These photos were sent to us by NRCM member Rick Van de Poll of Center Sandwich, New Hampshire. Click on each photo to enlarge. He says, “The Loon Echo Land Trust requested that I conduct a rapid ecological assessment of their Pleasant Mountain properties in 2010-11. The following photographs are from this project. All photos were shot with a Canon Sx20IS PowerShot digital camera.”
Steep, ledgy slopes can be found throughout the eastern escarpment of Pleasant Mtn. As a result, there are several patches of old growth forest and woodland present. This red oak had a girth of over 4 feet and was estimated to be between 300 and 350 years in age. Many of the woodland appeared as they did at the time of European settlement.
The woodlands on Pleasant Mountain have been shaped by fire, water, and bedrock nutrients. Soil pH ranges from acidic, as shown here in an uncommon Pitch Pine Rocky Ridge community, to circumneutral, as can be seen in several of the eastern red-cedar woodlands on the southeast escarpment. The number of uncommon to rare natural communities are very high on this ridge.
A red pine woodland cloaks the summit of Bald Knob on Pleasant Mtn, testifying to the fire history along the ridge. Open vistas provide views to the north, with Long Lake in the foreground and the Mahoosucs in the background.
Views from Pleasant Mountain are exceptional. The northeast-southwest running ridge offers vistas in all directions. Here the south part of Long Lake is visible below, with much of the Sebago Hills visible beyond. A long history of fire has kept much of the vegetation at a low height.
Pleasant Mountain offers a large number of sunny woodlands and grassy meadows where dragonflies migrate from lowland breeding sites to set up summer hawking territories. This calico pennant is just one of the many species that can be encountered on a summer’s day on the various summits.
Beaver Pond lies at the southeast base of Pleasant Mountain, and includes extensive mats of sphagnum and shallow aquatic bed vegetation. Only one or two camps are present and loons have nested here in the past. The entire northern shoreline contains a fen mat with high plant and wildlife diversity.
