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The grapple skidder carefully pulling trees out to the landing at Milarepa Center, Barnet, Vermont, US, December 2020. Photo by Dawn Holtz.
Dawn Holtz with the first cut of timber from the project at Milarepa Center, Barnet, Vermont, US, December 2020. Photo by Jackie Verley.
Milarepa Center, the FPMT center located on 275 forested acres in Barnet, Vermont, US, is working on a project to improve forest health, encourage tree growth, maintain wildlife habitats, and re-establish walking trails with help from foresters Mathias Nevins and Ryan Kilborn, Meadowsend Timberlands, Ltd., and H.B. Logging. Trees cut during the project and sold in a timer sale generated income that will help sustain Milarepa Center during the COVID pandemic. Dawn Holtz, center director, shares the story.
Milarepa Center has successfully completed an almost two-year long forest regeneration project. We are happy to report that all has gone very well and we are quite pleased with the results.
The project began in early 2019, by first creating a very specific, goal-oriented, ten-year forest plan. The forest and trails were then flagged for access and protection of sensitive areas. Equipment was moved in, and active cutting began in December 2020.
The final close-out of the project will take place in May and June 2021. The crew will return to give a final rake to trails. Log landing areas and stream-crossings will be brushed so water can flow through them properly.
Ven. Lhundub Chodron helping with the incense puja at Milarepa Center, Barnet, Vermont, US, December 2020. Photo by Dawn Holtz.
Spiritual preparations were also made for the start of the active cutting phase of the project. A Milarepa Center member who is residing and studying at Nalanda Monastery, an FPMT monastery in France, sponsored a Tara puja. The monks at Nalanda Monastery offered the Tara puja on behalf of Milarepa Center to help clear obstacles during the project.
In addition, Ven. Lhundub Chodron—who has held various positions within FPMT, including serving as director at differnt times of FPMT retreat center Land of Calm Abiding, Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program, and International Mahayana Institute (IMI), as well as serving as a past member of the FPMT, Inc. Board of Directors—happened to be in Vermont the day before the cutting began. Ven. Lhundub Chodron joined in offering an incense puja in order to pacify the many nagas and “landlords” at Milarepa Center.
I worked with a local forester to design the forest plan and lay out the goals for the Milarepa Center forest. They include achieving long-term growth and health of the forest; maintaining fresh water streams flowing throughout the land; protecting existing wildlife habitats and creating new ones; keeping the forest from encroaching on healthy, viable open land; and continuing overall sustainable management of the land and its many resources.
The project focused on an approximately 65-acre parcel of the 275-acre Milarepa Center forest. We implemented a prescribed tree cutting that was laid out in the forest management plan. By cutting down some trees we were able to open the tree canopy and allow sunlight to shine into the forest. This promotes overall forest regeneration within designated areas of the forest. Walking trails were also re-established in the forest as part of the project.
We had hoped to invite students and members out to walk and visit during the project, but due to COVID-19 were unable to. With that in mind, we digitally documented the project. Our forester Ryan Kilborn kindly agreed to help us film what we had hoped to share in person! The video we made will also be used as an educational tool by Meadowsend Timberlands, Ltd., a company that manages private land for landowners. They will use it to show viewers the process and value of good forest management practices adopted by landowners.
Watch the seven-minute video “Milarepa Center Forest Regeneration & Timber Sale Project” on Milarepa Center’s YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRyjZn_tKgs
To learn more about Milarepa Center, visit their website:
https://www.milarepacenter.org/
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