Join Tin Mountain Conservation Center, Executive Director, forester and tree aficionado Dr. Mike Cline and tour the local woods to find some of the most unique and unusual trees in the Mount Washington Valley in the Nature Program field trip “Unusual Trees of the Mount Washington Valley’ on Saturday, September 29 from 9 am through 1 pm. Learn where you can find an American elm, a black walnut and an American chestnut. Walk through the natural beauty of local woods to scout out unique trees and learn the how to tell their approximate ages, how to identify them by bark, leaf and other structural characteristics. Learn the ecological history and the economic impact and usage of certain tree species such as the American chestnut, and the American elm. Did you know that the American Elm tree is an hermaphroditic, capable of self-pollination because its flowers have both male and female parts? And that the American chestnut “reigned over 200 million acres of eastern woodlands from Maine to Florida before a lethal fungus infestation, known as the chestnut blight?  According to the American Chestnut Foundation, “An estimated 4 billion American chestnuts, 1/4 of the hardwood tree population, grew within this range… it was the single most important food source for a wide variety of wildlife from bears to birds. Rural communities depended upon the annual nut harvest as a cash crop to feed livestock. The chestnut lumber industry was a major sector of rural economies.”

Meet at the Nature Learning Center on Bald Hill Road in Albany, NH and car pool from one exploratory site to another. Registration is recommended by calling 603-447-6991 or emailing donnadolan@tinmountain.org.

Tin Mountain’s Nature Program Series is sponsored by L.L. Bean, the Evenor Armington Foundation, and the Residence Inn by Marriott North Conway. Donations of $3/person or $5/family are appreciated; members are free. Tin Mountain Conservation Center is a 501(c) 3 non-profit environmental education organization providing an appreciation of hands-on programs throughout the greater Mount Washington Valley. To learn more, visit www.tinmountain.org, or call 447-6991. You can also friend Tin Mountain on Facebook.