Category Archives: Thank you!

Creating Habitat for Pollinators

Posted on August 7, 2025 by | Leave a comment

These gardens were created by members of the Dartmouth Class of 1989 last year, in colllaboration with Creating Habitat for Pollinators. There are several such gardens along the MRG; these two are in back of the “Miracle Mile”. The Class of ’89 have also created pollinator gardens at the cemetery off of Pleasant Street in West Lebanon and at the Lebanon Airport .

Thanks to Lebanon ‘s CWA Trishaw pilot, John Newman, for the photos and for the ride on the MRG! https://lebanonnh.gov/1759/Cycling-without-Age-CWA

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Posted in Modes of Transport, Pollinator Corridor, Thank you!

Wonder-ful Moments

Posted on July 31, 2025 by | Leave a comment

Thanks to Dan Moriarty for sharing this sighting on the MRG.

 “I saw movement out of corner of my eye as I crossed over bridge going uphill towards Renihan Meadows yesterday morning.”

The MRG provides habitat for wildlife . . . and access to such wonder-ful moments for those of us out there!

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Posted in Animal Life on the MRG, Thank you!

Annual Search for the MRG Apple Tree and Blueberry

Posted on July 7, 2025 by | Leave a comment

Who would have thought the planting of a Golden Russet apple tree and highbush blueberry bush on the MRG (near the umbrella sculpture) back in 2019 would involve an ensuing drama? Each year there has been a search mid-summer, when the fertile plain along the Mascoma River power-charges the growth of entangling vines, shrubs, and tall grasses and an annual hide-and-seek for both apple tree and blueberry bush. Beavers have felled the tree. (Pathos) Apple Corps member. Jack Spicer, successfully grafted branches onto the stump and revived the tree (Ecstasy!) . . . and then the tree was lost yet again, engulfed in the tangle dangle vines.

Last August, it was the intrepid Bart Gueti who ventured forth and located the tree in a tangle of vetch, woodbine, sumac, and tall grasses . . . and it was Bart who discovered the stump this past winter. Were it not for the shiny metal of the hardware cloth wrapped around the stump, the tree might have been lost yet again. Another bold adventurer, Joan McGovern, made her way through the overgrowth with an Ikea bag of tools. She located the tree, snipped, and pulled vegetation, cut and folded back the cage, and freed the graft from its confines

The lost highbush blueberry, fully immersed in milkweed, sumac, vetch, and vines was also located; and, even in its cramped and shaded quarters, looks remarkably healthy, though quite small for a 6 or 7 year old bush..

A narrow path that leads through the tangles to both the blueberry bush and the grafted apple tree has now been cleared. Thanks to Joan for the hard work on a very hot day! We hope the next drama for this apple tree and blueberry will be the fruiting of three varieties of apples: Golden Russets, Cabot Russets, and Cinnamon Girls and a bounty of blueberries!

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Posted in Good News!, Mascoma River Greenway Updates, Plant Life of the MRG, Pollinator Corridor, Progress!, Thank you!

Pocket Park Refreshed, Thanks to UV Rugby Friends!

Posted on June 30, 2025 by | 4 comments

Pocket Park is looking fine. And our rugby teammates worked overtime. 

Edges are sharp and the curves are divine.

The worrisome weeds were run outta town, Thank goodness just in the nick of time.

Compost is in and the mulch is down, the aroma of wood is all over town.

Picnic tables need some stain and repair , But with the star Rec Team we won’t despair. 

Branches are trimmed, the leaves are raked, And the weather was lovely so we didn’t get baked.

– Cindy Heath

THANKS TO CINDY HEATH AND UV RUGBY FRIENDS, THE POCKET PARK LOOKS GREAT!

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Posted in Good News!, MRG Pocket Park, Thank you!, Work Day

Green Thumbs and Mountain Goat Skills

Posted on June 15, 2025 by | 3 comments

The steep slope of the MRG pollinator garden behind Goss Logan requires a gardener with the balance and climbing skills of a mountain goat. What luck to find these two young women, Jessy Elfstrom and Mary Patterson. willing to adopt this challenging garden. This Spring’s constant rain has caused burgeoning growth that needs to be reined in – these two are up to the challenge. Today they weeded, divided thick clumps of blue flag iris, and planted Black-eyed Susans. Many thanks to Mary and Jessy for your willingness to take on this garden!

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Posted in Good News!, Pollinator Corridor, Thank you!

The Flowering of the MRG

Posted on May 14, 2025 by | Leave a comment

A trishaw ride on the MRG this morning revealed an interesting phenomenon: many spring wild flowers are yellow! Thanks to Google, we now know that early pollinators are often flies with limited color perception. It is theorized that Spring pollinators are attracted to the contrast of white and yellow amid the dark greens.

