Branch Hill Farm

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Preservation Purposes of Branch Hill Farm (CSFCT)

In 1996, after careful consideration, Carl Siemon decided to change the organizational structure of Branch Hill Farm from his ownership to a Private Operating Foundation. The Carl Siemon Family Charitable Trust was formed, and is recognized by the IRS as a §501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and is registered with New Hampshire Attorney General Charitable Trusts Unit.

The purposes of the Carl Siemon Family Charitable Trust as listed in Article II of the Trust's Organizational Documents are as follows:

Each year the managing trustee, Cynthia Siemon Wyatt, gives a report to the Trustees at their annual meeting held in September.

The following are excerpts from the Annual Report on the Farm's activities in 2006 related to PRESERVATION:

Preservation, Protection, and Maintenance of fields and forests

USDA'S EQIP — Environmental Quality Protection Program

2006 is Branch Hill Farm's third year of participation in the 10 year EQIP federal cost sharing program. View map (GIF or PDF).

New Woodland Access Road and Bridge

In 2004 and 2005, the EQIP Program helped fund the construction costs of a timber bridge over the Jones Brook, and to build 2800' feet on the access road off of Mason Rd into this large woodlot. In 2006, CSFCT contracted with Royle & Dube to finish the construction of 6012 feet of this woodland road. The 8812' woodland access road on this parcel is now complete. Prior to this cost sharing work, we did not have full access to this 440 acre woodlot. Additionally, we contracted with Royle & Dube to construct another woodland road off of Piggot Hill into the 300 acre Jones Brook woodlot. This road is 3253 feet long.

Timber Stand Improvement

Employee Robert Wagner has completed 30 acres of timber stand improvement off of the new Teneriffe Mt. and Jones Brook woodland roads. The new shoots from the oaks provide plentiful browse for all types of wildlife. Our Strafford County Forester, Don Black, has inspected Bob's work, and states he does the best job on TSI in this area.

Management of Woodlots

CSFCT's Forester Roger Leighton worked with Royle & Dube Timber Harvesters on modest timber harvest on the following properties which totaled 95.6 BF of timber, 3780 of pulp.

Woodlot	Timber	Pulp
Boris SW lot (Red Pine)	14.905 BF	251 tons pulp
Tripp Heirs lot	26.522 BF	857 tons pulp
Piggot Hill	2.82 BF	233 tons pulp
Thompson	21 BF	264 tons pulp
MFA	30.633BF	2174 tons pulp

Steve Royal is a graduate of the Thompson School of Forestry and UNH, and has worked off and on at Branch Hill Farm for 15 years. He understands our desire to perform sustainable timber harvesting practices. CSFCT’s Forester, Roger Leighton checks his work, and reports that he is doing a good job. All harvesting is done according the management plan that we have for each woodlot.

Bob Wagner continued to work on marking our boundaries with aluminum conservation boundary signs to prevent accidental logging encroachment on our property.

The CSFCT is still participating in the Adopt-A-Highway program, and keeps litter picked up on the land along Applebee Rd. most of which belongs to the CSFCT.

Management of fields

Hay production was about 1000 bales less than 2004, with total of 7500 bales produced. This may be an indicator that we need to reseed some of the fields to boost the yield. Additionally, we made a deliberate decision not to hay the Alfalfa field, and leave it as a wildlife area. It is weedy, and typically not a great producer because of the sandy soils. We mow it once a year in the fall.

Preserve, Protect, and Enhance the variety of native wildlife in the following ways

• The 2 miles of newly seeded woodland roads, along with the mowed 40 miles of access roads provide graze for wildlife.
• CSFCT timber harvesting management practices typically leave mast oak and beech trees for wildlife, and groves of hemlock for deer yards, and plentiful poplar for grouse.
• Our decision to take the 5 acre field by the heath out of hay production, and to manage for wildlife will promote and sustain native wildlife such as deer and turkey. Furthermore, the birds that nest in grasslands will be able to hatch their eggs since we are no longer mowing this field. This will preserve, and protect the native species such as bob a links, and grouse that nest in fields and on edges of fields.
• The 100 acres of mowed hay field provide foraging habitat for many species, especially raptors. We have an American Kestral pair nesting in the pine trees in the field across from the barn.
• The large contiguous tracts of lands in conservation, such as the 400 acre Thompson parcel surrounded by water can sustain larger species of wildlife such as moose and bear. The mix of habitat including forest, field, wetlands, riparian corridors provide a rich diversity of habitat, attracting and sustaining a large variety of species. There have been plentiful sightings of wildlife in on this beautiful tract of land.
• The Fish & Game representatives that went on the Branch River Paddle reported that the river is in a very healthy condition. They pointed out several wildlife species along the edges of the river such as kingfisher, mergansers, ducks, geese, herons, and lots of fish in the clear river water. Dr. Haney’s grad student showed off a catch of mussels, another indicator of a healthy river.
• CSFCT Managing Trustee’s collaborative work with Moose Mountains Regional Greenways, and Society for the Protection of NH Forests promoting connections with other conservation lands close to CSFCT lands is one of the most effective strategies in preserving, protecting, and enhancing the wildlife on the Trust’s property. According to wildlife experts, the best way to sustain the native wildlife is by permanently preserving large corridors of wildlife habitat. By joining greenways that potentially connect our conservation lands with other conservation lands in the region, we are providing migratory corridors of a mix of habitat for all varieties of wildlife.
• The CSFCT has given permission to the NH Natural Heritage Bureau to walk the property to inventory occurrences of rare species and exemplary natural communities on the property. This information will be integrated in with our management plan on the various woodlots. I couldn’t restore the bullet above. It was fine the way it was.

