F.X. Shea Town Forest

Corinth crew assembled to do trail maintenance on the FX Shea Town Forest trails. 2023.

JUNE 17, 2023 — F.X. Shea Town Forest Trail Maintenance Day
Despite the steady downpour, the chainsaws and loppers were in full gear on June 17 when at least 8 volunteers teamed up to work on the trails of our treasured F.X. Shea Town Forest. This is always a fun and productive event, and even the rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the intrepid work crew. Here’s a photo of some of the gang, including, from left to right, Rod White, Matt Nola, Ken Arkind and Glynn Pellegrino.

Town Forest group gathers for tree identification hike.

OCTOBER 16, 2021 — Tree Identification Hike. Sixteen people plus frolicking dogs gathered on this day with Corinth tree warden, Ginny Barlow, renowned expert in all things wild, for a tree identification walk. Everyone learned fascinating details about our forest. For instance, do you know what causes the little holes in maple leaves every autumn? It’s the maple leafcutter, a tiny moth that cuts a tiny hole of leaf to dwell in during its larvae stage. Following a leisurely hike down the red and orange trails, the gang capped off the morning with cider and donuts. A great morning was had by all!

OCTOBER 14, 2018 — Fall Cleanup! The F.X Shea Town Forest began a tradition of posting a Green Up Day Award  at the Kiosk at the F.X. Town Forest. The ‘Taplin Team’ led by Tania Aebi and Carl Demrow were on hand to receive the award plaque from Ken Arkind, and Melissa Eaton, the Green Up Day coordinators, for picking up 28 bags of road side trash on Green Up Day in May.

The crew of Ken and Samantha Arkind, Matt, Kevin Eaton, Melissa Eaton, Scott Elledge, Dan Wing, Brad Wheeler, Rod White, Dina DuBois, Suzanne Opton and Edward Cooper, Marian Cawley, Lindle Sutton all went out to clear the trails with various saws, lawn mowers, clippers, and weed wrenches.

Doug and Andrea Long were runners up in the most Green Up Bag contest and  hope to be the award winners next year.

Cider and donut time. Brad and Edward, Matt, Doug, Dina, Marian,Tania, and Carl talking over the day’s accomplishments. Thanks, Renee, at East Corinth General Store for the donuts!

MAY 10, 2016 — Forest Management Plan. The Town Forest Committee has developed a draft management plan for the F.X. Shea Town Forest. The Selectboard will hold a public hearing this summer so people can comment on the plan. The board will review comments, confer with the committee, and approve a plan. You can read the plan here ›

APRIL 24, 2016 — Forest Folk Frenzy. “Wrench weeds, build a bench, lift logs, trim trees, brush paint on boundary trees. Bring clippers/loppers, hand saws, yourself! Join the festive community trail clearing time with cider and donuts.”

…We did all of that. Brad Wheeler took on the blue trail. Frank Roderick and Chris Magoon helped clear a path to the bench at the lookout. Kevin Eaton, Adam Miller and Dan Wing lugged tools up to the top of the orange trail to cut a tree and make the bench. Dina DuBois and Anne McKinsey trimmed out the red trail. Then we all had cider and donuts made for us by Renee at the East Corinth Village Store. We had a great time talking about chaga mushrooms, cougar sitings and what killed, dragged and ate the deer behind Anne’s house.

JANUARY 2, 2016 — Boundary Marking and “Forest Forensics” Walk. Courtney Haynes led Frank Roderick and Dina DuBois, F.X. Shea  Forest committee members, on a boundary marking expedition. When looking for property boundaries in Vermont there are several clues the forest has to tell us where the boundaries are. It is a little like taking a “forest forensics” class. Single red dots were painted on shared boundary trees to mark the location of the boundary of the F.X. Shea forest with the neighboring properties. Three big red dots were used to mark the corner of a property; usually survey pins or pipes were found at the property corners. The red paint made for a striking visual on the trees in contrast to the black and white snow-covered ground and bare trees. Dina DuBois documented the work by taking many photographs of the adventure. Courtney, a consulting forester, explained previous boundary line marks and commented on “clues” she found of the forest’s past. Many old blazed marks done by a surveyor were seen and were repainted.

As we proceeded, Courtney pointed out that large, old trees can also show signs of where the property boundary is. Below, one an old sugar maple (maybe 150 years)  was left standing as a boundary tree when the rest of the forest was cleared for agriculture.  Courtney remembered a property in Washington, VT that had no other indication of where the property boundary line was except for a nearly straight row of large, older trees in an otherwise very young forest.

Barbed wire (used from the mid-19th century) and woven wire were also found attached to the same tree and showed the evolution of fencing materials used to mark boundaries and contain livestock. Our hike through the crusty snow on a mild windless day gave us time to reflect on the story that the forest trees tell us.

