Diseased trees on the Libby Museum property removed for safety will become part of the building’s addition

By Leah Gage, Community Journalist, Granite State News Collaborative

Northern Tree Service was at the Libby Museum in Wolfeboro Dec. 21 to remove several old and diseased trees from the museum property.

Kari Lauber of the Friends of the Libby Museum (FoLM) looked on and took pictures to document the event as crews worked to remove the trees. “Just having these trees removed is definitely a good feeling,” she said.  “It’s our first big step forward in a long time, and our first step towards the restoration.”

A $1.49 million bond for the restoration and expansion of the Libby Museum will be voted on at the Wolfeboro Town Meeting in March. A grant paying for the tree removal was secured from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation by the FoLM.

According to Kevin Kiever, superintendent of Northern Tree Service, crews removed 9 white pine trees, and 4 assorted hardwoods. The trees had dead tops, hollow cores, splits and cracks, or insect and fungal damage making them unsafe to leave in their positions between the museum and the power lines running behind it.

“Softwoods are more likely to have core rot that started as insect damage,” Kiever said. “Having a pulse on invasive insects and diseases is key in this job.”

The trees, some older than Dr. Libby himself, (the museum’s namesake, who lived in the late 1800s through early 1900s), will be broken down into firewood for the Wolfeboro Wood Bank, a branch of the Warmth and More Fund.

The best trunks in the group will be milled by Robert Moulton of Tuftonboro and returned to the museum in the form of floor joists and support beams for the addition off the back of the museum building.

This article is produced by a community reporter as part of The Community Journalism Project. For more information, and is being shared with the partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information on the project visit www.collaborativenh.org/community-journalism-project