DIXFIELD — Selectmen gave the go-ahead Monday night for an inventory of the white pines around the perimeter and back of Greenwood Cemetery.

“Some have reached prime and will decline,” Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky said during Public Works Foreman David Phair’s presentation of the proposal. “We’ll take a look to see what has reached maturity.”

“This could generate some income,” Phair said.

He said at least one neighbor of Greenwood Cemetery, which borders Weld and Pine streets, offered several of his pines in exchange for a tax deduction.

Selectman Raymond Carlton said he believes some opposition will arise over the possible harvesting of any of the trees.

Board Chairman Bettina Martin questioned why the town would get into the wood-cutting business. “We have so many other things to do,” she said.

The inventory would be done at no cost to the town, with results expected in four to six weeks. Selectman Norine Clarke made the motion to allow the inventory.

“It will be a study of how many are dangerous, how many have to come down, but do nothing before coming back to us,” she said.

Skibitsky said if trees are cut, some of the money received for them would be used to replant.

Martin and Carlton voted against allowing the inventory, while Clarke, Jim Desjardins and Steve Donahue approved it.

Also on Monday, selectmen learned of the likelihood of construction of a replacement for the Webb River Bridge to begin late this year, with the major construction completed in 2011.

Skibitsky said the Maine Department of Transportation contacted him last week about getting started again on the multimillion-dollar project.

The MDOT had planned to replace the bridge last year, but the Mexico Sewer District and the town of Dixfield could not reach an agreement on the percentages of responsibility for maintenance of sewer lines that cross under the bridge and extend to the sewage treatment plant in Mexico. The project was delayed. An agreement is expected within a few weeks.

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Some of the white pines along Pine Street next to Greenwood Cemetery in Dixfield will be studied to learn whether they should be cut down and sold.