By Julia Purdy
The U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture with ranger districts in Rochester and Manchester and soon-to-be headquarters in Mendon, has announced changes in a forest management project initially approved in 2018 but delayed due to public concerns expressed during the required comment period.
Public notice of a “Proposed Action” within the national forest is required, and public comment is a prerequisite to its finalization, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); the environmental effects of any plan must be publicly disclosed, via an environmental assessment for the site(s) under consideration.
While most people know the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) as welcome relief from the daily grind, it is also a working forest, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, for a range of uses, including recreation, wildlife habitat, forest health and conservation of natural resources.
The Early Successional Habitat Creation Project (ESHCP) combines all these goals by creating new habitats for migrating songbirds and animal species that depend on new growth to flourish. “Early succession” refers to new (regenerative) forest growth that provides nesting, feed and protection in the Green Mountains for familiar backyard birds, game birds such as the ruffed grouse, woodcock and turkey, and shelter, feed and browse for mammals — bear, deer, bobcat and snowshoe hare.
The forest has aged out of its ability to support wildlife diversity, said forest planner and NEPA coordinator Jay Strand, who works out of the Rochester district, to the Mountain Times. The woods are currently crowded with 80- to 90-year-old stock that filled in old farmlands since the 1930s, Strand explained. Upland forest openings critically beneficial to wildlife are growing in.
Natural regeneration in a forest — due to wildfire, hurricanes and the like — does not happen often here in Vermont, Strand explained. Accordingly, the Forest Plan of 2006 states: “Timber harvesting is the primary tool to achieve … future conditions for creating and maintaining healthy, productive forests and quality habitats.”
Timber harvesting opens up certain forest areas to light and air — a necessity for regeneration — under the oversight of the forester, timber sale manager and engineer.
The project targets key tree species that grow and become seed-bearing quickly in ample sunlight: birch and particularly aspen. The optimum period of growth is 0-9 years.
“Some species depend on this habitat for some part of their life cycle,” Strand explained.
The overall objective is to establish a continuous succession of this type of habitat.
The GMNF straddles the mountain spine of Vermont and comes into two sections, knitted together by the Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail – the “north half,” from Sherburne Pass (Route 4 East) north into Lincoln and Bristol, and the “south half,” from Wallingford south almost to the Massachusetts state line. The south half contains five of the GMNF’s eight designated wilderness areas.
The current ESHCP will take place in selected management areas scattered throughout the south half. The finalized treatment areas are located in the national forest lands of Rutland, Bennington and Windham counties. A map document of the south half shows the ESHCP minutely detailed amid a mosaic of color-coded management areas produced by planners to define the various uses for recreation, timber and other forest resources, and wildlife habitat.
The first public forum was held in Manchester Center in March 2018, followed by an online public response in early 2020. Though generally supportive of the goals, public concerns centered around two issues: the acreage planned for timber harvest and the roads needed to conduct the harvest.
Strand commented that the feedback “helped us realize there were some remaining issues specific to the amount of road construction.” The respondents’ main concerns were the potential environmental impact of road construction at the levels initially approved in the project decision, up to 25 miles, temporary where possible, or permanent elsewhere to support the timber harvest. It was pointed out that that amount was beyond the 2006 Forest Plan vision.
“As a result, we dropped all permanent road construction and dropped all approved harvest areas more than half a mile from existing roads,” he said, thereby eliminating the need for new roads penetrating deep into the forest. Another adjustment is to utilize only old “legacy” road footprints when their use will have less impact.
The second public concern was the acreage involved. The environmental assessment identified a “pool” of 15,000 eligible acres, scattered across the Manchester district, to harvest over a 15-year period. That pool is now reduced to an upper limit of 14,270 acres, Strand said, which may be reduced further when timber sales begin, based on the feasibility of harvesting and other kinds of protections.
District Ranger Martina Barnes described the overall timetable of the current ESHCP. Planning began in 2018, four years ago. Once begun, due to the long time frame required by growing trees, the project will continue for 15 years, with anticipated success by 2034. Forest Service staff continuously monitors timber harvesting for best practices and to verify that the benefits are being realized – and also realizable – “on the ground” in terms of regenerative growth and the species it is intended to benefit, Barnes added.
