Meduxnekeag Valley Nature Preserve

The Meduxnekeag Valley Nature Preserve was established in 1998 when the Meduxnekeag River Association purchased a 57 hectare forested tract with two kilometres of shoreline along the Meduxnekeag below Red Bridge. Much of the property consisted of mature forest, both softwood and hardwood, including the prominent wooded hill called Wilson Mountain. This began to be called Phase One of the Preserve when we added, in 2003, an adjacent three hectares which we called Leonard Woods and referred to as Phase Two. At the end of 2003, we purchased a 52 hectare forest six kilometres further upstream, which became Bell Forest, Phase Three of the Preserve.

Significant parts of the Meduxnekeag Valley Nature Preserve consist of Appalachian Hardwood Forest, a type of tolerant hardwood pretty much unique to this part of New Brunswick as far as Atlantic Canada is concerned. It is characterized by the presence of four indicator tree species: white ash, ironwood, butternut and basswood, and contains many plant species which are rare or uncommon in New Brunswick.

Wilson Mountain and Leonard Woods are open to visitors year-round. Sign-posted entrances in two locations along the Red Bridge Road (see map) provide access to approximately ten kilometres of low impact well-marked walking trails. Each of the five trails is laid out as a loop; each passes through different forest ecology.

Bell Forest is now signposted at an entrance on the Bell Settlement Road. A single wide trail – the old woods access road – winds down to the river through different forest habitats, much of it ecologically rich Appalachian Hardwood.

April 30, 2008

All trails still have snow cover in some patches and are wet and muddy in all low-lying places. Brooks are high, flooding parts of the Yellow and Red trails. Substantial sections of the Orange trail along the Meduxnekeag are under water. We recommend waiting at least a week.
In Bell Forest, the early bloodroot are beginning to flower. The old woods road is mostly snow free, though soft and muddy in many spots.

All trails are marked with cedar posts with a band of the trail colour. Posts are set within visual distance of each other. Trails are kept free of fallen trees and low branches; steps and/or hand-rails have been added in steeper places; low plank bridges cross tributary brooks as needed. We ask that visitors stay on the trails, and heed the general rules: bring out anything that you take in; don’t bring out anything you didn't take in.

The Meduxnekeag’s Appalachian Hardwood Forests have a unique ecology extending well beyond the trees and flowers and ferns that are found there and not elsewhere in New Brunswick. Take a look...

A Meduxnekeag Ecological Treasure

Bell Forest, the most recent addition to the Preserve, is the most important Appalachian Hardwood Forest site in Atlantic Canada. A Nature Trust of New Brunswick survey in 1997 found that it contained almost every species of plant known to live in this type of forest, including a species called desmodium glutinosum, or pointed-leaf tick trefoil, found nowhere else in New Brunswick. For photos from Bell Forest click here.

Many of the rare species found in Bell Forest are not found in the Wilson Mountain or Leonard Woods Preserve sites. These include lopseed, showy orchis, nodding fescue, spikenard, goldie’s fern, and seneca-snakeroot. In addition, three very rare species of moss grow in Bell Forest, including one which had not previously been found in New Brunswick.

Bell Forest is open for guided walks in Spring and early Summer. No trails, other than an existing woods road, have yet been established.

The Meduxnekeag River Association raised about $150,000 to purchase Phase One and Phase Two of the Meduxnekeag Valley Nature Preserve. In addition to the proceeds of our annual fund-raising dinner and auction, we received major support from the Woodstock Rotary Club and NB Wildlife Trust Fund. Additional support came from donations in memory of Heather Leonard, from the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation, and from the Ste Anne Nackawic Pulp Company.

We are now in the second year of a $250,000 five-year campaign for Phase Three Bell Forest. Major commitments have been made by the Association ($50,000) and Woodstock Rotary ($50,000). The EJLB Foundation has provided a grant of $25,000. NB Wildlife Trust Fund donated $12,500 in 2004 and has approved a further $12,500 for 2005. Nature Conservancy of Canada has committed $10,000. Other donations have been received from Nature Trust of New Brunswick ($5000) and McLean Foundation ($5000). By the end of 2004, our pledge campaign had been successful in gaining pledges of more than $40,000 over five years from local supporters.

Good News! The Dunn Foundation has approved a $10,000 per year for five years contribution for Bell Forest. This $50,000 raises our total donations and commitments for this project to meet our $250,000 target.

To get to the Meduxnekeag Valley Nature Preserve from “the square” in downtown Woodstock, take a left on Connell St halfway up the Main St hill, follow Connell out past the car dealerships and the mall, under the Trans-Canada highway overpass, continue approximately another 3 kilometres, then take a left on the Red Bridge road. The Wilson Mountain entrance to the Preserve is signposted on the left about 3 km later at 260 Red Bridge Rd; the Leonard Woods entrance is another half kilometre, also on the left at 200 Red Bridge Rd. To get to Bell Forest, continue on the Red Bridge Rd until Red Bridge, then turn right on the Bell Settlement Road (don’t cross the river). Bell Forest is at 200 Bell Settlement Road.