Hanover High School’s Youth in Action organized a work day in Pine Park on April 27, 2025. Joining the students and their faculty advisor were several trustees and two members of Dartmouth’s incoming class of 2029 and their families. Large piles of slash and fallen trees along the Rope Ferry Trail esker were cut up and spread in the woods to decay.
Pine Park will celebrate National Trails Day with a workday in the park on June 7, 2025, from 10 am- noon. Our group will meet at the entrance on Rope Ferry Road. We will walk on the Rope Ferry Trail to its north end near the Four Corners and reclaim an old trail along the cove that has been closed for a number of years. Volunteers should bring water, bug spray, and work gloves. We will provide clippers, loppers and saws, and snacks.
Contribute to Pine Park by ordering a Tribute Tree to honor an individual or a special event. This new project furthers the goals of re-wilding the former golf course and restoring logged areas near the river while giving park lovers a chance to create a personal connection with a tree of their choice.
Orders for trees are now being accepted with planting scheduled for May.
Please go to pinepark.org and click on the link for Tribute Trees for more information about selecting a tree and making your donation.
Students in Professor Craig Layne’s course on winter ecology have been conducting experiments in Pine Park on how various creatures adapt to winter conditions. The experiments include webcams, underground observation sites, and bird feeders. Here’s a link for more information – Google Photos album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8GmAtjZ988wbtMBG6
The program to control invasive plants at the edges of the old golf course has been completed. This was a three-year effort partially funded by a grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture. A new program along Girl Brook began this fall. The problem plants included glossy buckthorn, barberry, euonymus, honeysuckle, and Norway maple. Their removal is necessary to make room for native plants to sprout.
Tim McNamara grew up in the Upper Valley and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1978. In addition to his BA in Geography/Environmental Studies, McNamara holds Masters degrees in Natural Resource Management and in Business Administration. Retiring from Dartmouth College in December 2024, he has long experience with Pine Park in his capacity first as Associate Director of Dartmouth’s real estate office and campus services and currently as Associate Director of Facilities Operations and Management. Most recently, Tim planned and supervised the extensive work carried out by Dartmouth in 2022-23 to restore the section of the former golf course that was returned to Pine Park.
Tim is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, where he served as an intelligence officer and has extensive service with various community organizations. He is currently Mayor of the City of Lebanon, having served as City Councilor, Assistant Mayor, and chair of the Lebanon Planning Board.
Tim hikes and has hands-on experience managing his own woodlands.
The Pine Park Association 