​Monday, August 10th

6:00PM - 7:00PM

Wind, Fire, & the Untouched Forest of the Sunapee Ridge: the Effects of the 1938 Hurricane and a Massive 1947 Forest Fire

The Friends of Mount Sunapee is proud to sponsor this talk by John Magee. Read the description below in John’s words:

“Prior to 1938, the untouched, old growth forests of the Sunapee Ridge thrived, too far from even portable sawmills, and far too steep and rocky to make any harvesting even close to profitable. So, they were left alone. The Hurricane of 1938 knocked down much, but not all, of the magnificent old growth forests there, and most of the damage was on the east side of the ridge; the forests on the west side were mostly just fine. A massive forest fire in 1947, fueled by so much downed wood, started on the east side of the ridge, moved over the top and down parts of the west side, and burned literally every tree in many areas.

To document where the hurricane and fire damage occurred, and importantly, where it did not, I used aerial imagery from 1943, 1953 and later, two years of field data of tree species, sizes and crown and canopy damage, photographs from various years and interviews with a man who fought the fire at the age of 17. From this information, I was able to piece together the effects on forests from these two major events - and document the existing old growth forests still intact and thriving.”