WENDELL — The Wendell Wood Bank is in need of a new home after an area resident purchased the land where it is located.
Potential new sites for the wood bank, which came to fruition about nine months ago, are one on Montague Road the town has logged twice, a spot at the Fiske Pond Conservation Area, and the Wendell Recycling and Transfer Station, which the town owns at 341 New Salem Road. A wood bank is a place where people in need who heat their home with a woodstove can get free cord wood resulting from tree clearing.
Cliff Dornbusch, in his second year as Wendell’s tree warden, said the wood bank has been established but is not yet operational. He said most of the land the town is interested in is under a conservation easement, which limits developments to protect its conservation values.
The wood bank was at 97 Wendell Depot Road until it was purchased by Thomas Chaisson, who Dornbusch said is not rushing the wood bank off the property while the town looks for a new spot.
“He’s being pretty kind about it,” he said.
Attempts by the Greenfield Recorder to reach Chaisson were unsuccessful.
At a Dec. 22 Selectboard members, Dornbusch explained he had brought three or four truckloads of trees to Wendell Depot Road a couple of weeks prior, only to learn a few days later that the property had sold.
“That was kind of a shock to me, I guess,” he told Selectboard members at the virtual meeting. He also said two trees on New Salem Road need to be taken down “sooner rather than later” and about five other trees around town will soon need to be removed.
Last week, Dornbusch said he and Selectboard Chair Dan Keller drove around looking at potential spots for the wood bank. Dornbusch said he must now meet with the town’s Conservation Commission and Open Space Committee to discuss the potential new sites.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-772-0261, ext. 262.