Welch and Dickey mountains located on the southwest corner of New Hampshire’s White Mountains are unique for a variety of reasons. Their open ledges are home to one of the few populations of Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana). The ledges on both mountains covered in sub-alpine “granite outcrop communities,” characterized by different lichens, mosses, blueberries and small population of threatened Appalachian sandwort (Minuartia glabra) — also known as smooth sandwort and mountain sandwort, and smooth mountain sandwort (Minuartia groenlandica is also know as mountain sandwort in New Hampshire, and grows in the Alpine zones, such as Franconia Ridge).

Welch’s first set of ledges is also the home of a unique restoration and protection effort since the late 1980′s that has pulled in a number of partners along with the United Stated Forest Service, the land manager.  While the active part of this effort has started and stopped over the years, with summit stewards some years and placing various sorts of protective barriers (rock, brush, logs) and educational at different stages, we have been able to track the overall success of the project through periodic inspection.  To read the most recent report of the Informal Welch Advisory Committee, see Informal Welch Advisory Meeting, July 21, 2010.

On Sunday August 29, had the pleasure of hiking the mountain with the first successful Welch Summit Steward, Dick Fortin who worked on the mountain in 1991-92.  Dick’s continued initial work and his continued interest in the mountain earned him the 2007 Guy Waterman Alpine Steward Award. Dick had been unable to make the July 21 advisory meeting, so this was a chance for additional inspection and review,  Dick carried a packet of his original photos and we were able to compare some of the target outcrop communities and dick was ready with his camera to document some of the change.

Another recommended reading from Whiteblack Correspondent Erin Honeycutt’s blog:

Fresh off the evening schooner trip with a cup of rum/cocoa and NEWS:

Hello August! Yesterday, we saw a mother and calf Blue Whale which was astonishing. They haven’t been seen in Skjalfandi Bay since early June, and still it is very rare to see them, the largest animals to ever exist on planet earth! That’s larger than dinosaurs! The guide gave a helpful ratio: a Blue Whale heart is roughly the size of a small car. They weigh 200 tons, grow up to 80 feet, and blow water up to 30 feet from their blowholes. The pair seemed to have just been in the bay on a little detour because they were shortly heading North…  to continue reading, click here.

Prepared by Nat Scrimshaw

On Wednesday, July 26 we attempted the first Welch Mountain Advisory meeting in two years.  This is an informal group includes representatives from the United States Forest Service (USFS — the land manager), the Waterville Valley Athletic and Improvement Association (WVAIA — the historic trail tender), the Chiltern Mountain Club (the Trail Adopter), the Rey Foundation, as well as individual advisors Chris Hilke, Laura Waterman (the Waterman Foundation), and Tom Wessels.  Despite a great effort to coordinate schedules, unexpected circumstances left us with only three people: Nat Scrimshaw (Rey Foundation), Dan Newton (WVAIA), and Laura Waterman.  This hearty three proceeded up the mountain and even though we were missing much wisdom we made good use of our time.

Welch restoration work beginning in the 1980′s

A bit of history for those new to Welch and Dickey mountain stewardship, in the late 1980′s the Sandwich Range Conservation Association (SRCA) began to be concerned about the increasing damage to the fragile granite outcrop communities on the first ledges on Welch.  By 1991, SRCA, in cooperation with the USFS, made the decision to hire a dedicated “summit steward”  (this after a fews years of trying to mix trail work with summit stewardship). We found, in the words of Laura and Guy Waterman, “an off-beat, non-traditional, extremely observant and shrewd ecologist by the name of Dick Fortin.”  Dicks work over two two years while obtaining his masters degree from Antioch New England Graduate School turned “Welch Mountain’s little quasialpine area… ” into “…a hotbed of interesting experimental approaches to onsite education and public involvement”  (Backwoods Ethics, pages 205-206).  Dick was recognized for his stewardship and creativity when he received the 2007 Guy Waterman Alpine Stewardship Award. Dick’s graduate advisor, Tom Wessels, later mentioned Welch and the restoration project in The Granite Landscape: A Natural History of America’s Mountain Domes, From Acadia to Yosemite. To read a report in Dick’s own words from the August edition of the Sandwich Range Journal, click here.

