By John Scarinza, Walt Winturri, and Doug Mayer

One of the goals of the Randolph Community Forest is to carry out good forestry practices. The second 10-year stewardship plan, recently adopted, states, that, “Encouraging the growth of high quality saw timber, and a more diverse northern hardwood stand, wherever the soils and other ecological conditions are suitable, remain long- term goals of the Town” and that, ” all proposed timber harvests and operations observe the recommendations of “Good Forestry in the Granite State,” best management practices and other relevant forest management considerations. Harvest area layout will take into consideration of aesthetics of the harvest area as seen from different parts of the Town. Techniques to minimize the visual impact will be implemented when appropriate.”

This winter, another step towards that achieving that goal is the Ledge Timber Sale. The harvesting for that project is happening right now, during the winter months, to minimize damage to soils and the underlying ground. The sale is located just west of the Pond of Safety road, in the town of Jefferson.

The purpose of this timber sale is to regenerate new stands of trees and provide timber products to the regions forest industry. A specific goal of the new stewardship plan is to create a new, 1-10 year old age class of trees in each forest compartment every ten years, to increase age class and tree species diversity on the Forest.

Aspen and paper birch, early successional species important to wildlife, will be regenerated through this timber sale. The prescribed regeneration cuts, clearcuts and group cuts will also improve wildlife habitat by creating more forest edge.

This timber sale will provide 410 thousand board feet of sawlogs, primarily sugar maple, and 3,500 tons of pulpwood. This volume translates to 85 tractor trailer loads of sawlogs and 155 loads of pulpwood.

John Scarinza recently assembled this video of the Ledge Timber Sale. Check it out!