From left: A forwarder brings cut logs to the landing during a harvest on the Heald Tract in July 2019. Consulting forester Jeremy Turner of Meadowsend Timberlands (second from right) leads a timber harvest tour for 50 people at the Heald Tract in February 2019.
Recent Happenings at the Heald Tract, Part 2 By Gabe Roxby
The Heald Tract is one of the Forest Society’s most spectacular properties, and one where landscape-level habitat management is a central focus of our work. Spreading across four towns—Wilton, Temple, Greenville, and Mason—the Heald family’s donation of nearly 1,500 acres to the Forest Society between 1986 and 2016 was one of the most generous gifts of land in our history. Cellar holes and old barn foundations can be found scattered among the property’s tremendously diverse natural features, which include beaver dams, vernal pools, a great blue heron rookery, and a 65-acre pond. An extensive trail network for hiking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing makes Heald an ideal recreation location throughout the year. Part 1 of this article, published in the spring 2021 issue of Forest Notes, highlighted the wildlife habitat and invasive species control project that we began in February 2021 in one of the property’s old apple orchards. Part 2 focuses on the three timber harvests that we have conducted since the completion of the Heald Tract management plan in 2016.
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he Forest Society has long believed in the benefit of carefully planned, responsible timber harvesting. A thoughtful timber harvest allows us to maintain a diverse mixture of forest types and ages that function as wildlife habitat and are more resilient to a rapidly changing climate. Harvesting also produces a variety of renewable forest products—dimensional lumber, flooring, and paper—that we rely on in some manner every day. Additionally, some of the wood products used in buildings and furniture can store carbon for many decades and reduce the demand for products made from non-renewable resources. After a harvest is complete, our forests here in the Northeast regrow quickly, sequestering carbon at a rapid rate. A forest managed through periodic timber harvesting can provide a multitude of benefits, but we don’t believe that cutting trees is appropriate everywhere. Some areas are too wet, too steep, or too rocky to allow for safe and responsible harvesting. Some forests that contain rare plants, exemplary natural communities, or places of special scenic or recreational beauty are best left 12 | FOREST NOTES Summer 2021
alone. We also believe that there is an inherent value in wilderness itself and in leaving some areas unmanaged and free to develop naturally. Approximately one-third of the land that the Forest Society owns is considered off-limits to timber harvesting due to a mixture of the aforementioned reasons. When a timber harvest begins, it can seem like it occurred suddenly and without warning. But the start of a project is often the culmination of years of planning, thought, and coordination. The inherent beauty of a tree can sometimes make it difficult to explain why anyone would ever want to cut one down. We try to address these questions head-on through a variety of educational programs, including guided timber tours on active harvests. During these outings, participants learn how every harvest begins with a comprehensive natural resource inventory. To develop our plan for how we would conduct the recent harvests on the Heald Tract, Forest Society forester Steve Junkin and I inventoried the property in the fall of 2016. We spent 15 days measuring trees, mapping wetlands, assessing wildlife