SRCA wound up its work in 1998, and by 2005 Welch’s ledges were again suffering, though some areas still showed the benefit of the work from the early 90′s.  Dick again was the catalyst to get things moving, contacting me and suggesting that something needed to be done.  I had just returned after many years living in Costa Rica and was ready to partner to address the deterioration of conditions on the ledges.  Again, we turned to Tom Wessels and the Antioch New England Graduate School, as well as the Waterman Fund for assistance.  In the early days of being back in the United States  I had put together an informal “Center for Mountain Stewardship” to focus attention on projects like Welch recovery.  Dick Fortin was able to otain a grant from the Waterman Fund and we were able to and we were able to hire another Antioch New England graduate student — Chris Hilke— through the summer of 2005.

Chris worked another summer on Welch, and was able to use Welch as a site for his masters research.  By 2006 I was formally working as Director of the Curious George Cottage in Waterville Valley, and the activities of the informal Center for Mountain Stewardship were managed under the Cottage.

Summary of work, 2005-2009

Chris immediately began repairing and reinforcing the rock and brush ‘barriers’ that outlined the outcrop community ‘islands.’  Dick repaired the old summit kiosk and built a second summit kiosk (so people would see information coming from both sides of the trail), and I developed printed information for the kiosks.  Chris also experimented with a brush-piling technique, where he mashed snarled branches on top of the islands, making it difficult to actually enter the outcrop community (all previous ‘barriers’ were easy to step over and simply gave a visual cue to hikers to stay away).  The brush piling also increased the accumulation of organic material that we hoped would aid to recovery of soil and plants.  Chris was another creative thinker who also brought a great deal of scientific rigor to his study of the human impact on Welch’s outcrop communities. To read his reports, research proposal and Masters thesis, see pdf downloads below.

Download Chris’ 2005 Welch report (pdf format).

Download Chris’ 2006 Welch report (pdf format).

Download Chris’ 2006 Research Proposal (Natural Resource Inventory)

Download Chris’ 2006 Summary of Research Proposal (Natural Resource Inventory)

Dowload Chris’ 2007 Masters Thesis,  Visitor impacts, succession, and substrate depth on the granite outcrop “island” communities of Welch Mountain, New Hampshire (pdf format)

At the last meeting of Welch Advisors in 2008, we reviewed the brush-piling and recommended that this be discontinued and the brush removed. The primary concern was that is was too successful in catching organic debris and might change the soil chemistry that supported this unique ecological community.  Secondarily, it further pushed the aesthetic envelope.  In the early days of the placing rocks around the outcrop communities,  the question of aesthetics had reared its — dare I say ugly — head, and had stopped restoration efforts for a period.  Backcountry aesthetics and its relationship to environmental ethics is a tricky problem (see my 1991 essay, Trail Tending: Tradition, Ethics, and Esthetics). However, the question remained, how to continue to keep people off plants and soils.  The ring-of-rocks approach had been successful to a degree, had endured surprisingly long, and, over time, seemed to be more aesthetically acceptable, but it was very labor intensive: rocks could not be removed from the areas adjacent to the ledges for fear of doing damage to other outcrop communities.  It would require hauling rocks from lower down the mountain.  Tom hit upon a labor saving idea:  use logs cut from a nearby forest stand and prop them on a pair of rocks.  This would save rocks and clearly delineate the outcrop communities.  During the summer of 2008, the WVAIA trail crew and summit steward began to implement this plan. By the spring of 2009 we noticed one problem: a few hikers had tossed some of the logs over the ledges for fun or malice. This is when another Tom, Tom Fowke of the 2009 WVAIA Trail Crew, suggested pegging the logs together with wooden dowels. The 2009 Crew did an enormous amount of work adding logs and pegging them together.

Our thoughts, July 21, 2010

Enough of history! At our 2010 advisory meeting reviewed the results of the brush removal, placing of logs and kiosk information.

