Cutting trees can be important to the long term health of the forest and its wildlife inhabitants. Sudbury Valley Trustees is a regional land trust that manages over 4000 acres of protected land in the area. SVT supports working forests on private conserved land and manages our own forests for biological diversity and healthy habitats. Over the next three months, SVT will highlight different types of forest management that all provide benefits to plants and wildlife.

Carefully selecting trees to cut allows more light to reach the forest floor, encouraging understory shrub growth and remaining trees to grow bigger with more space to branch out. The result is a greater diversity of habitats that support increased variety of wildlife, especially birds.

At Baiting Brook Meadow Farm in Framingham, the landowner is generating income and maintaining and providing good wildlife habitat. On Sunday, September 25 at 2:00 pm, SVT Director of Stewardship Laura Mattei will lead a tour of this actively managed forest. Visitors will learn more about the specifics of a logging operation and have the opportunity to view a property one year after a cut.

At the Memorial Forest in Sudbury, Sudbury Valley Trustees is restoring pitch pine-scrub oak barrens. The restoration requires cutting trees and clearing areas in preparation for a prescribed burn.  Cutting will take place later this year. The public is welcome to attend a pre-cut site walk on Saturday, October 15 at 9:00 am with SVT and the forester to learn more about the process.

On the Ashland-Framingham town line, Ashland Town Forest and SVT’s Cowassock Woods will also be the focus of a forest management initiative in partnership with Mass Audubon’s Foresters for the Birds program and the DCR’s Forest Stewardship Program. Mass Audubon trains foresters and landowners to manage their land and its potential as bird habitat. This conservation land has been negatively impacted by deer overbrowsing and lack of management, resulting in the loss of the shrub understory that forest songbirds need to survive. The Forest for the Birds program will be launched on November 12.

For more information, including directions and parking information, register for these free educational walks at www.svtweb.org/calendar or by calling 978-443-5588 X123. Sudbury Valley Trustees is a regional land trust, protecting and caring for land and wildlife habitat in 36 communities surrounding the Concord, Assabet, and Sudbury Rivers.  www.svtweb.org