Eastern Carpenter Bee on Dandelion

Native Golden Alexander

Greater Celandine, a non-native wildflower

Early blooming Coltsfoot

Most Coltsfoot has now gone to seed.

Apple Blossoms

Jack-in-the-Pulpit . . . or is it Jill? Did you know that Jack-in-the-Pulpits can morph into Jill?

Chokecherry

Birds such as robins, thrushes, and jays are attracted to the berries that come later in the season. Bears, raccoons, chipmunks, and squirrels also consume the berries, but they are lethal to horses.

We saw honeysuckle, fiddlehead ferns, wild strawberry in flower, white and purple violets, purple flowering ground ivy, and much more. Birds were calling and a turtle on a log in a small pond behind the Miracle Mile was basking in the sun. Who would guess that this natural beauty was thriving behind that parking lot??? We spotted a goose couple on the bank of the river with their little goslings.

Many thanks to Trishaw pilot John Newman for a wonderful, uplifting ride and for all these great photos. How many different flowers can you find on the MRG this week?

For Info on scheduling a Trishaw ride on the Mascoma River Greenway or Norther Rail Trail in Lebanon or onbecoming a volunteer pilot check out this link

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Posted in Plant Life of the MRG, Pollinators, Thank you!

Horsetails – Ancient Living Fossils

Posted on April 26, 2025 by | Leave a comment

“Horsetails can be considered living fossils. This group of plants is what is left of a group of plants that were as thick as forests and had relatives as big as trees that flourished during the Devonian period approximately 350 million years ago.” Purdue Extension Weed Science

Horsetail stems are jointed and hollow. They do not appear to have leaves; their leaves are reduced to small scales. These plants require no pollination; they have no flowers – reproduction is by spores. Some stems are fertile and some sterile; The little brown cone at the end of the fertile stem is the part that produces spores. It is the sterile stems that produce energy through photosynthesis

As the fertile stems wither, the sterile, chlorophyll-producing secondary stems appear, covered with whorls of feathery green branches. The energy they gather through photosynthesis goes to underground tubers for storage, allowing horsetail to survive harsh winters and periods of drought.

(Thanks to trishaw pilot John Newman for the photos.)

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Posted in Plant Life of the MRG, Thank you!

Colts Foot

Posted on April 25, 2025 by | Leave a comment

Colts Foot is currently blooming in abundance along the MRG . It is bright yellow and looks somewhat like a dandelion, and, similar to dandelions, Colts Foot flowers emerge before the leaves. The flowers provide nectar and pollen to hungry bees and flying insects in the spring before many other flowers have bloomed.

(Thanks to CSA trishaw pilot John Newman for this photo and the trishaw reconnaissance flight along the MRG!)

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Posted in Plant Life of the MRG, Pollinator Corridor, Pollinators, Thank you!

Easter Sunday: Spring – Hope – Renewal!

Posted on April 21, 2025 by | 2 comments

You may remember that a Golden Russet apple tree, planted on the Mascoma River Greenway (behind the Miracle Mile theaters) was felled by a beaver this winter.

Upper Valley Apple Corps member, Jack Spicer, to the rescue! When he heard of the loss, he offered to graft new life to the tree stump.

He spliced in 3 different scion twigs: Cabot Russet, Golden Russet, and Cinnamon Girl .

Cleft grafting of the scion wood, ensures good contact in the green layer inside the bark

Jack added tree wound dressing. to seal and protect.

The ribbons indicate the back two grafts are Cabot Russet (Left) and Golden Russet (Right) and Cinnamon Girl in front. If two or more grafts succceed, our apple tree will benefit by the crosspollination of the different varieties.Our fingers are crossed that at least one of these grafts will succeed. What luck to have a skilled volunteer such as Jack, renewed hope for our apple tree, and a beautiful, sunny Easter Sunday!

Thanks to Jack for his generosity and to Susan K. Johnson and Bart Guetti for providing photos. And thanks Susan for putting a metal guard around the tree trunk to prevent beaver damage. One has to have an ecological perspective when planting for pollinators!

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Posted in Good News!, Plant Life of the MRG, Pollinator Corridor, Thank you!

West Lebanon Power Station

Posted on October 14, 2024 by | Leave a comment

The previous “Waterwheels” post brought up curiosity about the abandoned riverside building near the Terri Dudley Bridge/Glen Road area of the MRG. Not much remains of what had once been the West Lebanon Power Station. Thanks to Lebanon Historical Society Curator Nicole Ford Burley, for providinng this photo of the power station that once existed there.

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Posted in History, Thank you!