Before

After

Caretakers at work

June 7th Caretaking Project

It was a hot and humid day in the Pines- a perfect day to work in the swamp! Our volunteer team tackled two projects that afternoon. First, volunteers worked in some overgrown and exceedingly dense areas to open back up the animal runs. By doing so, deer and other animals will now move more easily through the swamp and help keep the area in balance. The branches and saplings that were removed were placed to provide habitat for birds and smaller mammals. The second project, perfect for a hot day, was to clear some areas of the stream. Previous logging practices had left remnants of logs in the stream. Not only do the logs act as dams, but silt and plant fibres had gathered behind the logs, creating a thick mud surface that prevents the springs from flowing smoothly. In a short period of time, the flow of the stream had noticable improved.

We thank our great volunteer team: Arty Soloman, Dan O'Neill, Tracy Evans, Val Kolaga, Jason Austin, Kurt Barnhart, Tim Thoman, Mike Walsh, J. Cookson, Volker Stern, Jim Bergesen, John Gasparich, Shannon Smith, Noah Bailey, Brieses Anderson, Jason Walker, Steven Weaver, Cory Berkins, Nicholas Varisano, Zack Judson, Vanessa Correa, Or Shefer, Umberto Taormina, Evan Adkins, Robert Bowler, Mason Anderson, Patricia, Sean Duffy, Owen Amos, Patrick Criscola and Rick Berry.

February 16th Caretaking Project

On February 16th our volunteers tackled another big Caretaking Project for the Medicine Waters Conservancy. There are many areas of the Pine Barrens that have not received fire management for a number of years. In the photo to the left, you can see an area that should be dominated by pines with interspersed with scrub oak. It's been 10 years since this area was burned and you can see how the oaks have taken over. This is not only crowding the pines and preventing other undergrowth, it is causing a fire hazard. Even if we were to burn this area now, the density and height of the undergrowth could cause irreparable fire damage to the pines. The only option is to remove by hand. Our hard working volunteers spent the day cutting out the excess of the undergrowth. From the "after" shot you can see how open and healthy it looks, back to its original growth pattern.

For more pictures of the crew at work, click here.

CARETAKING PROGRAM

Simply purchasing lands that are out of balance and disallowing development there will not restore balance. Until the forces at play that sustain the imbalance are corrected, the land will continue to languish: its presence weak, and its adaptability to environmental stressors compromised. Caretaking is the process of addressing the forces that compromise harmony, correcting them, and encouraging the natural character of each piece of land to unfold.

For these reasons, several months ago the MWC board of directors decided to begin to develop a “caretaking' program to augment our efforts to preserve and protect the Pine Barrens . Responsibility for developing this program was given to board member, Malcolm Ringwalt . He has developed an outline for a program as a starting point for our focus and as a basis for the further development of a plan that we can approach landowners and other conservancy groups with. We seek to caretake not only our lands, but the lands of other landowners who seek the maximum health of their lands.

CARETAKING MANAGEMENT PLAN

Goals

Using established principles of forestry, ecology and caretaking to evaluate the health of a forest preserve, we will develop a plan to return the forest preserve to a natural state, to support the life needs of the indigenous species that live there, and to fulfill the long-term and short-term goals of the client landowner. We will seek to achieve an ecological balance that respects the broad spectrum of plant and animal life that lives on the land and the physical influences of climate, soil composition, etc., that forms their habitat.

Forest Management Plan

For each tract that we contract with a landowner or conservancy group we will employ a project manager, a professional forester, to caretake and hire the caretakers who will work under the direction of the project manager to fulfill the tract objectives, goals and tasks.

Assessments of each property will include the following:

•  Property Logistics (such as size, topography, ground cover, drainage…)

•  Land History (ancient history, land formation, soil, ecology)

•  Forest Inventory and Mapping of the Land

•  Elements to be inventoried will include detailed substrate, wildlife, vegetation, rare and endangered species, tree species and density…)

•  Mapping will be utilized to discover the resources of the forest, to find areas in need of attention, to develop the long and mid-term objectives for the land, and to see the scope of the task for the particular forest.

Objectives will then be developed for each tract including:

•  Long-term objectives (20-50 years)- Helps provide a context to keep track of and measure effectiveness of the short-term objectives and express the vision of the management.

•  Specific area and project objectives

•  Short-term objectives (1-10 years)- Very specific to what will take place in each compartment such as trail maintenance or habitat improvements.

•  The objectives will be translated into work orders to keep track of actual work completed and track progress of the entire project.

INITIATING THE CARETAKER PROGRAM

Before we can begin this program several steps must be taken. First, we must finalize the program plan. Malcolm is forming a committee, answerable to the MWC board of directors, to assist with this work. We are seeking experienced people with degrees in forestry, ecology, or related disciplines along with people who have taken Tom's caretaking and/or nature class who would like to volunteer their time and efforts to see this plan brought to fruition.

We especially need people with knowledge and experience in forestry. Additionally, we are looking for writers and designers to create a brochure describing the plan as part of an outreach program, as well as other people knowledgeable in areas that might be able to offer help. (And “help” here means having some time to put into our efforts!) We want to focus on this as a short-run project to quickly complete a powerful, compelling, exciting, program that will change the way conservancy groups, as well as landowners, think about land preservation and caretaking.

If you are interested in working in a committee to help create this program, please email Malcolm at mringwalt@mac.com with the subject line "Caretaker Committee". For practicality, there are a limited number of slots available so please include a brief letter describing what you bring to the table—a resume, if you will.

Caretaker Fundraising

The Board has also authorized a separate fundraising effort for the caretaking program. Once the plan is completed, we will be seeking grants to pay for the equipment we will need, fund the professional foresters who will direct each caretaking project, and provide some form of stipend to each caretaker working the lands. However, that will be time-consuming to secure. Therefore, initially, for our first project, we are seeking to raise the moneys we will need from our membership. If you are interested, you can send a donation to the MWC and specify that it be directed to the Caretaking Program.