Preserve, Protect and Enhance the quality of other natural resources and features such as air & water by

• Promoting the preservation of lands adjacent to and which share the same watershed as the CSFCT. The managing director of CSFCT is also chair of Milton Conservation Commission, and founding member of Moose Mountains Regional Greenways. Her work with these organizations involves developing strategies to work with local landowners of the most important natural resource lands to protect the area's watershed, which protects, preserves, and enhances the quality of the water flowing through CSFCT properties. These projects keep land open and forested, and surface waters buffered, all of which help to mitigate water degradation, and air pollution on CSFCT lands.

2006 completed land protection projects in the same watershed as CSFCT

• Facilitated by Milton Conservation Commission: 20 acre field on Teneriffe Mt. across from CSFCT lands.
• Milton's Conservation Fund donated toward the match for the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program to buy the easement of 30 acres of historic blueberry fields on Teneriffe Mt. This property is across from CSFCT property.

2006 Land Protection Projects Facilitated by Moose Mountains Regional Greenways (MMRG):

• MMRG facilitated the protection of 116 forested acres on Union Meadow conserved. Union Meadows in the damned portion of the Branch River, and is only a few miles from where it flows onto the CSFCT property.
• 2189 acre Moose Mountain Project completed creating 4000 acres of adjoining protected forestlands. 2006 marked the completion of this project with SPNHF owning and managing the parcel as one of its largest reservations. This property is only 4 miles from CSFCT property, and forms the headwaters of the Branch River.

On-going projects facilitated by MMRG

• Salmon Falls Headwater Project: This project includes 340 acres off of Jug Hill Rd in Milton Mills with 7000 feet of river frontage along the Salmon Falls River. This project is only a few miles from Branch Hill Farm property that is also bordered by the Salmon Falls River. SPNHF has taken the lead in applying for the state LCHIP grant to help fund this project. The grant requires a 25% match of "in-kind" donations. The CSFCT board agreed to provide match for this project with a donation of a conservation easement of 350 acres of landlocked property along the Jones Brook, which feeds into the Salmon Falls. Other local landowners have also donated easements on their property.
• Sewall Family Property across the Salmon Falls River in Lebanon, Maine: The Sewell family owns 3,200 acres of forest land directly across from the CSFCT's 400 acre Thompson parcel. The Three Rivers Land Trust in Lebanon and Acton Maine are working with the Sewell Family and other funding organizations in Maine. The protection of this property would preserve, protect, and enhance CSFCT property.

Provide multiple public use of the Real Property provided such use is not detrimental to the purposes of the Trust:

• All of the CSFCT lands are open for multiple recreational use, except for motorized wheeled vehicles. Most gates are marked with a Land Share sign welcoming people onto the land.
• 2 additional miles of woodland trails were added in 2006 for the recreational enjoyment of local communities for hiking, cross country skiing, and snow mobiling.
• We now have GPS maps of all the trails, and many people stop in for them.
• In 2006, we had school groups come 4 times for orienteering workshops.
• We also have groups on the property for geo-cashing – finding hidden treasures using GPS.
• The CSFCT provided a small grant to the NH Farm Museum to support the development of a trail system, which connects to our trails across Rt. 125.
• The Wentworth Hunt ran 4 events on the property, including the Benefit Ride on WWW Day for MMRG.
• CSFCT has developed a good relationship with the local Evergreen Valley snowmobile club. In 2006, we gave them permission to build sheds with maps, and they have a key to groom the trails. In return, they help do some maintenance work on the trails.

© 2007 Branch Hill Farm