Harris Trust Forest
Bog Road : Belvidere, VT 05442
Lamoille County, Vermont
Farm Description
Harris Trust Forest is a northern Vermont forestland tract, well suited to the long-term timber investor, with options for home construction or conversion to sugarbush management. Property highlights include a standing timber value of 15,000± potential taps, long town road frontage, mostly gentle terrain with scenic views of the Cold Hollow Mountain Range, and attractive asking price set near timber value.
The forest is in a scenic part of northern Vermont, with the Green Mountain to the east and the Cold Hollow Mountains just to the west. Numerous streams and tributaries flow generally southward through the area. Five nearby state roads provide exceptional access to services, recreational opportunities as well as local, regional and Canadian forest product markets, The property has 2,900 feet of frontage on Bog Road, a dirt, town-maintained road. There is a short, internal road at the land’s eastern end, which ends at a large clearing.
The property rests on the lower slopes of Laraway Mountain’s ridge complex. Here terrain gradually falls from the land’s southern end to the road frontage to the north, producing a northern aspect. Terrain is gradual to moderately sloped, with few steep areas creating ideal conditions for forest management and sugarbush operations. One intermittent stream courses through the land’s eastern. The terrain along the road frontage is mostly gentle with additional possible driveway cuts. Views after tree clearing of the opposing Cold Hollow Mountain range would be impressive.
The species composition is dominated by hardwoods (93%), offering a diverse mix led by yellow birch (28%), followed by sugar maple (25%) and red maple (21%). Forest density is generally represented by fully stocked stands covering most of the acreage. Stem quality is generally quite good; however, a diameter limit harvest occurred in 2008 on roughly half the acreage. This has moved the highest quality stems to the pole-sized growing stock and the smaller hardwood sawlog component. The property offers a potential sugarbush opportunity, given the level of maple stocking, slope factor and access. A June 2017 timber inventory indicates a potential tap count of 15,156 taps with an additional 9,174 taps that may become available in the coming decades from the maple resource within the 5-8” diameter class.
