On January 18th, roughly 50 people gathered in the northern part of Yale-Myers Forest to participate in the second annual Draft-Power Logging and Portable Bandsaw Mill Workshop. For those of you who remember the 2013 workshop, this go around was less bitter cold- the temperature hovered around 30 degrees- but the wintry sleet made for a pretty nasty day. Luckily, we were well fortified with homemade chili, a nice fire, coffee and hot chocolate and an aerobic box-making session to keep us warm.

The goal of this year’s workshop was to demonstrate how a small parcel of old field pine can be properly thinned to yield nice, small diameter timber while at the

same time leaving high quality pines to grow better and provide increased value to landowners. We chose an area that was thickly stocked with pine trees of differing timber quality. Often, small quantities, say 10-15 stems, of these 8”-12” pine trees get overlooked- but when you have a talented horse team, and a local small bandsaw mill- you can very quickly turn these pines into a nice pile of useful boards. The trees that are left are able to grow freely into the majestic, towering pines that give this tree its fine reputation.

Sam Rich and Erika Marczak of Abington brought two teams this year- one pair of black Percherons and a team of oxen who stood placidly in the precipitation

a Note from thecoordiNatorGreetings and hello from the Quiet Corner Initiative and the Yale School Forest. This spring and summer got off to a roaring start and we are pleased to get the 4th issue of the Quiet Corner Newsletter to you!

As some of you may know, Jeff Stoike has moved on from the Quiet Corner Coordinator position. A big thank you to him for all the work he has done. Jeff and the QCI put on a number of excellent events this past winter and spring.

The new year was rung in with bowls of steaming hot chili in the wintry Yale-Myers Forest where folks gathered to witness the second annual Draft-Power Logging and Portable Bandsaw Mill Workshop. In April, members learned about backyard mushroom production and went home with their own hand-inoculated shiitake logs. An agriculture forum was also held in April to explore ways for QCI to better support Quiet Corner farming. May presented the opportunity to learn about the details of conservation easements from experts in the field in a round robin workshop. And for the water lovers out there, a stream gauge was installed on Bigelow Brook to begin to monitor the impacts of Yale-Myers forest management on water quality.

Stay tuned for upcoming fall workshops as the QCI team begins planning the next round of workshops!

Cheers,Julius PasayQCI Coordinator

of hoof aNd harNessAlex Barrett, Forest Manager

Photo by Jeff Stoike

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News from the QUiet corNer

issUe 4 - sUmmer 2014

The QCI creates partnerships that expand the educational and research opportunities for students and faculty at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, while supporting the work of private landowners, natural resource managers, and forest industry professionals in and around the Yale-Myers Forest. The QCI supports strengthened local livelihoods, increased forest health, and rural economic development for the long-term benefit of the land and those that live on it by providing knowledge, energy, and expertise

to our partnering landowners and organizations.

when they were not being called into action. Sam and Erika again brought their wealth of knowledge about how to operate draft power in the woods- workshop participants learned what these animals and their drivers can and cannot do, and what they do particularly well when managed by a skillful operator- extract timber from the woods in a low impact, low carbon, quiet, and peaceful way. It was a joy to watch the animals strain at their harnesses or yokes and then smoothly pull a hitch of pine logs over to the bandsaw mill. The Percherons were the speedier of the two teams and Sam had them practically trotting down the woods road. The oxen were slow and steady and proved particularly valuable when Erika hooked them up to a system of webbing and chains to pull the logs up onto the bandsaw mill. Their deliberate steps and responsive movements meant that no fingers were smushed loading the logs onto the saw carriage.

Denis Day of Eastford was the sawyer for the workshop. He temporarily relocated his Woodmizer LT 40, a portable bandsaw mill, from a mill yard on his

property, where he saws everything from red oak tomato stakes to custom slabs for cabinetmakers. After setting up the machine, he demonstrated how he can take logs and turn them easily into lumber. The hum of the mill and Denis’ measured steps back and forth as he worked set a rhythm to the day. Workshop participants learned about wood utilization and the important calculations that the sawyer must make on the fly in order to end up with uniform 2 X 4s and not a series of 2 X 4s and then one errant 2 X 3.72. They also learned about the versatility and flexibility of small-scale, portable wood processing.

As the boards flew off the mill, Monte Kawahara (MF’13) led a team of Yale Forestry students who took the boards and turned them into windowsill planter boxes for workshop participants to take home as a memory of the day. The YMF (Yale-Myers Forest) Cattle Brand was back in full effect and few boxes were spared from the hot iron. All in all, it was another very successful workshop and we’re hoping for a three-peat next year!

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mUshroom mayhem Blair Rynearson, Master of Forestry ‘15

Photo by Jeff Stoike

Everyone left with a log. While this may sound odd, it was a clear indication of a successful shiitake mushroom cultivation workshop hosted at Yale-Myers Forest on April 13th. The Quiet Corner was blessed with the presence of Ken Mudge, professor of Horticulture at Cornell University and avid forest farmer, who espoused the merits of earning income, or just producing food, from fungus.

The event kicked off with a background of forest farming, and touched on a variety of cultivars, from ramps to ginseng. The lecture progressed into an overview of the science of mushroom cultivation and transitioned into an instructional lecture on the best management practices of establishing a small or large shiitake operation. With background on the why and how of shiitake cultivation, workshop participants were let loose to prepare their very own inoculated log!

It was quite the operation. Ken trucked down supplies, modified angle grinders, hot wax and saw dust injectors from his home in Ithaca, NY. He discussed the merits of different systems of inoculations and demonstrated the superiority of drilling holes in the log with an angle

grinder, via a race with the unfortunate owner of a cordless drill (the angle grinder has 5x the horse power!). Following a hands-on demonstration, participants jumped into a shiitake log production line that yielded more than 40 inoculated logs in less than two hours.