OCTOBER 18, 2015 — The Forest Frenzy had begun with Courtney Haynes doing heavy duty chain saw work cutting downed trees in the trails. Dan Wing showed up with his chain saw too. Brad Wheeler took off onto the Blue Trail to clip and saw after consultation at the map with Kevin. Scott Elledge and Lindle Sutton worked off energy on the Orange Trail while Dina pulled sprouts from that path. Kevin Eaton delighted in using the weed wrench. And Oggie doggie was a help by admiring the popped  milk weed pods. Brad discovered a hericium coralloides mushroom buried in a rotted log he moved. Enjoy a few photos…


MAY 2015 — Poet Tree Path. The first Centennial Celebration of Vermont’s Town Forests at the F.X. Shea Town Forest was the Poet Tree Path. April is National Poetry Month and the scholars in the third grade class at Waits River Valley School read animal poetry trading cards to each other. The animal poems were illustrated by the young artists in the WRVS Art Studio where they selected from a variety of different media to depict their images. The artwork and poems were on display at the WRVS art show  on April 29th. In mid-May the poems and illustrations were hung along the trails of the F.X. Shea Town Forest and the third grade scholars had a scavenger hunt to seek out their creations.

FX Shea Town Forest Poet Tree Path

FX Shea Town Forest Poet Tree Path

 


FEBRUARY 7, 2015 — Town Forest Photography Workshop. John Fogarty, a photographer and forester from Newbury, Vermont, led a Photography Workshop & Photo Walk in the F.X. Shea Town Forest on February 7, 2015. Participants put the lessons to work in the woods with some lovely photographs. Here is a sampling of photographs taken by participants Anne Bergeron, Dina DuBois, Susan Fortunati, Ramona Russin and Holly Waterman.


NOVEMBER 22, 2014 — “Come on out and shoot. Hunt for your best forest photo. FELLOW FOREST PHOTO FOLK WILL FIND THEIR WAY to the F.X. Shea Town Forest Corinth.” … such was the invitation to all intrepid hikers with camera gear. Frank Roderick, Jonathan Strong, Dina DuBois, Scott Elledge and Kevin Eaton joined together on this cold, miserable day. See what they saw from the cosy comfort of your computer screen, above. Come on the next PhotoWalk this winter!

Eliot Erwitt (1928) is a master of capturing ‘The Decisive Moment’… “To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…. I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” and “The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.”


JUNE 14, 2014 — The F.X. Shea Town Forest Trail Clearing Frenzy was helped out with machinery: chain saws, powerful post hole auger, and lawn mower and weed whipper. Dan Wing, Courtney Haynes and Frank Roderick mowed a path, broke up blow downs and dug nine holes for sign posts. Penny Andrew, Laurie Sheridan, Dina DuBois and Rik Sheridan cleared the Red Trail with clippers, a hand saw and the mighty weed wrench. Scott Elledge dragged tires out of the woods as well as clipped and tossed branches. The fun time was finished off with cider that Courtney made from her apple trees and some chocolate cake Dina brought along.


NOVEMBER 3, 2013 — On a beautiful fall day dedicated trail workers came out to help with trail maintenance and to build a timber frame kiosk, custom-designed by Adam Miller. Kevin Eaton, Frank Roderick on kiosk building/post hole digging. Kevin Eaton is in the picture where they are pushing the frame up as is Brad Wheeler, Adam and Frank. Flagging and clearing the blue trail were Courtney Haynes, Dina DuBois, Glynn Pellagrino, Anne McKinsey. Orange trail helpers were Dan Wing on chainsaw, while Ginny Barlow and Chris Doyle cleared the orange trail. Karen Swanson and Brad Wheeler also on the orange trail.


OCTOBER 19, 2013 — Hunter’s Full Moon Howl and Hike with moon tunes and masks! The grand rumpus began just after nightfall. Tea lights had been nestled along the path into the landing by Katie, Emma and Brittany. A small lion was heard howling, a donkey braying and a pig was seen dancing around the faux feu (fake fire). Two dogs led their companions into the cloudy but bright trail. Susanne Smith led with a little help from a small flashlight. The thirteen night hikers turned back when fallen trees blocked the way. Cider and apples awaited the animals as they gathered around the fire made of electric lanterns, crepe paper and real wood. Linda Tobin’s and Susanne’s voices helped everyone sing moon songs: By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Moondance, Harvest Moon, Moon Shadow… and Bill Tobin’s song set on his computer backed up the singers.


FEBRUARY 10, 2013 — This Interpretive Walk with Ted Levin included a dozen people. Ted Levin is a veteran naturalist and award-winning writer, whose essays have appeared in Audubon, where he’s a frequent contributor, also Sports Illustrated, National Wildlife, Sierra, National Geographic Traveler, Yankee, OnEarth, Boston Globe Magazine, Newsday, Chicago Sun Times, Nature Conservancy, Attaché, and more. Mr. Levin’s writing has been included in numerous anthologies including Harcourt Brace’s The Best American Sports Writing 2003 and The Curious Naturalist, National Geographic Books. He is the author of three critically acclaimed books, Backtracking: The Way of Naturalist, Blood Brook: A Naturalist’s Home Ground, and Liquid Land: A Journey Through the Florida Everglades, for which he was awarded the coveted 2004 Burroughs Medal for distinguished nature writing. Needless to say, it was an unforgettable afternoon.

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