Wolcott Community Forest

The Whitcomb-Bedell Property

The 334.4-acre property is comprised of three forested and adjacent parcels in Wolcott with frontage on Route 15 and East Elmore Road. In a Rapid Ecological Assessment of the Wolcott Community Forest (Whitcomb-Bedell Properties), Peters (2022) characterized the landscape as well-suited for a community forest. The property shares a boundary with the Wolcott Elementary School, with a wooded trail to the school. The property includes a scenic section of Elmore Branch with sections of slower-moving water through wet meadows. About 17 acres of previously unknown wetlands have been identified as well as a rare (S2) plant on the property. Two open fallow pastures totaling nine acres are located on the parcel on the west side of East Elmore Road. They can be accessed across a bridge over Elmore Branch and up a short gravel road.

Access in the section east of East Elmore Road is currently possible along two interior roads, one in good condition managed by the Whitcomb-Bedell family and the other along an eroded and gullied section of Gates Farm Road, now considered a Legal Trail. The Whitcomb-Bedell grassy road, periodically mowed, is roughly parallel to the elementary school boundary, and is accessed through a small open field that could serve as a parking area. The small open field may also host a pump station for the proposed community wastewater system, with an underground force main following the woods road pumping the wastewater to the dispersal field on the adjacent elementary school property. The existing roads provide a basis for the further development of a professionally built five-mile network of recreational, multi-use trails, permitted under the easement. The forestland rises gradually but steadily to the eastern boundary with suitability for trail expansion. Peters (2022) has noted appropriate trail management and siting can avoid any potential erosion concerns with erodible soils.

The northern boundary along Route 15 is interrupted by three privately-owned lots behind which the land rises steeply. A proposed Habit for Humanity affordable house lot is also located along this boundary. A woods road from Route 15 leads to an abandoned field showing early successional growth, where utility poles have been removed to a landing on Route 15. The land along the eastern boundary is heavily wooded, and the curving southeastern boundary with the so-called Grant property has been clearly marked.

Rhoda Bedell has retained 14 acres with a residential home and interior driveway that fronts on East Elmore Road; her southern boundary abuts Gates Farm Road. The future trail development will not be constructed on the retained property. On East Elmore Road is also a small private house lot, the so-called Martin property, that protrudes into the community forest.

Notable biodiversity on the property includes a matrix of forest types managed for forestry with younger ages apparent in some stands (Peters, 2022). Past agricultural use is evident in the remains of intermittent stone walls in the interior eastern parcels, barbed wire high in the eastern section, and successional forest in a variety of ages. The two remaining open and scenic pastures west of East Elmore Road have been periodically brush hogged. Four uncommon (S3) natural community types are present: Alluvial Shrub Swamp, Lowland Spruce-Fir Forest, Northern Hardwood Seepage Forest, and a Vernal Pool (Peters, 2022).

The Elmore Branch and the so-called Whitcomb Brook tributary are beautiful rocky streams with intermittent open meadows containing microhabitats that shift location with the seasons (Peters, 2022). The streams feature bedrock, cascades, chutes, small gorges, and one pool near the road that could be a swimming hole. Other small streams are present throughout the property. Peters (2022) has found multiple populations of Trailing stitchwort (Stellaria alsine), (S2), identified in Vermont’s Wildlife Action Plan as “Species of Greatest Conservation Need” and found in woodland seeps in 39 patches that potentially total eight acres. 

Bourne Property

The 400.6-acre Bourne tract borders the Lamoille River, the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, and Wolcott Town Offices to the north and is located west of East Elmore Road beyond the Whitcomb-Bedell parcel. It sits within a 4,000-acre habitat block of Highest Priority Connectivity and Priority Interior Forest Block in the Vermont Conservation Design (Peters, 2022). The tract is largely Northern Hardwood Forest across rugged terrain characterized by many ledges, outcrops, and a small area of State Significant Temperate Acidic Cliff (S4).

The tract also includes 13.3 acres of wetlands scattered throughout the property, including 15 pocket swamps and six vernal pools, 3.7 miles of streams flowing to the Elmore Branch and the Lamoille River, and one third of a mile frontage on the Lamoille River (Peters, 2022). The river frontage features a variety of rare plants, primarily bryophytes found on riverine outcrops and in floodplain forest (Peters, 2022). The Lamoille Valley Rail Trail offers recreational access to the lower-elevation part of the property.

 The Bourne property rises in elevation from the river to its southern border and contains limited access there, giving it a remote, rugged appearance. From the highest elevation near the southern border, seasonal views exist looking northward. The tract is 97% upland habitat with Northern Hardwood Forest in good condition covering 353 acres or 87% of the tract. Past logging of this convoluted terrain has left a forest mix of various-sized trees, including some larger-diameter trees. Little evidence of farming activity is apparent.

Four Uncommon (S3) natural community types exist: Red Spruce-Heath Rocky Ridge, Vernal Pool, Riverside Outcrop, and Silver Maple-Ostrich Fern Floodplain Forest (Peters, 2022). The south-facing Temperate Acidic Cliff (S4), now designated in an Ecological Protection Zone, sits near the eastern border and contains steep walls that form an approximate two-acre basin through which a brook flows. The cliff rises to the Red Spruce-Heath Rocky Ridge of 1.4 acres. A foot trail exists near the cliff on crumbling soils near the edge, and trail use atop the cliff here has been recommended for discontinuance (Peters, 2022). The zone is fairly accessible, and despite the surrounding rocky terrain, show trails that indicate current use.

The Lamoille River shoreline, separated from the main property by the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, also features a variety of noteworthy species in a variety of patches. The shoreline, one third of a mile long, contains floodplain features and rocky outcrops with access to the river. The area has been disturbed by the old rail bed with railroad riprap present along one section. Periodic flooding has scoured the shoreline, and some invasives are present.

Wildlife & Birds

The habitat on both properties supports deer, moose, bobcat, and bear as well as smaller mammals. The contiguous forest habitat is especially important to the large mammals and many of the native plants found on the properties. The wetlands support a variety of amphibians, including a variety of salamanders. The Wolcott Forest Stewardship Committee in its 2023 stewardship plan has described as “critical” the importance of undisturbed streams, river corridors, and riparian areas to the notable species in the forest.

Vermont Audubon (2022) identified high-quality terrain for birds associated with northern hardwoods and hemlock-red spruce habitat: high volumes of downed woody material, abundant leaf litter, large diameter nesting trees, and a robust, varied vertical structure in the forest with understory shrubs.

Canopy gaps throughout the forest could be improved, and in some places, such as the northeastern area, the understory could be improved as well. Open fields and riparian areas increase the variety of birds found on the tracts, creating a landscape that Vermont Audubon characterized as having a rich diversity of birds and high interest to the birding community.