Route 116 in Ashfield 1 mile west of junction with Route 112
How do you improve a degraded woodland to let it grow higher quality trees? What can you do to restore a forest that has been previously high-graded? Can you improve wildlife habitat at the same time that you improve the potential for better timber?
Those are the questions that will be discussed at a Tree Farm tour on W. D. Cowls’ Stanley lot in Ashfield on Sunday, December 3rd at noon. Cowls bought the 237-acre Stanley lot in the 1950s after it had been previously high-graded by a prior landowner and let it grow back. In 2011 and 2012, Cowls foresters set up a timber harvest on much of the property to remove poor quality trees and create conditions for regeneration. The harvest was a seed tree harvest with some 4-acre clearcuts to both create conditions for diverse regeneration and provide early successional habitat for wildlife.
The tour, which will be led by Cowls forester Jacob Macko, will meet at the eastern landing on the south side of Route 116 about 1 mile from the intersection with Route 112 north of Sanderson Academy.
Participants should wear sturdy boots and heavy pants to hike along skid roads on uneven terrain for about a mile. The tour will be cancelled in event of heavy rain or snow.