Site Descriptions

The following site descriptions (Figure 9) provide a summary of key landscape features in areas that were included in our field surveys (Appendix 3 and 4). Additional research will be needed to more fully document the biodiversity in each forest block. The following descriptions are presented in order of priority, with those we considered most ecologically significant listed first. Forest blocks of less than 250 acres were generally not considered, but this does not mean they do not harbor rare species, exemplary natural communities, or other important natural features as noted above. Only those forest block of less than 250 acres that were already known to contain significant features are included here.

It is important to remember that a forest block need not necessarily be the target unit for conservation activities. Rather, it should be viewed as a zone in which certain natural features exist so that planning can balance economic, social, development, and ecological priorities. Landowners who wish to learn whether their land contains rare species or exemplary natural communities should contact the NH. Natural Heritage Inventory directly at 603-271-3623.

Each description provides information on the following parameters:

• Forest block size
  • Acreage
  • Notes on block shape
• Ecological features
  • List of Site Names and Observation Points from 1999 fieldwork
  • Known rare plants and/or natural communities
  • Brief site description (See Appendix 3 for natural community names by observation points (OPs))
  • Likely forest cover types (based on Forest Cover Map, Figure 7)
  • Research needs
• Notes on feasibility of protection
  • Suspected threats to biodiversity
  • Potential protection strategies

Moose Mountain Site

Several large wetland complexes that drain east, together with the large forested area around Moose Mountain contribute to this area's topographic, hydrologic, and biological diversity. While the descriptions here can be taken separately, the entire suite of five blocks should be considered together as one high-priority site. These five blocks include Moose Mountain (North and South), Pressey Brook, Scales Brook, and Straw Brook.

Moose Mountain

Forest Block Size

• 7,436 acres
• Block is broad and irregular, stretching north-south, with considerable interior forest.
• Although functionally a single block, this appears as two blocks, separated by Old Wolfeboro Road that runs east-west near the center of the block. However, the class VI road does not functionally split the block in half. The data layer depicting roads for this area needs to be updated to reflect the Class VI status of Wolfeboro Road.

Ecological Features

• Three-Mile Road Wetland (OP 62); Moose Mountain North (OP 56-60); and Moose Mountain South (OP 1,2).
• Squirrel Corn (Dicentra canadensis, S2S3) was recorded in this forest block in 1993.
• Moose Mountain is heavily forested with deciduous, mixed and coniferous woods. Red spruce and balsam fir trees increase in prevalence with increasing elevation, but the dominant forest cover is red oak and northern hardwood species (sugar maple, beech, and yellow birch). Areas of pine and hemlock woods also exist throughout the block. This block also contains areas in Hanover most influenced by the January 1998 ice storm. Some areas on Moose Mountain have been logged in salvage operations since the ice storm.

There are relatively few wetlands in this block, with the exception of intermittent mountain streams, occasional forest seeps, and "Three-Mile Road Wetland," a series of beaver ponds with alluvial shrub thickets, open water, and shallow emergent marshy vegetation. This block also connects large unbroken tracts of forest with similar wilderness in Lyme and Canaan, and provides important habitat for some of New Hampshire's larger wildlife species, including bear, moose, bobcat, ravens, and other species.

Research needs include further inventory of forest cover types, current timber management practices, and feasibility to expand currently protected forest tract.

Notes on feasibility of protection

• Incompatible logging practices and development are potential threats.
• The Appalachian Trail lands provide considerable protection along the northern ridge of Moose Mountain. Connecting or expanding current conservation lands would be a good strategy in this block. Opportunities to connect currently protected land include gaps between Appalachian Trail land and the Goodwin Forest in the north; and the gap between the Dana property and the Karl Conservation Easement in the south. Protection efforts should also focus on mountain stream corridors.

