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Students visit Sawyer Woodlot
Grade 4 students visit wooded area outside Russeldale
By Marc Hulet
Wednesday May 12, 2004
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APPRECIATING NATURE Grade 4 students from Upper Thames Elementary School
(UTES) visited the Sawyer Preservation Woodlot on May 6 as part of their habitats and communities science unit.
David Butson (left) and Lewis eagerly lead their class up the trail.
Marc Hulet Photo |
Mitchell Advocate — Grade 4 students from Upper
Thames Elementary School (UTES) took their unit on habitats and communities a step further on May 6 with a trip to the
Sawyer Preservation Woodlot located just off Highway 23 south of Mitchell on Line 12.
The students have been busy during this science unit.
Between March 30 and May 7 two students a day observed spring arriving at the Upper Thames school nature area, according
to teacher Laurel McIntosh. On April 14 the kids took a hike on the West Perth Trail to observe wetland habitat. During the trip
they observed four Canada geese nests and 15 Tundra Swans. On April 22 the kids again walked the trail to observe the
aquatic habitat and participated in the litter pick up on Earth Day.
During their time at the woodlot, McIntosh said the kids would be compiling information on different trees and they will also
be paying close attention to the tree as a microhabitat.
"A tree is a microhabitat within a forest or larger habitat," McIntosh explained. "The kids need to know what
animals might make a home in that particular tree."
Afterwards, the kids will write a poem and draw a picture of the tree and their work will be posted on the bulletin board in
Lions Park.
"They can show their families and the community what they learned in this unit," she said.
The site of the woodlot was purchased by Otis Sawyer in 1923 and it was turned into a preservation area in 1989.
The woodlot is now used to educate people, as well as serve as a habitat for wildlife and a recreation area, complete with
trails and a picnic area.
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Click for additional photos
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Sawyer Woodlot welcomes people, critters to enjoy wilderness
Tree labels part of tour
By Holly Jones
Wednesday July 16, 2003
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NOW THAT'S A TREE! Norm Jefferson (left), Harold Burgin and Walter MacDougald of the Sawyer
Preservation Woodlot Association pose with one of the larger trees on the Sawyer Woodlot. The 150-year-old sugar
maple died last year and will be left standing to become a den tree for small animals and birds.
Holly Jones Photo |
Mitchell Advocate — Thanks to a lifetime of efforts
by a Fullarton area native, local residents have access to a user-friendly woodlot, complete with labels naming trees and
wildflowers.
The Sawyer Woodlot, located just off Highway 23 south of Mitchell on Line 12 (the Usborne-Fullarton boundary) was purchased
by Otis Sawyer in 1923 as part of his 60-hectare (150-acre) mixed-use farm. The woodlot was used as a pasture until the mid-1930's
when his woodlot was chosen as a demonstration woodlot for Fullarton Township. During the 1960's, 70's and 80's, Sawyer
cleared a network of trails through the woodlot, which are managed today by the Sawyer Preservation Woodlot Association, who
have helped to maintain the Sawyer Woodlot since it was severed from the rest of Sawyer's land under his direction in 1989.
"There's not many woodlots with old (primary) growth, so its pretty wonderful," said Harold Burgin, a member of the
association, along with Walter MacDougald, Norm Jefferson, and roughly 70 other members.
Among the 21 varieties of trees represented on the woodlot are several large ash, beech, hard and soft maple and hickory.
In addition to primary forest, Sawyer and his children expanded the woodlot in the 1940's by planting seedlings on the adjacent pasture.
Sixty years later the replanted area melds almost seamlessly into the primary forest, distinguishable to the careful observer by
straight rows of tall trees, partially concealed by a healthy regrowth of forest underbrush, and a number of foreign species of trees.
Because little was known at the time about the importance of native species and there was not nearly the variety of species of
seedlings available on the market that there is today, the eleven-hectare (28.61-acre) woodlot is home to some interesting experiments,
displaying some of the more minor difficulties associated with introducing foreign species.
An example of this is a tall Scots Pine (commonly known as "Scotch Pine"). While this species is a highly valued natural
forest species and reforestation tree in Europe, it seems that the conditions in dense North American forests do not allow enough
light through to sustain this species of tree.
