Change is Coming to the Franklin-McElheny Preserve

SELT, the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire, will be outlining our planned harvest and larger management goals for the Franklin-McElheny Preserve in Rollinsford and Dover.  SELT is planning to cut significant areas of the forest to address the infestation of an invasive insect (hemlock wooly adelgid) and to improve the quality and diversity of wildlife habitat on the property.  These changes will result in much of the mature forest becoming a young forest and shrub habitat and will at first appear dramatic and messy.  The management is anticipated to begin in late summer 2018.

 There are two goals for the evening.  First, SELT will explain our specific harvesting plans (including the amount of land to be harvested in patch cuts and shelterwood), the benefits of the planned harvest for forest health and wildlife, including New England cottontail, and our plans for the maintaining the trail system.  Second, our goal is to listen to your concerns so we can consider them as we prepare for the implementation of the management plan.

The event will be held on Monday, April 9, 2018 at 7 pm at the Garrison Players Arts Center, 449 Roberts Road, Rollinsford