2021-11-27, 2021-11-28, Bobcat Woods and Lombardi Preserves, Bolton, CT

 On, 2021-11-27, I visited the Bobcat Woods and Lombardi preserves in Bolton, CT.  Both preserves are Bolton Land Trust properties.  I made a map with screenshots from https://hiking.waymarkedtrails.org/#?map=15!41.7493!-72.4127 . I put in location numbers that I will refer to here.


1.  I parked here on High Ridge Farm Lane.  I had started to drive down a gravel driveway when I noticed a man gesturing to me to back up.  It turned out that the man was part of a group from Bolton Land Trust.  I learned that an organized tour of the preserves would start in a few minutes.  I learned that the gravel driveway was a driveway to a private home, but was also the entrance to the preserves, but that the public should not drive down the driveway.  I joined the Bolton Land Trust group hike.


3.  There was a map kiosk here.  Our group went northerly onto the yellow-blazed trail in Bobcat Woods.




4.  The group hike was led by Jonathan Gourley of the Environmental Protection department of Trinity College in Hartford, CT.  He was involved in tree-cutting projects planned to occur in Bobcat Woods. 




4.  A detail of the picture above.  The justification for the timber cuts seems to be the same justification that the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection uses for similar timber-cutting projects.  The idea is that, if we cut down trees, we allow more sunlight to reach the ground which encourages all sorts of plant and animal life to flourish.  I don't think such cuts are necessary.  I think there is enough tree mortality caused by wind events, beavers, gypsy moth caterpillars, emerald ash borers, wooly adelgid, fires, and various forest-clearing acts of man for power cuts, gas-line cuts, flood-control projects, housing, and other purposes.  A neighborhood group in Simsbury, CT, recently stopped a CT-DEEP timber cut.  (See https://friendsofmassacoe.org/) The neighborhood group argued that letting forests be was our best bet to sequester carbon.  Jonathan Gourley confirmed my understanding that the conservation timber cuts don't make a monetary profit.




4.  I think we now have good tree-species diversity.



4.  A detail of the picture above.



5.  Jonathan Gourley gathered us in a group in what was called "the amphitheater."  The amphitheater was formed by a group of boulders.  That's Jonathan Gourley in the orange jacket.  Jonathan Gourley mentioned LIDAR imagery that allows people to see the outlines of old farm fields on the Bobcat Woods property.  Here's a link to an interactive map that has a LIDAR layer that you can turn on and off: https://arcg.is/1z9nbS



5.  A memorial stone in the amphitheater.


I went back to the preserves on 2021-11-28.  On 2021-11-28, I concentrated on the southern of the two preserves, the Lombardi preserve.

6.  A scene on the orange-blazed trail.



7.  A scene on the white-orange blazed trail.  We had a little snow on 2021-11-28.




8.  One of the white-orange blazes.



9.  Old roads that appeared to be still used by pedestrians were intermingled with the blazed trails in the Lombardi preserve.  The white-orange trail ran along these rocks.



9.



11.  I followed one of the old roads that pedestrians appeared to have been using down to Skinner Road.  There was a "No Trespassing" sign facing Skinner Road.



10.  Another scene on the white-orange blazed trail.



9.  I included myself in a picture of the rocks at location 9.  




7.



2.  This vine caught my eye as I walked back to my car.  The identification I came up with was Virgin's-Bower (Clematis virginiana).



2.  Virgin's-Bower (Clematis virginiana).











David Reik

Comments

  1. JGourleyDecember 2, 2021 at 5:30 AM

    I'm glad you were able to attend our walk David. I enjoyed talking with you. One correction on you blog post...I am a faculty member of Trinity's Environmental Science Program. While I understand you sentiment about forests (it is not uncommon), most foresters and forest conservation managers would disagree with you assessment that we do not need successional forest tracts in Connecticut. NRCS does this work to promote healthy forests, not to degrade them.

    The current Bobcat woods were recently logged in 1990s using practices that did harm to the forest floor as I pointed out from all the rust that were left. The trees that have come up since then are primarily beech and black birch. This is by no means an old growth area ( I would agree should be persevered at all cost. However these are extremely rare in New England woods). The selective cut at Bobcat woods will remove many of these beech and birch trees to allow oaks, aspen and white pine to take over. At the same time it will hopefully provide inviting habitat for American Woodcock, a bird that we'd like to see more of as they are on the decline. One reason they are on decline is the lack of successional forests.

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