Mahoosuc Land Trust undertakes harvesting to promote habitat restoration

PHOTO: A chipmunk peers around a white pine trunk in the McCoy-Chapman Forest. (Jay Davis photo)

BETHEL – The Mahoosuc Land Trust will soon commence its first harvest on the recently acquired McCoy-Chapman Forest, a 500-acre tract about five miles west of Bethel that runs from the banks of the Androscoggin River to the flanks of the Mahoosuc Range.
The scenic acquisition, which offers year-round recreation, comprises generous land donations from a family that practiced sustainable harvesting on their land for more than two centuries
“Ginny and Sam McCoy’s careful forest management over decades made the McCoy-Chapman Forest an appropriate place to apply best practices and emerging science on the types of harvesting practices that have true ecological benefits,” said Kirk Siegel, MLT’s executive director.
The harvest will take place on the slopes above the North Road, which bisects the property, and will carried out in accordance with exemplary wildlife habitat restoration and forest management plans. Planning, Siegel noted, included natural resource, forestry and ecological experts who assessed current conditions and recommended strategies for long-term resource protection and management.
Said Siegel, “This isn’t typical timber harvesting. It’s fascinating to me that we can create adjustments in the forest through species transitions which will favor native species adapted to future climate conditions.”
Inventories of large and small mammals, birds, amphibians and plant species guide specific prescribed cutting, which, over time, will mimic natural processes of storms and regrowth, diversifying habitat to attract more wildlife species, and preserving those that already flourish in the mixed hardwood-conifer woods. The project has benefitted from cooperative arrangements with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and the New England Forestry Foundation.
“We believe in the value of both working forests and preserved areas, and that by providing both, we can answer the needs of people in our region while protecting environmental values.,” said Katie Stuart, an MLT board member who’s been involved in the planning and implementation stages. “As we continually learn more about forest ecosystems, we are applying the best available science to our Mahoosuc Land Trust forests.
Debate over the best way to preserve and enhance forest land in the greater Mahoosuc region, which includes a wide variety of conservation land techniques, as well as a robust commercial forest industry, will continue. MLT, Stuart said, recognizes the need to contribute to the local economy as well as providing hiking, walking, skiing and birding opportunities for visitors from Maine and across the Northeast.
“While answering the need for locally-sourced products,” she added, “our goal is to demonstrate exemplary forestry that incorporates objectives for carbon management, riparian protections, natural disturbance ecology and forest biodiversity.”
“Hearing or coming across an active timber harvesting operation can be emotionally jarring,” noted Barbara Murphy, director of the land trust’s Habitat for All program. “Ecological science, however, is clear that there are times harvesting is needed to promote diverse, uneven-aged tree stands as well as to disrupt diseases affecting some tree species.”
“Hearing or coming across an active timber harvesting operation can be emotionally jarring,” noted Barbara Murphy, director of the land trust’s Habitat for All program. “Ecological science, however, is clear that there are times harvesting is needed to promote diverse, uneven-aged tree stands as well as to disrupt diseases affecting some tree species.”
Siegel acknowledged that finding the right balance involves careful listening as well as sound planning.
“Many people have strong opinions about how and where forestry is practiced, and its scale,” he said. “MLT hopes that this project will convince the most ardent preservationists of the merits of carefully crafted harvesting. At the same time, we hope it will show landowners who might harvest without specific attention to wildlife and long-term forest health that there are still lots of options to achieve their goals.”