Walk in the Woods

Saturday, April 23

9-11 AM

Woodstock

Gerry Hawkes will lead attendees through his woodland and share on his management as well as tree species within the woodland, road and pond construction, show a gravity cable system that was used in logging operations, and regale some humorous but educational tales of various cable and horse logging experiments. Gerry is a professional forester who previously managed about 30,000 acres for private clients in Vermont as well as serving as a consultant on USAID, World Bank, and United Nations projects in Africa and Asia. He has been practicing intensive stand improvement on his 43-acre property since he purchased it over 50 years ago.

The event will take place rain or shine so attendees are encouraged to dress properly with good hiking shoes. Hawkes Tree Farm is located at 796 Wayside Road Extension in Woodstock. Since GPS is not always reliable in getting to the tree farm, here are detailed directions:

FROM WOODSTOCK: Take Route 12 North out of Woodstock. Set odometer at the iron-sided bridge on the edge of town. Go approximately 3.5 miles on Route 12. Look for Wayside Road, a gravel road on the left, which immediately crosses a small brook next to Route 12. The first place you will see on this road is the former River Bend garden center in a green-roofed barn with greenhouses in the back. After about a mile the town road will cross a dam on a pond. Keep going straight on Wayside Road Ext. Go approximately 1 mile up this road (do NOT turn right after the pond). Where the town road takes a sharp left, continue straight through a gap in the stone walls where the #796 and the name Gerry Hawkes is on a mailbox. Go by the log piles. and park and meet in front of the 4-bay shop.

FROM BETHEL: Take Route 12 South, which takes you by Silver Lake and Barnard General Store. From Barnard General Store, continue about 6 miles south on Route 12. Look for Wayside Road, a gravel road on the right, which immediately crosses a small brook next to Route 12. The first place you will see on this road is the former River Bend garden center in a green-roofed barn with greenhouses in the back. After about a mile the town road will cross a dam on a pond. Keep going straight on Wayside Road Ext. Go approximately 1 mile up this road (do NOT turn right after the pond). Where the town road takes a sharp left, continue straight through a gap in the stone walls where the #796 and the name Gerry Hawkes is on a mailbox. Go by the log piles, and park and meet in front of the 4-bay shop.