Maple Ridge Forest

Location

Maple Ridge Forest is located in West Topsham, Vermont, and is part of Orange County, the gateway to the Northeast Kingdom. This area of Vermont is less populated than most of the state and has some of Vermont’s most beautiful and undisturbed areas. This property is located about 2.5 hours from Boston and 5 hours from New York City. The town of Bradford is the closest large town at 12 miles away, with the Barre and Montpelier area about 35 minutes to the west.

Access

This property is located off Route 25 in West Topsham. Turn onto Zion Hill Road to Kirby Road which turns into Peterson Road. Kirby and Peterson Roads are both Class IV roads. Kirby Road is currently maintained by a landowner located at the far end of the road. The property is only a short drive from the intersection of Kirby Road and Peterson Road.

Site Description

Maple Ridge Forest is a wonderful opportunity for someone to purchase 95 forested acres of predominantly sugar maple trees, located between 1,900’ and 2,200’ above sea level (ASL)  This high elevation property is mostly level or slightly sloped with the exception of the hilltop acres.  The land is easy to walk through using a road used in the past for logging, and still open for travel by foot, ATV or snowmobile.  With a little grading, a 4x4 truck could drive to the top of the road with the option of building a cabin on the top of the hill. 

There are several different areas that could be utilized for building a house or camp within the privacy of your own forest. There is a small stream at the entrance of the property and many acres of flat-level land which gradually climbs to the top of the hill.  From the hilltop, there are views toward the White Mountains of New Hampshire and also potential south and west views of both local and long-range mountains with some tree clearing.

Timber

The land offers a very attractive timber resource that is dominated by hardwoods, specifically sugar maple. Most trees are 65 years of age with generally high-density levels. As such, in many areas, the advanced understory regeneration is limited making walking through the forest relatively easy.

With the high percentage of sugar maple, there is certainly a good opportunity for a hobby sugarbush operation with several thousand potential taps.

Parts of the property were last lightly thinned about 2-3 years ago, most of the removals were firewood stems. The long-term timber appreciation potential on this land is exceptional considering the high quality of the trees that are growing.