The Cutting Edge

Dartmouth has been logging in the Second College Grant in northern New Hampshire since 1828. The resulting wood is used across campus in a variety of ways, as well as for Grant structures and the planned Class of ’65 Bunkhouse, set to be built this summer at the moosilauke ravine lodge. “it’s very tangible,” says Kevin evans, director of woodland operations for the grant. “you see that log truck on the highway with a load of logs and wonder where it goes. On campus you can pick up a clock or look at a table and say, ‘jeez, maybe that’s the load i saw.’”

F Ru i t o F t H e H a Rv e st

~ all dorm room furniture except desk chairs has been made with Grant wood since 1998. This includes desks, bedframes and small bookcases.

~ all tables and benches at the Skiway were made from maple logged off the Grant— as were the butcher- block countertops used as desks in its administrative offices.

~ The provost’s office has three conference tables, three desks and four filing cabinets, commissioned in 2012 by former College Interim President Carol Folt, made from Grant wood and processed at Pompanoosuc Mills in Nashua, New Hamp- shire.

~ Clocks, picture frames and pencil hold- ers given to Dartmouth employees to honor their anniversaries of work for the College are made from Grant wood. The awards are en- graved with the words, “Sustainably harvested from Dartmouth’s Second College Grant.”

t R i m m i n g tHe tRee s a sustainable harvest of 8,000 cords takes place 40 weeks out of each year.

o ut o F tHe wo o Ds more than 1,000 truckloads of timber leave the Grant an- nually, each carrying approximately eight cords of wood. most softwood (spruce and fir) goes to milan Lumber in milan, new Hampshire, where it is processed into wood studs for construc- tion use. Hardwood (mostly yellow birch, beech and maple) goes to other mills in new Hampshire and Canada.

a l l n at u Ra l Ten percent of the Second College Grant is forever wild, never to be logged.

s e l ec t i v e a D m i ss i o n s about 90 percent of Grant logging involves single-tree selection, in which trees are individually chosen and cut. The remaining 10 percent are regenera- tive cuts, in which the forest is clear-cut to encourage a new tree stand.

lo g g i n g l e D g e R Timber opera- tions in the Grant bring in roughly $80,000