It's Time to Get the Songbird Nest Boxes Ready!

It's time to check those nest boxes to insure they are ready for this breeding season.  We'll be hosting a volunteer training for those people who would like to help us with monitoring all of the nest boxes on the property.  More information about the workshop will be posted soon, but take a look a the video in the meantime to see who makes them and how they are created.

White Memorial's 15 Year Forest Management Plan

Let it snow!
Roger Johnson skillfully operates a chainsaw
to harvest timber on White Memorial Foundation.
Photo by Gerri Griswold

Lukas Hyder, White Memorial Foundation's Assistant Superintendant, has announced the completion of the property-wide Forest Management Plan (2011 - 2025).  The Forest Management Plan reviews the standing timber and prescribes management treatments for every forest stand on the 4000 acres that White Memorial conserves.  The Plan also examines the wide variety of alternative uses of the property including recreation, wildlife habitat management, and invasive species management.

Photo by Gerri Griswold

Another Dead Deer Carcass Found on the Property

Deer Carcass Found at Cat Swamp Winter 2011
Photo By Anne Batterson

Another deer carcass was found on the property.  Roger Johnson, a White Memorial employee, was harvesting trees north of Beaver Pond and saw loads of coyote tracks leading to a deer carcass.  This brings us to a total of 7 deer carcasses found on the property, so far this year.  We are not sure if this amount of mortality is different from the average amount of mortality each year because we don't monitor this population metric.  The amount of mortality may be greater this year because of the extreme winter conditions that we are experiencing, in addition to the average amount of mortality that our White-tailed Deer population experiences over most years.  But on the other hand, their might be the same or less amount of mortality this year with respect to previous years.  One possible mechanism that could cause this is the deep snow hindering the movement of White-Tailed Deer may reduce the number of times they cross roads, thereby reducing the number of animals being hit by vehicles.  Since we do not monitor this population metric, it is impossible for us to say.  So always be on the lookout for deer carcasses on the property and report them to us.  As well as, always keep your eyes on the road when driving to avoid hitting white-tailed deer.