As the owners and caretakers of more than 5,000 acres of timberland in Windham and Grafton, we wanted to explain the details of our proposal to put three temporary meteorological towers atop our property.
Meadowsend is a family-owned timber and forestry company dedicated to land conservation. The French family has owned Meadowsend and has been a proud neighbor in Grafton and Windham for 16 years.
We have always taken pride in the way we have managed the property, and we have made it available for the public to use for snowmobiling, hunting, fishing, hiking, and other activities. We manage the property under Vermont's Current Use Program, and we are determined to continue this practice for years to come.
Like all industries, we now find ourselves doing business in a highly competitive global market. It is becoming very clear to us that managing this property for timber alone is not economically sustainable over the long term. If we are going to keep this land intact, we must look to maximize its other assets.
One of the possibilities is wind power. Because our company is dedicated to land conservation and we are deeply concerned about climate change, we see that wind power has emerged as a possibility for us to continue to thrive while maintaining this land for generations to come.
We are proposing to erect three temporary towers to measure the wind on top of Stiles Brook. We plan to take wind measurements for one to three years. With that data in hand, we would know whether there is enough wind to justify proposing to build a wind project that would span our land.
We would emphasize that this proposal is highly preliminary. It is natural for everyone to want to know how many wind towers we would plan to build. Such a decision is far in the future.
All we want to do today is erect three small towers, two in Grafton and one in Windham, to measure the wind, as well as foster conversation in our community about this idea.
We would use existing logging roads for the work and keep disturbance to a minimum. We have partnered with Iberdrola Renewables, an international leader in wind development, to make sure these meteorological towers are erected in the most responsible manner.
We will be attending a special meeting of the Windham Selectboard on July 11 at 7 p.m. at the Windham Elementary School to explain our proposal and to answer any questions you might have.
I also extend an invitation to any resident who would like to take a tour of the property and see exactly where the three temporary towers would be sited and how they would be erected.
We are proud of this property and its management. We are doing everything we can to keep it intact and managed according to traditional Vermont values.
As long-time neighbors, it is especially important to us to engage in a dialogue with the people of both towns. We look forward to the meeting. We have been meeting individually with other folks in the towns and would be glad to host or attend any other community meetings as people's schedules permit.
We look forward to hearing from you.