Vermont Timber to Become Part of National Museum of Forest Service History

Timber from Bennington County will represent Vermont and be one of a few dozen logs from across the United States to stand in the National Museum of Forest Service History.

A Sugar maple harvested from the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont will help hold up the roof of the new National Museum of Forest Service History, under construction in Missoula, Montana. Timber from Bennington County will represent Vermont and be one of a few dozen logs from across the United States to stand in the Museum. The overall goal was to collect timbers from different parts of the country to help tell the story of the role of the National Forests in the development of our country.

"It was great collaboration between one of our timber sale purchasers, our sale administration team, Forest Service Retirees, and local volunteers," said Green Mountain National Forest Silviculturist Chris Casey. He and the Forest timber staff worked with volunteers, timber owners, and purchasers from Vermont and New Hampshire who volunteered to produce, mill, and truck the log to be used for the project.

Vermont's donated tree is estimated to be more than 100 years old and comes from an area once cleared for farming, now reverted back to forest. The maple log for the museum was selected from the Snow Valley Timber Sale near Bromley Mountain Ski Area in the town of Winhall. It was harvested in one of the several National Forest timber sales Alan Plumb operates in the towns of Winhall and Weston.

The tree needed to be sound; minimum 18 inch diameter with four clear sides reasonably straight for 12 feet. "Trees of this size are common to the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont because the Forest Service grows our trees a bit longer than most private lands. It's great to see the lands that nobody wanted now producing quality timber with more than 75 years of management by the Forest Service," stated Casey.

The tree was selected and marked by two Forest employees, sale administrator Gary Miner and Forest Technician Bill Garrison. The tree was cut by Caleb Martin, grandson of Alan Plumb and was sawn into a square cant for the museum post at the Plumb Family sawmill in Andover. Wax was added to the ends of the cant to help keep it from weather checking on its trip to Montana.

Pick-up and delivery to Montana was coordinated by volunteers Tom Thompson and Bruce Jackson, a Forest Service Retiree from New Hampshire.

Other timbers from the Region include: a "tapped maple" and a red spruce from Thompson's Tree Farm in New Hampshire, a yellow birch from the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, A black cherry from the Allegheny N. F. in Pennsylvania, an aspen from the Superior N.F. in Minnesota, a red pine from the Chippewa N.F. in Minnesota, a red oak and black walnut from the Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia, a yellow poplar from the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana, an ash from the Huron-Manistee NFs in Michigan, and an eastern white pine from the Chequamegon-Nicolet in Wisconsin.

The timbers, helping to support the museum roof, will be visible inside the lobby and bear plaques describing their history and origin. The museum project is led and promoted by a group of retired federal Forest Service employees who are attempting to gather 24 timbers of various species from National and Experimental Forests, including 16 from east of the Mississippi River.

The museum is designed to display historic objects and papers, honor forest conservationists and serve as national headquarters for developing conservation education programs. The U.S. Forest Service manages about 193 million acres of forest and grasslands covering 8 percent of the United States. There are more than 150 National Forests and Grasslands in the US.

A capital campaign for the National Museum for Forest Service History began about four years ago; construction is expected to begin this spring. For more information visit: www.nmfs-history.net/.