At 9 this morning I joined a group of East Quabbin Land Trust friends and supporters in the parking lot of the Harvard Forest’s Fisher Museum. We planned to hike! And so we did. We started out as a group of 17, plus a dog, and enjoyed a warm sunny late summer day outdoors in the semi-wilderness. EQLT Executive Director Cynthia Henshaw welcomed the group and introduced Bob Clark, who was to be our leader on the hike. Mr Clark, a member of the Petersham Conservation Commission for decades, told us a bit about Marshall.
Bob Marshall, as many people might know, was one of the founders of the Wilderness Society, an organization which has championed preserving wild places since 1935. Marshall, a forester, writer, and activist, earned a master’s degree in forestry from Harvard in 1925; he did his fieldwork in the Harvard Forest, near the area we visited today. Following these studies and then a three-year stint in the Forest Service, Marshall began a doctoral program in plant physiology at the Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his doctorate in 1930.
The land where we hiked was not always preserved. Conservation of the 80-acre Gould Woodlot was facilitated by EQLT, who first purchased the land, then sold the Conservation Restriction to the Town of Petersham and the fee interest to the Harvard Forest. The Saint Mary Monastery and Saint Scholastica Priory communities worked with EQLT and the Town of Petersham to permanently protect 155 acres; the agreement was completed in 2010.
Like our hike leader, Ernie Gould served on the Petersham Conservation Commission (and also chaired the group); as an Assistant Director of Harvard Forest, he created a model forest on the land he and his wife owned. That didn’t last: when the land was sold to Jack Edwards, the new owner harvested the trees with the intention of creating a subdivision. Fortunately, these plans didn’t go through; with “Self-Help” funds (MGL Chap 132A, Sect 11) from the Commonwealth, the Gould Woodlot was conserved and added as contiguous acreage to the adjoining Harvard Forest.
Poor timber harvest practices resulted in an unhealthy forest with spindly trees crowded together.
We saw some interesting sights along the trail.
I think these are older trees.
After the Hurricane of 1938, a tree branch became the tree’s main trunk.
The beechdrop (Epifagus virginiana) is a saprophyte, a parasitic plant which grows on the roots of American beech.
We know that Native Americans were stewards of this land prior to the colonial presence. For example, there is a deed from the Nipmucs dated 1735, selling land to colonists. We don’t know exactly what parcel of land the deed refers to; from the description we surmise that it was land between the current Quabbin Reservoir and Athol. While colonial stone walls are recognized as such, Native American stone structures are not as well documented. This stone structure suggests a Native American presence in this spot.
These stones appear to have been deliberately placed here, possibly by Native Americans.
Colonists were particularly interested in what we now call “wet meadows” — mainly because they could grow hay in these areas. Without being able to feed their animals, particularly oxen, the colonists would not have been able to create homesteads in the wilderness.
From the beginning, the colonists were focused on what the New World could produce. Even the English colonists who settled Plymouth could not have made the voyage without the support of commercial interests. The Plymouth colony was granted a charter in return for exports to England. Unfortunately, even as early as 1620, there weren’t enough beavers left for them to trap for their pelts (which were made into hats); it took the Plymouth colonists years to pay off their debt.
I myself have never seen one, but moose are fairly frequently sighted in this area. On our hike this morning, we definitely saw moose scat. And we saw this!
We believe this is a moose skull; other parts of the skeleton were scattered nearby.
Trail-making here has been an arduous task; for example, the bridge over Nelson Brook was brought in via the “stump dump” (a cleared area for dumping waste from forestry operations). The Bob Marshall Trail is still a work in progress.
For long stretches, we followed these tags tied to the trees.
Our destination was the Tom Swamp, a northern bog natural community, with its scattered larch and spruces.
North of the red pine grove in the distance is what seems to be a trail, but it’s the path of a buried utility line.
In 1996, biologists first documented the presence in the Swamp of the threatened species Bog Elfin (Callophrys lanoraieensis). The Marsh Hawk (Circus hudsonius) possibly nested here in the 40s, but this species no longer breeds in Massachusetts.
What a special place this is! Thanks to EQLT and the many communities who worked to preserve its wilderness qualities.