All that log lifting worked up an appetite, which was satiated by an amazing meal of burgers made from local beef, and a delicious mixed green, shiitake salad. After digesting and chatting around the campfire, the well-fed group headed down the hill to learn about “log laying”

techniques. Ken instructed differing methods for proper storage of inoculated logs to encourage fungal development. He covered “Japanese hill-side stacking”, “crib laying”, “A-frame laying”, and discussed the advantages of differing sites based on shade and moisture level.

With that, the group dispersed, logs over shoulders and cordless drills in hand, excited about the mushrooms that would fruit in a years time. A big thank you to Ken Mudge, Carl Whittaker, Colby Tucker, the QCI staff, and all those who participated!

save the date!• 1stAnnualHarvestFestivalSeptember 26, 3 - 10pm

Please join us for the 1st annual Yale-Myers QCI Harvest Festival. Live music, forestry competitions, bee-keeping demonstrations, a local food banquet, a screening of the movie King Corn, and much more! A great opportunity to meet faculty, staff, and students from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

All events are free and open to the public. Learn more at forestry.yale.edu/forests/outreach/events and download our handouts at forestry.yale.edu/forests/outreach/materials.

LeaviNG a (PaiNt) marK oN the LaNd: stUdeNts heLP maNaGe LocaL WoodLot

Claire Nowak, Master of Forestry ‘14

Blair sizing up the big timber. Photo by Eric Hansen

A forester’s day sometimes starts with a fairly ridiculous ritual: standing in the morning light on a gravel road, my classmate Julius and I each grab a one-gallon can of blue paint and proceed to shake it vigorously in silence for several minutes, an unlikely fitness routine performed in work boots and dirty sweaters.

It may look funny, but it is very serious – if you don’t shake it, the paint will clog up the spray guns we use to mark trees, and neither Julius nor I want to slow down the team today. It will be our first time working with a consulting forester to turn a landowner’s Management Plan into a harvest. The operation is a first time for the Quiet Corner Initiative too, and we are excited for this new development.

The forester is Eric Hansen from Ferrucci & Walicki. Eric starts by showing us how he tallies. Every single tree to be taken is painted and recorded: the species, the number of logs, and the quality of each log. Looking at a plant and seeing a finished product is not an easy mental process, but Eric is a patient teacher.

We are starting to know the area fairly well. John and Daryl Basch received a Management Plan two years ago from Evan Ray (MF ’12) and Alex Barrett (Forest Manager, MF ’12). The year after, I was part of the team that wrote the Harvest Plan implemented today. As we

walk through the woods, I recognize the old apple tree, the gravel pit, the streams draining towards towering hemlocks.

In one spot, we will work around wolf trees to open gaps where young oaks will grow. In another, we give beautiful maples sun and room to extend their crowns and produce sweet sap for a future sugar bush. Down by a stone wall the calls of wood frogs and the green flash of a skunk cabbage alert us to an ephemeral pool that we flag to make sure no machinery disturb it. When marking timber, each woodlot becomes a unique puzzle in space and in time: looking at every tree, we gauge the architecture of its branches, the shape of its crown, and try to picture how our decision to take or leave it will change the intimate mixture of the landscape for decades to come. When we’re done, we will see if a logger can come cut the timber; if not, John Basch will use our paint marks as a blueprint to manage his woodlot.

We stop for lunch, sitting on a fallen tree as Eric shares his experience as a forester – how landowners often ask him to do what’s best for the forest, but how there is no such thing as a single best solution. A few weeks from graduation, I see that listening to people’s vision for their land has been one of the most important lessons I’ve learned here. And the best classroom to learn it was not in New Haven, but in a quiet corner of Connecticut.

micro-hydro at yaLe-myers Drew Veysey, Master of Environmental Management ‘14

Micro-hydroelectric may be an option for power generation for landowners in the Quiet Corner. A cursory evaluation of the Branch Brook by Yale-Myers Camp revealed that the brook or similar brooks in the area might be able to provide relatively consistent power to Yale-Myers Camp or off-grid residences. However, seasonality is a big concern because power generation could be extremely low during dry periods or none at all if the stream freezes in the winter.

A stream gauge installed on the nearby Bigelow Brook (see article on page 4) will help link discharge patterns to preciptiation events and allow for better evaluations of micro-hydro power generation. Presently, impulse turbines using Pelton wheels may provide a good option as they work well under low-flow and high-head conditions. Small systems like these would not significantly alter the stream ecosystem and could provide sources of clean, renewable energy for Yale-Myers Camp or small residences.

Ben Hayes measures streamflow in Bigelow Brook. Photo by Jenn Hoyle

Issue 4 / Summer 2014The QCI Newsletter is brought to you by the Yale School Forests / 360 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511

Words by Alex Barrett, Claire Nowak, Julius Pasay, Molly Roske, Blair Rynearson, Jeff Stoike and Drew Veysey / Layout by Claire Nowak and Julius Pasay

yaLe schooL forests360 ProsPect streetNeW haveN ct-06511

Molly Roske, Master of Forest Science ‘14

This spring, thanks to the generous support of a QCI landowner-partner, students installed a stream gauge on Bigelow Brook near Westford Road in Ashford, CT. This gauge collects 30 min. averages of head and temperature. A 12-volt marine battery, charged with a solar panel, powers the data logger. Students are currently measuring velocity to calibrate head readings to discharge. In the future, we plan to add features to monitor rainfall and stream turbidity. Students hope to use the gauge data from Bigelow Brook to monitor changes in stream flow associated with changes in land use and land cover, particularly forest management operations, in the 17 square mile watershed upstream of the gauge.

Students begin calibrations on the newly installed stream gauge. Photo by Jeff Stoike

stream GaUGe iNstaLLed