Planting Trees
All posts by Jay Richards
Tree Planting
This Spring, just over 2500 coniferous trees were planted at Maplelag. The trees were planted near and along the ski trails and also in the remaining open areas in the skinny field. The trees planted include Norway pine, spruce and fir balsam. Over the years, close to 100,000 trees have been planted!! It is rewarding to see trees planted as seedlings 25 years ago now tower 20-30f feet high. Around 90% of the 650 acres at Maplelag has been enrolled in the MN Sustainable Forestry Initiative Act (SFIA Program) as of 2005. Photos below of this Spring.
http://picasaweb.google.com/6birdman6/TreePlantingPhotosMay09
Trail Report
A nice weekend in the woods. A few more signs of Spring as recent rains and warm temps slowly bringing the forest to life. We finished blowing out the singletrack for the mountain bike course and have mowed/cleared the ski trail sections where it is not to wet. Still a few low areas wet from high water tables but all in all for May 2nd the course is in great shape. Riding over the weekend was very nice and a handful of folks hitting the trail. We will sign the course this week and the trail is open for riding. The cormorants and pelicans that stopped by last week (photos below) on Little Sugarbush have moved on with only a few cormorants still around.
http://picasaweb.google.com/6birdman6/April29thTrailReportPhotos
Trail Report
Hard frost last night leaving the grounds and roofs solid white. Up and down Spring weather continues with a dusting of snow yesterday morning. Beautiful conditions this morning which should lead in to warmer temps today before we cool down again with chances of precipitation. Has been slow to green in the woods but slowly the trees are budding and other forest flora trying to emerge from the forest floor. With ice off of Little Sugarbush, the waters are alive with many types of waterfowl, including ducks, geese, trumpeter swans and a group of cormorants and pelicans dropping in last night. We have been working on the mountain bike singletrack and hope to have the entire course cleared this week. We have been riding on the course and riding has been good. We will sign the trail aftter we blow out the course and have the trail officially open.
Trail Report
A mixed bag of weather the end of the week. Temperature reaching lower 80’s on Thursday then cooling down to the lower 50’s Thursday night. Friday morning low at 45 degrees and falling temps during the day. Currently at 5pm Friday afternoon it is 36 degrees and a mix of rain/snow!! We started working on the trails used for the Laddies Loppet mountain bike course including mowing the ski trails and blowing off leaves on the singletrack. Riding the end of this week was pretty good. A few low/soft spots and a couple areas of water but the full loop is rideable and good shape for end of April. We hope to have the entire trail cleared by next week along with signage posted so we can open the trail for riding. We will also resume work on the new singletrack we are building over by the western ski trails in the month of May and plan to have a few trail days, allowing anyone who wants to spend some time in the woods clearing and building trail. More information will be posted on this page.
http://picasaweb.google.com/6birdman6/April22ndTrailReportPhotos