Pressey Brook

Forest block size

• 793 acres
• Trapezoid shaped; defined by town boundary; block extends into Canaan and Lyme

Ecological features

• Pressey Brook Wetlands (OP 28-31)
• Pressey Brook's natural communities combine to create a diverse wetland complex that includes sedge meadows, graminoid marshes, alluvial shrub thickets, open flowing water and aquatic communities, and upland timber managed forest. Although timber management has reduced forest cover, the wetland complex is currently in good condition.
• Forest cover likely includes white pine, red oak and northern hardwood forest types. This area provides abundant wildlife habitat for deer, moose, bear, beaver, wetland dependent birds, and many other species.
• Forest inventory would help evaluate forest natural communities.

Notes on feasibility of protection

• Threats to biodiversity include inappropriate forestry practices and development.
• Increasing the size of the Marshall Brook Wetlands Area would protect more wetland and wildlife habitat.

Scales Brook

Forest block size

• 1,162 acres
• Roughly rectangular

Ecological features

• Scales / Lovejoy Brook (OP 38,61)
• No known rare plants and/or exemplary natural communities.
• Scales Brook wetland is similar in character to Pressey Brook. Tall shrub thickets mix with open aquatic areas and graminoid and sedge marshes. The uplands of this block appear more fragmented, with more open fields and developed areas.
• Forest cover types likely include red oak and northern hardwood forests, with more pine and hemlock stands in lower elevations. Like Pressey Brook, this site provides abundant wildlife habitat.
• Forest inventory would help evaluate forest natural communities.

Notes on feasibility of protection

• Threats to biodiversity include inappropriate forestry practices and development.
• This block currently has no known protected lands. Protection efforts should focus on the wetland complex for its wildlife habitat value, and on buffering forestlands.

Straw Brook

Forest block size

• 616 acres
• Triangular. This block also extends into Canaan.

Ecological features

• No inventories were conducted in 1999. No known rare species or exemplary natural communities occur in this block.
• Forests appear primarily deciduous, with mixed forests and conifers primarily associated with wetland edges. Straw Brook appears to have a fairly diverse wetland complex, likely similar to Pressey Brook, however no field inventories have been completed to date.
• Base-line field inventories are needed in this block.

Notes on feasibility of protection

• This block currently has no known protected lands. Protection efforts should focus on the wetland complex for its wildlife habitat value, and on buffering forestlands.

Central Hanover Site

The following three large forest blocks occur near the center of the town, and although surrounded by residential housing development and open fields, represent the second priority for landscape-level biodiversity protection. Much of Hanover's drinking water comes from these blocks, and several rare plant species and natural communities are known from these areas. The block names given here are Water Works Company Lands West, Lord's Hill, and Velvet Rocks.

Water Works

Forest block size

• 2,387 acres
• Irregular and broad, with extensive interior forest space

Ecological features

• Storrs Pond (OP 35, 36); Rinker Tract (OP 37); Oak Hill (OP 32-34); Water Works (OP 3-13).
• Arethusa (Arethusa bulbosa, S1), a rare orchid, was recorded on this block in 1893.
• This block contains a rich diversity of natural community types and topographic variation. On the western edge, the block sits on Ammonusuc Volcanics bedrock, which contributes important enriching nutrients to the soil. Forest natural communities reflect this enrichment with a relatively higher species richness than most other New Hampshire forests. Semi-rich hemlock-beech-oak-pine with ironwood in the understory stretch from the summit of Oak Hill to the Rinker Tract's towering pine and hemlocks. Signs of enriched soils include the presence of white ash and butternut trees, with maidenhair fern and foamflower in the understory. The majority of the Waterworks forests are managed for timber, and have been converted into row tree plantations. Although these forests are not "natural," some of the ecological functions for forests and wildlife habitat are likely intact.
• Research needs include working with Waterworks timber managers to understand rotation schedules and logging history.

