John Magee presents: Wind, Fire and the Untouched Forest of the Sunapee Ridge: the Effects of the 1938 Hurricane and a Massive 1947 Forest Fire “Prior to 1938, the untouched, old growth forests of the Sunapee Ridge thrived, too far from even portable sawmills, and far too steep and rocky to make any harvesting even close to profitable. So, they were left alone. The Hurricane of 1938 knocked down much, but not all, of the magnificent old growth forests there, and most of the damage was on the east side of the ridge; the forests on the west side were mostly just fine. A massive forest fire in 1947, fueled by so much downed wood, started on the east side of the ridge, moved over the top and down parts of the west side, and burned literally every tree in many areas.

To document where the hurricane and fire damage occurred, and importantly, where it did not, I used aerial imagery from 1943, 1953 and later, two years of field data of tree species, sizes and
crown and canopy damage, photographs from various years and interviews with a man who fought the fire at the age of 17.

From this information, I was able to piece together the effects on forests from these two major events – and document the existing old growth forests still intact and thriving.”
John is the latest in a historic line of explorers that has added his unique perspective to the understanding and importance of Mount Sunapee’s forests. The first attempts to document
Sunapee’s old forests began in 1915 with the publication of the Manual of Mount Sunapee. Maps drawn by Philip Ayers one of the architects of the White Mountain National Forest were
an indispensable resource in the later rediscovery of Mount Sunapee’s Old Growth forests by Chris Kane in 1997.