possible!
GMF is critical to the environmental and economic sustainability of the region as well as an important contributor to research and education about climate change and environmental health. Help us support the forest as a vital natural resource and a place for those who love the woods.
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