Update: the public walk through the woods has been rescheduled to Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 6 p.m. because of rain. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city is looking at a forest management plan around Notch Reservoir to preserve its watershed, root out invasive species, promote sustainable growth and bring in some revenue. 

 

The initiative is part of Mass Audubon's Forest Climate Resilience Program in conjunction with the Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts, of which the city is a member. Two demonstration forests in the partnership are eligible for three-year U.S. Forestry Service grants. 

 

The Conservation Commission heard a presentation on Tuesday from Andrew Randazzo, a forest ecologist for Mass Audubon, and New England Forestry Consultants Vice President Gary Gouldrup and forestry technician Liam Smith. 

 

They emphasized the need for education, collaboration, and sustainable planning to address climate change. 

 

"We've established a cooperative agreement with the city of North Adams that establishes this Notch Reservoir site as a Climate Smart Demonstration Site for the purpose of not just implementing your forest stewardship climate plan, but really engaging in monitoring research and education," said Randazzo. "We work with municipalities to help them get sort of get over the finish line with forest stewardship plans and implementation in relationship to thinking about climate change and climate adaption ... 

 

"We often find that municipalities get a forest stewardship plan and then don't have the capacity to implement that."

 

The program, supported by federal funding, is based on the idea that forests can act as a natural climate solution by absorbing greenhouse gases and locking them away in trees and wood products. Randazzo said carbon sequestration is associated with young forests because younger trees are better at soaking up carbon rapidly while more mature trees are associated additional storage. 

 

"North Adams has many goals for us for Notch Reservoir, obviously, water quality being the biggest one, you know, income and recreation being another another piece of it," he said. "The idea of having a demonstration forest is really so that we can bring the community to see and understand what these practices look like and to couple that with sort of monitoring of the site over the longer term."

 

Gouldrup said his company looks at past forestry practices and how they relate to climate change and forest structure -- which types of trees are going to have the most trouble adapting to a warming climate and which should be promoted to. 

 

"We're not going to have those cold winters, those deep frosts anymore," he said. "We're going to have more catastrophic weather events more water and rain when we don't want it. So we're looking at managing land based on what we expect will happen in the future because of the warming climate."

 

The forest management plan was presented at a previous public hearing. Over the next week, the consultants will be marking trees to the north and west of the reservoir and the public will be invited to a walkthrough on Wednesday, July 31, at 6 p.m. 

 

The largest part of the project will be harvesting of invasives in the red and white pine plantations to the west of the reservoir. Beyond it is a hardwood stand on the east side of Mount Greylock with "the most beautiful white ash stands that I've ever been in," said Gouldrup. "We've got beautiful sugar maple, red oak, in conjunction with some hemlock, and some other hardwoods, red maple, birch, etc."

 

The ash trees are of concern because of the emerald ash borer and the state is trying to develop ways to protect these types of stands. The oak and sugar maple are more resilient to climate change. The recommendation is to focus on harvesting and thinning trees at higher risk to promote growth of the more resilient species and to help the ash varieties regenerate in hopes of outliving the infestation. 

 

"We want to try to establish a resilient forest and that may require transitioning to species that have a better resilience," Gouldrup said. He added the city could realize some revenue through logging though how much would depend on the bids received. 

 

The program will be funded through stewardship grants with the exception of matching funds necessary to address several failing culverts. Randazzo said the culverts have been there for about a century and that's why they are failing and causing erosion. Their replacement would require approval from the commission. 

 

The commissioners were concerned with the skid trails that would have to be cut through the forest, the potential for erosion and the use of herbicides to eradicate invasive species. 

 

Gouldrup said his company as the consultant and would oversee the harvesting and the skid trails, which he said would be closed up on completion. Commissioner Heather Williams wasn't completely satisfied with that.

 

 "You are opening up a whole bunch of trails that people on snowmobiles and ATVs are going to use and so there has to be a plan," she said. "Motorized vehicles are not allowed on that property and there has to be a plan to prevent their access to these areas."

 

 She also wanted more information on the herbicides to be used, expressing concern that the most likely candidate glyphosate, used in commercial applications, can linger in water. Smith said he is waiting on the state Department of Environmental Protection for approvals. 

 

 The presentation was informational but commission wanted a summary of the herbicide treatment and a map showing its application areas before approval. A meeting was set for Aug. 5 at 6 p.m. as Smith said the goal was to apply the herbicide before the leaves began to fall. 

 

The woods walk is Wednesday, July 31, at 6 p.m. Meet at the Bellows Pipe trailhead next to 1130 Reservoir Road.