Conservation Corner: April 2021

By Tim Duclos, Ecologist & Conservation Manager

Well, it’s been quite a busy and productive winter and spring up on the hill, with sugaring, forest management planning, new interns, a new digital ecology series and many collaborations, one notably with a University of Vermont Environmental Problem Solving class. The Conservation Department has been busy and productive and our Land Management program is also moving along nicely. We are keeping the momentum up and moving forward!

• As things warm, we will be conducting our second season of data collection for the Southern Vermont Bee project; a research project in collaboration with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies; here at MFFC we are looking at bee diversity in association with spring wildflowers and various forest treatments throughout the property.

• From here, we will be conducting a second season of grassland bird monitoring up on the farm with the help of a volunteer grassland bird ambassador. Bobolinks are expected to arrive the second week of May.

• We will be continuing our Vernal Pool Monitoring and Vermont Forest Bird Monitoring efforts, also in collaboration with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, as we collect baseline data on the bird communities within forest stands and consider entering for harvest under the new forest management plan being written now by the conservation department. Our goal is to implement the most cutting-edge ecological forestry prescriptions as possible.

• Conservation has also successfully hired two new full-time seasonal positions for this summer- a Conservation Intern (Student Conservation Association) and a Recreation Support Technician; both will be in residence at the Lodge. This will mean new faces, new energy, and a lot of love to be given to our cabins in the form of new windows, new insulation, and new eyes on all the small things to touch up and maintain in between.

• Our trails will get some attention too - water bars, fill, and updated signage. Not to mention splitting, delivering, and stacking the nearly 50 cords of firewood that is consumed on property each year.

• The Conservation Intern will aid with pollinator surveys, bird monitoring, forest inventories, wood duck nest boxes, as well as fish and amphibian habitat projects at Paige Pond and Birch Pond.

• With 8 of the 9 species of bat known to Vermont found at Merck Forest last summer (another monitoring project- and an incredible story is developing here), we will have two local high school interns helping with all of this and more.

• Of course, all these hands will be on deck to aid with planning and implementation of our third annual BioBlitz on property, July 24th and 25th. This year, we hope to return to the format of the first: both self-led and expert-led exploration. You can learn more and sign up now for the BioBlitz at: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/merck-forest-bioblitz-2021

• And last, but not at all least, we will also be moving forward with forest demonstration harvests along the Discovery trail, with the help of an 8-person Vermont Youth Conservation Corps Crew, fueled by a generous grant from the High Meadows Fund.

• Eight Game of Logging Courses are being offered this May and June - the demand for these courses remains high.

This forest management treatments will take place this summer, by design, near the Visitor Center for you to view and for the education and experience of a whole suite of novel sawyers. On the whole, with new seasonal staff, interns, volunteers, and students in place, this spring and summer is guaranteed to be rich with learning through hands-on experience, ongoing work with interns; Conservation department; These forest Management; foundational to Merck Forest & Farmland Center’s mission.

Hope to see you out there. Onwards and upwards, folks.

-Tim