The combination of pegged logs and the removal of brush seemed to have been successful in keeping people off of the outcrop communities with some improvement in Esthetics. We agreed that the bio-physical condition of the ledges looks the best it has in many years. Where the logs are well placed and secured and in combination with rocks that show lichen and moss growth, one might hesitantly call the effect attractive. However, the overall look still leaves something to be desired.

Esthetics has always been a difficult question with the project. As mentioned above, some objected to the using stones to ring the outcrop communities. Esthetics also vary from person to person, and it can be difficult to come to an agreement as to what is acceptable in a backcountry setting. However, there are such things as principles of design that sometimes transcend our relative differences. We endeavored to look for these in suggesting improvement.

Some of what was unappealing was the zig-zag effect of the logs in contrast to the curves of the actual outcrop communities. In this regard, the old stone work was quite nice. Recommendations to improve aesthetics: shorten some of the logs to mimic the natural curve of the outcrop communities. Also remove remaining piled brush. Note on brush: while in most of the ledges the brush-piling may have been a threat to soil chemistry, in one spot there was clear benefit: when we removed the brush what had been gravel was now an expanding zone of cyanobacteria, lichens, Three-toothed Cinquefoil (Sibbaldiopsis tridentata), and native grasses (pictured in the photograph above).   What we are seeing here is the restoration of a completely de-vegetaded area.

Regarding educational efforts, there are no current summit stewards, but the two summit kiosks have information, and the mid-trail routed sign that had had a confusing message has been replaced by an excellent brief message that is in the same style as those in the Alpine Zone.  The kiosk at the base of the mountain has the same map (now fading) that has been there many years and generic USGS info.

Recommendations regarding education: if possible, it would be nice to have a summit steward in 2011 who could work on the above recommended aesthetic changes as well as provide onsite information.  The summits kiosks need to be updated to reflects the current management approach.  Where the mid-trail sign was there continues to be a great opportunity for educational material:  people naturally stop at this point to catch their breath:  it is likely people will read and text and look graphics here.  Perhaps the current Alpine-Zone style sign could be located relocated on the summit kiosks?  While would be nice to replace the lower kiosk center with a new, more colorful map, and perhaps have information on the ledges project, most people are busy to get on with their hike and will pass this kiosk without a glance.  It would be far better to invest in the mid-trail sign location for more educational information.

***

Our hope is that we can continue the  collaborative effort that has both protected Welch’s granite outcrop communities, and be the source of much creative thinking and shared stewardship.

Whiteblack Correspondent Erin Honeycutt has written a series of beautiful and thoughtful essays from her travels, living and work in Iceland.  Below is an exerpt from her latetst entry, call it in code, or by those birds. You can also read:

• Lava Landscape

• In the Belly of a Whale

call it in code, or by those birds
Posted on July 24, 2010 by Erin Honeycutt

On Tuesday morning, at 3 am we did the second line transect of the summer. During these, we only track the cetaceans that we see in our direct line, which travels in a zigzag up the bay, about six lines in all. One person is up in the crow’s nest, noting what they see, but without telling anyone else until afterwards in orderto see how many cetaceans the trackers might actually be

missing. Two others stand on either side of the wheelhouse and scan with binoculars, and one sits beside them and enters their tracks into the tracking program. I stretched out on the back bench during really long swells when I was on my break and read Moby Dick which gives all of this number entry and data collection concerning cetaceans an exciting and much needed narrative spirit; it’s definitely keeping things interesting when dealing with a lot of raw data. When Edda was also on break, she taught me a few new words in Icelandic. I learned ‘kanel snuðer’ which means cinnamon swirl, and ‘snuðer’ also is a pet name for something cute or petite, and ‘eg er veik’ which means ‘I’m sick.’ I learned a lot of Icelandic that I have no idea how to spell, but I usually need help with pronunciation when reading it anyway.Being surrounded by Icelandic is starting to give me more linguistic comfortability with how it sounds around you, and how it sounds coming out of my own mouth. People will usually come up to me and start speaking in Icelandic and I just open my mouth blankly for a few seconds before I remember that I don’t speak this language and I have to tell them something.  To read more, click here.