Boyce Hill is a special place year-round, but there is no time like a sunny day after a snowfall to truly appreciate the spectacular views of the Green Mountains to the west and the Northfield Range to the east! The Boyce Hill Town Forest Steering Committee has been meeting regularly to prepare for the next phase of our efforts to create the long-term management plan for the property: public input!
- Stay tuned for an announcement of a series of educational sessions on Zoom that will allow us to share what we have learned about the natural, recreational, and educational attributes of this special place. We will also be soliciting your direct comments at these sessions. In addition, we will be sending out a survey asking for the community’s input that can be completed online, on paper, or by phone.
- A draft permitting process and application for commercial use of the property will be presented to the Select Board at their next meeting. This will help inform commercial usage decisions on BHTF while the current interim management plan is in place.
- The Steering Committee requested a budget of $12,000 to complete the planning and stewardship work to take place this coming year. The Town’s proposed budget currently reflects an investment, still quite significant, of $9,000.
- An anonymous donation of $1,000 to the Fayston Town Forest Reserve Fund was gratefully received to support the work being done at the Boyce Hill Town Forest. Please note that donations may be made at any time and earmarked for use at Boyce Hill!
- Brad Long, Fayston resident and cultural history buff, found the remains of a three-legged pot-bellied gooseneck cast iron kettle (possibly dating somewhere between 1700-1895) on the Boyce Hill property. This was a terrific reminder of the earlier hill farming use of the land. We hope to highlight more of the property’s cultural history in the future.
- This Saturday, February 13th, we will be holding an apple pruning workshop to help care for the beautiful trees that are an integral part of this property. Please see details below or in the attached announcement.
We hope you all have been enjoying this winter. If you know of anyone who would like to receive these periodic updates, please have them email us at [email protected].
Pete Colgan, Boyce Hill Steering Committee Member
Lisa Koitzsch, FCC Co-Chair
Corrie Miller, FCC Co-Chair
Apple Tree Pruning Workshop at Boyce Hill Town Forest
Learn How to Prune Fruit Trees While Helping Us Steward the Town Forest
February 13, 1-3 pm
Boyce Hill Town Forest includes the remnants of an old apple orchard that needs some attention. As this is the best time of year to prune apple trees, the Boyce Hill Town Forest Steering Committee has invited local landscape architect, Rachel Grigorian of Clark Brook designs LLC to lead a 90-minute pruning class for a socially distanced group of supporters on Saturday, February 13th at 1:00 PM. Participants will learn how to care for trees to maximize their fruit production and health while helping the town with this important stewardship project. While we work, participants can also learn about the property and share their suggestions about the long-term management of this unique 93-acre tract of land that features expansive views of both the Green Mountains and the Northfield Range. At the end of the workshop, participants will be emailed a PDF summary of the methods learned.
Participants should bring any pruning tools they have, such as loppers, hand pruning shears, and small pull saws or folding saws, as limited loaner tools will be available. Alcohol and rags will be available to sanitize tools, but please sanitize your tools beforehand if possible.
To register, please click here, paste http://bit.ly/BoyceHill into your browser, or call Pete Colgan at 781-771-5568. A suggested donation of $30 per person will help support the Steering Committee’s work to complete a long-term management plan for the property and its ongoing stewardship needs.
Boyce Hill Town Forest is located at the top of Boyce Road in N. Fayston. PLEASE NOTE THAT PARKING IS VERY LIMITED. Snowshoes will be helpful as the trees are enjoying a blanket of deepish snow that may have drifted in places.