Notes on feasibility of protection

• Biodiversity should be encouraged as a management goal in at least some of the forests in this block. Approximately 1,922 acres of this block are already under some form of protection (nearly 80%), but this includes timber management and recreation as primary management goals. Protecting the southeastern-most corner between the Appalachian Trail and Partridge Road would broaden the Trail's corridor.
• Threats to this block include fragmentation from residential development and inappropriate timber harvesting.

Velvet Rocks

Forest block size

• 1,422 acre
• Roughly rectangular, with high quality forest interior

Ecological features

• Velvet Rocks (OP 14-15); Greensboro Road wetland complex (OP 16-21, 44-46)
• Three rare plants are currently known to occur in this forest block: Northern waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum, S2), Goldie's fern (Dryopteris goldiana, S2), and squirrel corn (Dicentra canadensis, S2S3), all grow at Velvet Rocks along the Appalachian Trail. One exemplary natural community, a rich mesic forest (S3), also occurs at Velvet Rocks
• This forest block, by virtue of the Velvet Rocks area on the Appalachian Trail, has some of the rarest plant populations in Hanover. The forest condition is excellent along the Trail corridor, and good quality forest cover extends beyond the trail boundaries as well. Forests and wetlands south of the Trail corridor ("Greensboro Road wetland complex") also have some surprisingly high quality forests and wetlands. The Greensboro Road Slope forests, primarily semi-rich hemlock-beech-oak-pine forests, are diverse and similar in character to the Oak Hill forests. Logging activity in the past lowers their present value with respect to biodiversity, but they provide a buffer function for the Greensboro Wetland site. The Greensboro Road wetland complex extends upslope to the north and includes high quality emergent marshes and streamside swamps. Greensboro Hill, at Observation Point 18, has hemlock-spruce-northern hardwood forest in good to excellent condition, especially on the north and west facing slopes.
• Most of this block is forested, except along the surrounding roads on the eastern and western ends, where there are considerable open fields. Mixed woods occur along wetland edges, and the steepest slopes around Velvet Rocks and Greensboro Hill are dominated by hemlock and other conifers. These forests are influenced by the steep and repetitive north-south trending ridgelines, with conifer trees growing on the steepest slopes and thinner soils.
• Velvet Rocks and wetland areas should be inventoried for rare spring ephemeral wildflowers to confirm their presence or absence.

Notes on feasibility of protection

• Likely threats to biodiversity include continued residential development, especially along Greensboro and East Wheelock Roads.
• Broadening the current Appalachian Trail corridor, especially along wetlands and streams flowing into Mink Brook, and between Hanover Waterwork's southern boundary and the northeast corner of the block (near Trescott Road's sharp turn), would considerably expand current conservation land and protect these resources.

Lord's Hill

Forest block size

• 1,058 acres
• Irregular/rectangular shape with extensive forest interior

Ecological features

• Lord's Hill (OP 52-55)
• No known rare plants and/or exemplary natural communities
• Lord's Hill block features a relatively large unbroken forest block on and around Lord's Hill. Relatively species rich hemlock-beech-oak-pine forests attest to the slight enriched bedrock and "sweet" soils forming the hill. These forests are mostly mixed, with a white pine ridge at the highest elevation. Extremely steep slopes on the west side of the hill have talusy, shallow soils, with dead and down woody debris.
• A tributary of Mink Brook originates in this block and flows south. Although this wetland was not inventoried in 1999, it is most likely similar in character to other drainages with riverside swamp thickets and shallow marshes.
• While deciduous forests are the dominant cover type, there is considerable acreage in open fields, especially on the southern and eastern sides of the block, along Dogford and Two Mile Roads, respectively.

Notes on feasibility of protection

• Threats to biodiversity include continued fragmentation from residential development and inappropriate timber harvesting.
• Steps should also be taken to protect wetland resources in this tract, especially those that flow into Mink Brook. Connecting protected lands to the north (Huntington Hill) and south (Waterworks Land) would create a second substantial north-south corridor (with Moose Mountain) for wildlife habitat and biodiversity protection.