"He pruned it as high as he could reach to make it a forest tree," said Jefferson.
Jefferson and other association members fondly recall Sawyer's devotion to the woodlot almost right until his death in 1996 at the
age of 96.
"His love of life was this bush," said MacDougald.
They remember coming across Sawyer deep in the woodlot atop a ladder with a chain saw in his hands trimming trees when was
as old as 90.
"The feeling was that if he fell off the ladder and killed himself at least he'd be happy (to die among the trees)," said
MacDougald.
"The older trees, Otis almost worshiped," added Burgin, generating avid agreement from his colleagues from the
association, "certainly if he had been a logger he would have had them (older trees) logged out years ago."
The woodlot today is divided into two parts: the highlands and the lowlands. The 2.4 km upland loop permits year-round walking,
while the lower trail can be seasonally wet and impassible at times.
During the summer months wearing long-sleeved shirts, pants, and a heavy peppering of mosquito repellent is highly advisable.
While the association maintains paths and manages the forest so that taller trees do not block sunlight from reaching smaller,
younger trees below, they are also careful to leave a lot of fallen tree limbs and standing trees alone to provide homes for smaller
animals and insects.
"Some people do think its negative because (they think) we haven't cleaned up (the underbrush)," said MacDougald,
pointing out a fallen tree brimming with healthy insect life, "but there's more bugs in that tree than any tree in the bush."
In fact, a hot topic at this year's spring meeting was whether to leave an over 150-year-old sugar maple standing after it died
suddenly this past year. Some thought that it should be harvested for its valuable wood, while others felt that it should be left as
a den tree, to be used as a home for animals.
"Our birders would be very pleased to see more den trees," said MacDougald.
Burgin estimates that the tree would have fetched from $1,000 to $2,000 at a wood mill. However, because the woodlot is already
funded by a trust fund set up at the time that the land was severed, the feeling was that the woodlot did not need any more money,
though it could always use more den trees.
Sawyer's lifetime of experimentation and learning about trees is continued these days through the various interests of members of
the association.
"(Sawyer) continued to learn all of his life," attests Burgin.
In addition to maintaining the paths, the association looks after a picnic area, and labels for each of the 21 main varieties of trees
to aid the novice and even the more experienced tree enthusiast along.
In recent years members of the association have also created inventories of the birds and wild flowers
that can be found in the woodlot.
A large identification chart depicting many of the different birds that frequent the woodlot is set up near the entrance and smaller
signs are set up along the paths indicating different varieties of wildflowers.
Through the association, Sawyer's curiosity and love of trees lives on. A couple of the trees have been fit with a dendrometer
to measure their rate of growth, and Burgin hopes to photograph the large dead sugar maple on a yearly basis to document its
decline.
The association's next project will be to invite outside experts in to study either soil or water.
"His (Sawyer's) love of life was this business," said Jefferson.
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October 2, 2005
2005 Harvest Day Farm Hiker Tour A Success !
Click for photos |
Over 350 people ventured out on Sunday October 2 to kick off the beginning of Agriculture Week in Ontario. The 2005
Harvest Day Farm Hiker Tour was organized by the Perth and Huron County Federations of Agriculture, with the assistance
of the Perth Junior Farmers.
This years tour was held in the Huron/Perth "border" community of Kirkton. Seven sites were enjoyed this
year, and the Federations wish to thank the hosts for agreeing to participate, their efforts were very much appreciated
by the organizers and tour participants.
This years hosts were Woodvue Farms, where the Hern family showcased their Holstein dairy operation; the Rundle
family opened their beef operation for tours, and had information on egg production as they also have a layer facility; the
Thomson farmstead showed visitors the intricacies of shoeing a horse; the Sawyer Preservation Woodlot provided
the opportunity to learn about a farm woodlot; Quadro Communications took visitors on a time travel to see the development
of a rural telephone system; the Heritage Barn Museum showcased the early
farm family way of life; Pork Producers had on view a sow and her week old piglets; and OPRAH, Ontario's newest Farm
Animal Care Specialist, delighted young and old alike (OPRAH is a child-sized robotic doll who rides a remote control-operated
John Deere tractor). The day finished with a delicious pork BBQ hosted by the Kirkton Agricultural Society
Article courtesy of Huron County Federation of Agriculture
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