MONTAGUE — Tree harvesting is a normal routine to preserve the natural balance of the ecosystem at the Montague Plains, but as the cutting moves closer to the road, biologists want to reassure the public that removing the trees is in the best interest of both the animals that call the forest home and the residents who live nearby.
Tree cutting prevents catastrophic wildfires that could impact nearby homes, while also creating an open-canopy forest, which lets in enough light to support shrub growth on the ground, sustaining a habitat that many animals rely on, said Brian Hawthorne, a habitat biologist overseeing the project for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife).
“These rare habitats are maintained by the frequent low-intensity fires and support 47 known species,” said Hawthorne, explaining that generations of farming on the Plains altered the soil causing dense forests of pitch pine trees to grow in place of the original open shrub land with scattered oaks and pines.
For more than a decade, wildlife authorities have cut down trees on the Montague Plains — hundreds of acres bordering Turners Falls Road — as part of a habitat restoration plan.
The state agency aims to restore the open canopy forest and sustain rare species of reptiles, birds, moths, bees and plants. “The response by wildlife has been very encouraging,” said Hawthorne.
Since this fall, MassWildlife’s cutting on the nature preserve has moved closer to a more visible spot near Turners Falls Road, said Hawthorne.
The department asserts that the restoration project is only helping the habitat at the Montague Plains, the largest remaining example of an inland, sand plain ecosystem in the state.
“This deep sand supports globally rare habitats,” he said, noting that, once widespread, these sand plains have mostly been converted to cities and airports. Wildlife officials said that they are leaving the largest and healthiest oaks and pitch pines, keeping at least 30 percent of the trees.
When MassWildlife purchased 1,200 acres of the sand plain from the power company, now Eversource, in 1999, it immediately began using controlled burns as a habitat preservation method and to prevent wildfires.
MassWildlife is also not benefiting financially from the project. If the wood is valuable, the state puts the tree cutting out to bid. “From the state’s point of view, we just about break even on this habitat management,” Hawthorne said.
The state agency plans to continue restoring areas of dense pitch pine in the coming years. Once the forest has been restored to an open canopy forest, it does not anticipate removing more trees.
You can reach Lisa Spear at: lspear@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 280