By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

DEAD RIVER TOWNSHIP – Some very old trees on more than 1,000 acres in the Bigelow Preserve may be cut this week as part of a state timber harvest.

But a member of Friends of Bigelow Preserve said he was “shocked” that the state is planning to harvest in this sensitive area.

State officials defended the plan Saturday while leading a group of people into the proposed cutting area.

The plan, designed to take only a certain percentage of healthy, valuable old trees, will also cut those that are valuable and destined to die within five years, according to Steve Swatling, Bigelow Preserve manager who prepared the plan. Comparing it to raising thoroughbred horses, Swatling explained that leaving some of the healthy older trees in the forest and clearing the canopy will provide an environment for more trees with desirable qualities to grow.

This forest, though impressive, is not old growth, he said, but rather “late successional,” meaning it is a mature forest with desirable characteristics the bureau says the plan will enhance. Old growth stands will not be cut because of their rarity and special features, officials wrote in a document given to attendees.

Nine people met with officials from the Department of Conservation and the Bureau of Parks and Lands Saturday at the preserve to learn more. Nine people plus four state officials attended a presentation at the Bigelow Lodge, and half of the public attendees toured the woods where the cutting is to occur. The area of hardwood and softwood trees is located just south of East Flagstaff Road and below a designated ecological reserve on the north side of Bigelow Mountain where harvesting is not permitted.

Friends of Bigelow Preserve questioned authorities about why the harvest couldn’t wait another year until the preserve’s management plan is complete. An advisory committee of officials, recreationalists and environmentalists was formed to work on the plan following a public meeting in Farmington several months ago, but the group’s first meeting was delayed by the state until September when more people would be able to attend.

Saturday’s meeting was scheduled on short notice to “avoid considerable delay” after the friends asked what the department was doing, Dave Soucy, director of the state’s Bureau of Parks and Lands, said Saturday.

Besides, the department would not typically stop operations during re-planning, he said.

They are still working under a statutory management plan that would not change in the planning process, he added.

“I’m shocked they sent this plan … and already hired a contractor,” Bob Weingarten, a member of the friends, said Friday.

Pam Prodan of Wilton, the only representative from Friends of Bigelow Preserve present, said the group is “thinking about the big picture.” The attorney who represents the group said the management planning process is an opportunity to have a focus group and discuss cutting in an area that hasn’t been harvested in more than 60 years, she said. She also felt she wasn’t hearing the whole story – not having heard from wildlife biologists and ecologists.

“If the Friends of Bigelow see it as a very sensitive area, they’re right,” Soucy said. Trees over 200-years-old are components of very old and rare forests that harbor rare habitats, he said.

“But it is not an exaggeration to say (the plan) would create a late successional forest,” he said. “We’re just doing something that we’ve already announced that we’re going to do. There’s nothing radical about it. If the Bureau of Public Lands is successful, we’ll have more late successional forests.”

Tom Charles, silvaculturalist for the bureau, reinforcing Soucy’s claim, said the bureau typically harvests below the sustainable rate because its aim is to increase the inventory.

“We’re in the business of growing trees,” added Swatling.

But Weingarten said the group would like to see 300 acres of the proposed harvest area saved.

“It’s on its way to old growth,” he said Friday. “We want to give them a chance to keep growing. Some of those trees in there, it’s astounding.”

The bureau plans to have another informational trip into the forested preserve in early September. Interested people can contact Steve Swatling at 778-8238 for more information.