Big Sky View

[Photo of view from Thogal cabin by Marit Cranmer] 

For most people familiar with Khandroling, seeing the naked swathes of newly cleared land for the first time is a shock -- especially for you “Tree Huggers” used to the forested areas on Khandroling for camping and shade. It’s a big change to take in. Thanks to many donors, most of the clear cut debris has been chipped and will “cure” for a year before spreading out. 

On the other hand, the co-emergent response is often a huge WOW factor as you see views hitherto never seen before in our generation open up for the first time. These are most apparent from the Thogal cabin looking down at the Mandala Hall as seen in the photo above or from the vantage of the Mandala Hall looking down to the valley below. A hundred years ago, the entire mountain was cleared. 

One has to take the long view here (no pun intended) to envision the future as the land creates new wildlife habitat and new growth hardwoods to replace the old growth of scrubby white pine that had taken over. This is a work-in-progress for the next 50 years or so that will achieve full potential long after most of us are gone.  For your information, a reforestation sign showing the timeline is located on the land. We are working with the state forester to create a wildlife habitat timeline as well. 

To read more about the reforestation project of Khandroling, visit here. Such land management is commonly implemented in the overgrowth forests of Western Massachusetts to rejuvenate the forests and reestablish wildlife habitat slowly dying out for lack of suitable food sources to forage. 

[Photo by Sean Quinn, chipped debris/wood from the clear cut on Khandroling awaits magical transformation......you’ll see]

AH the Dakinis are at play or Is it OZ?  Come Join the Dance and experience first hand the magic of Khandroling

[Both photos by Kathleen Fekete]