2012 Athol Logging Workshop

Draft Animal Power Network is pleased to be partnering with the Farm School in Athol, MA to present the 2012 Athol Logging Workshop.

Presenters will include, Carl Russell, Horse-logger and Forester from Bethel, VT, Joe Zorzin,Joseph Zorzin & Associates Forestry Consultants,Athol, MA 01331, Tom Jenkins from Bay State Forestry , Ox-logger / Westhampton, MA, and Bradley Teeter, Farm Manager, TFS, Athol, MA. The Farm School is a 130 acre working organic farm specializing in educational programs for children and their teachers. The farm Schools mission is to “attempt to put into words the vision we enact daily, one which is now shared by a large community of adults and children.”

The workshop will be concentrating on showing ways that draft animals can be used to effectively complete forest management objectives which will include different logging and skidding techniques and will be entirely geared toward the forestry objectives laid out by the Farm School’s liscenced Forester Joe Zorin. We will all go through the process to determine the most effective way to apply living power to the objectives, which may include the use of different types of equipment, skid trail lay out, felling patterns, and timber product processing for production, to utilize draft animals to their fullest, given the particulars of the harvesting situation.

Questions can be directed to Ed Thayer, (highway) on the DAPNet Forum, or call him at 603-495-3554.

Driving directions from Boston:
Take Route 2 West past Templeton. Not long after you pass the exits for Templeton, Route 2 will narrow from 4 lanes to 2. Shortly after that, take the first exit for ATHOL (marked: Athol, Route 2A). At the end of the ramp, go LEFT onto Route 2A west. Follow 2A down through Athol straight through the stoplight in the center of town (about 3 miles). After 1/4 mile, cross the bridge and turn RIGHT just before the “Country Convenience” store/Citgo station onto North Orange Road. After a couple of hundred yards, bear RIGHT at the first Y in the road, and proceed with the graveyard to your left and river on your right. After about 3/4 of a mile, turn LEFT onto Brooks Road. Pass one house on the right and take your next LEFT and go steeply up Moore Hill Road. Continue RIGHT onto Sentinel Elm Road, a dirt road. Finally, follow the sign for Farm School Parking into the lot on the right and walk up to the bunkhouse on the hill.

Directions from the West:
Take Route 2 East to the exit that says “Rt. 202, Athol, Belchertown” (lovely!). Turn right at the bottom of the exit ramp. Continue until the road makes a T next to McDonald’s and turn right (which puts you on Rt. 2A in Athol traveling east). Just after the “Country Convenience” store/Citgo station on the left, take a LEFT and head towards North Orange. After a couple of hundred yards, bear RIGHT at the first Y in the road, and proceed with the graveyard to your left and river on your right. After about 3/4 of a mile, turn LEFT onto Brooks Road. Pass one house on the right and take your next LEFT and go steeply up Moore Hill Road. After the road levels out and takes a sharp right it becomes Sentinel Elm Road, a dirt road. Finally, follow the sign for Farm School Parking into the lot on the right and walk up to the bunkhouse at the top of the driveway (directly across from the big white barn).

Ed