A top state authority has given approval of a plan to begin removing white pine plantations in an effort to restore native species in the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, with work expected to begin this winter.
MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage Endangered Species Program (NHESP) endorsed the proposal to begin removing some 50 acres of white pine just before the Fourth of July; a state service forester signed off a day later, on July 2.
The approval comes with new conditions to avoid the “take” — a term that in reference to animals or plants ranges from behavior disruption to kill — of species protected by the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act.
These conditions, outlined in a comment letter from NHESP, include limitation of vehicle and equipment access to paved and fire roads in the management areas, visual inspection and washing of vehicles and equipment brought in from other sites, and removal of “coarse woody debris” on the edges of trails and access roads.
Some Islanders, who say that they weren’t heard during the public comment period, remain critical of the project.
“It seems like a crime to take it away,” James (“Jim”) Athearn, a frequent patron of State Forest trails and founder of Morning Glory Farm, said of removing the pine plantations. Athearn doesn’t think that the forest will gain in an attempt to bring back native species. The state’s desired forest “doesn’t hold water to what we lose,” he said.
Athearn said the plantations are a sacred place; he once saw 18 owls in one tree, and named the intersection of two fire roads there “Owl Junction.”
Michael Blanchard, a photographer, gallery owner, and daily patron of the forest, is also frustrated, and said he wished that the state department did more to listen to Islanders who cherish what is there now.
Blanchard said he suggested that the initial phase be moved to a more central point of the forest, closer to the airport and more out of view, rather than the proposed area where, he said, a lot of recreational activity takes place. The plan, however, targets areas where most people go for “a respite to get away from the world.”
Another concern among Islanders is the capacity of the local small-scale lumber industry. That the timber can be harvested through local efforts “sounds like a PR stunt to soften the blow of the clear-cut by putting ‘local use’ lipstick on this clear-cut pig,” Katherine Scott, an Islander against the plan, said in an email to The Times.
Though the goal is to remove 175 acres of white pine plantations by 2035, phase one of the project includes the cutting of 52 acres, estimated to produce 201,000 board feet of white pine and 2,613 tons of chips from two separate areas. The initial phase previously proposed the removal of 79 acres, but the inclusion of buffers around trails, bike paths, and roads where they won’t cut lessened the initial acreage.
There are 40 acres slated to be cut in the southeastern corner of the forest, and four patch cuts — each three acres — farther northwest are to be removed to test regeneration of the forest.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation, as landowners of the 5,300-acre forest, said they’ll now work with Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s Manuel Correllus State Forest Task Force members to draft bid documents for vendor selection, which they anticipate will be finalized and publicly advertised in the fall or early winter.
The approved cutting plan has a proposed start date of Dec. 1, and a DCR spokesperson said work could last through April.
“Manuel Correllus State Forest is a vital area that is home to one of the highest concentrations of state-listed rare species in Massachusetts. Removing non-native white pines and restoring native-barrens oak woodland communities will create a healthier ecosystem, reduce wildfire risk, and promote variety of life,” a DCR spokesperson said. “This restoration project is important for the long-term health of the forest, ensuring it continues to support wildlife and the community for future generations. We are committed to continuing to work with the task force and the community as this project moves forward.”
I find Mr. Athens‘s comments a bit funny in that only a few years ago he cut down over 20 acres of forest. The carbon release from that destruction did not seem to bother him as that was for his purpose.
Mr. Athearn and his family have been feeding this island for 50 years. Taking trees down for agricultural purposes is very different than clear cutting 175 acres of state forest to make room for a manicured meadow..
Our planet is flooding, lands are burning, our air is dirty.
Trees drink lots of water, trees cool our planet, trees purify the air.
Seems we need more trees not less! Stop the chopping down of our trees.
Would be awesome if the The Department of Conservation and Recreation could maintain the bike paths in and around the State Forrest – instead of clear cutting one of the few spots where there is a net work of trails that are easily the most heavily used ones in the entire forrest. The bike paths are becoming over grown and many spots have become narrowed so much it makes passing oncoming riders dangerous. It does not seem like maintenance of the paths is a very high priority.
Islanders have for years been urging the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation to repair and maintain the bike paths and undertake other maintenance of basic infrastructure, plus hire a forest superintendent and make the dwelling in the forest habitable. Neglect of bike paths is just one of the categories of neglect that have been shown by the DCR’s and its predecessor agencies toward the Correllus State Forest for decades.
This general neglect has been punctuated by occasional ill-conceived radical “brain storms” every few decades to intervene and change the character of the flora and fauna of the terrain. The current attack on Eastern White Pines—described as “A magnificent evergreen tree with straight trunk and crown of horizontal branches. . . . The largest conifer and formerly the most valuable tree in the Northeast” by the Audubon Field Guide to North American Trees, Eastern Region—is just the most recent effort to “hack” the State Forest (not the “State Sand Plain Grassland”!!) to execute a new brain storm by hacking down all of the Eastern White Pines and creating a sand plain grassland or maybe something else (they are not sure what will appear . . .) . The plan also involves burning after the cutting down and chipping of the outlawed conifers.
All on the tab of the taxpayers and residents, the actual ultimate owners of the State Forest.
It is outrageous that Island conservation organizations are going along with this cutting and burning plan in support of a questionable theory of “resilience through [managed] biodiversity.”
Nature is plenty “resilient” if left alone. Meanwhile, who knows when the bike paths will be re-paved.
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