Notchview, Windsor, Massachusetts

A Climate-Smart Forestry Case Study

Working with a conservation organization to bring large scale climate-smart forest management plan to 3,100 acres

The single largest property stewarded by The Trustees, Notchview, located in Windsor, Massachusetts, includes more than 3,100 acres of forests, wetlands, grasslands, early successional habitats and a high degree of regional forest connectivity. With an average elevation of approximately 2,000 feet, Notchview experiences a colder climate than much of the region, allowing for the existence of more northern species – and is threatened by the changing climate.

Working with Michael Mauri, a consulting forester, and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science Climate Adaptation Framework, land managers James Caffrey and Julie Richburg completed a landscape scale, climate change-informed forest management plan in 2018. The plan focused on the Trustees’ goals to manage Notchview’s forest habitats as a healthy, climate-resilient forest that provides diverse wildlife habitat and natural communities, as well as recreational opportunities to engage the public. The forest stewardship plan outlines the goals and objectives for managing the property’s natural resources, including how to address threats to forest resources such as non-native invasive species and those due to climate change. Although much of Notchview will be managed passively by supporting late-successional forest conditions, active management can be used to maintain and potentially increase the current diversity of native tree species.

Spruce-Fir forest at Notchview (c) The Trustees

Desired Outcomes

A fully developed and implemented plan focused on limiting the negative impact of non-native invasive plants
Executed activities to support species and habitats affiliated with early successional forest conditions
Management of potential safety hazards stemming from emerald ash borer along Notchview trails, continuing to maintain property infrastructure (e.g. boundaries, roads and affiliated drainage, trails and affiliated drainage, etc.) while beginning to look ahead to future needs including incorporating projections of more extreme weather
Strategic management plan focused on limiting damage by herbivores, especially white-tailed deer and moose, so that the present range of forest tree and shrub diversity and affiliated usage by breeding birds and other wildlife may be perpetuated over time.

Challenges

The Trustees have identified climate change as a major challenge for the long-term management of Notchview. The region’s annual temperatures have risen more than 2°F, leading to a longer growing season and shorter, milder, and more variable winters. Changes in precipitation patterns are expected to alter hydrologic processes within forests and increase the risk of damage to infrastructure, like culverts, trails and roads. Active forest management efforts will be impacted by warmer and more variable winter conditions, which will reduce the number of days that heavy machinery will be able to operate on frozen ground. The changing climate is also expected to cause changes in forest species composition and health. Across the region, the habitat for many northern species is projected to decline as climate conditions become less suitable. Northern conifer species like red spruce and balsam fir are expected to be most vulnerable, particularly in more southerly parts of their range—including places like Notchview.

Anticipated Climate Impacts

Many northern and boreal tree species will face increasing stress across much of the region. Several dominant tree species are at risk of declining by the end of the century, including red spruce and balsam fir.
Precipitation is projected to increase overall but with reduced growing season precipitation and continued increases in intense precipitation events. More precipitation as rain during cold season could raise water levels in some wetlands and reduce habitat for trees there as well.
Extreme storms have already had major effects on the property, and impacts are expected to continue or increase as weather becomes more variable and events like ice storms increase.
Many existing issues with invasive species are expected to get worse over time, with possible increases in pest populations as winter temperatures increase and seasonal insect mortalities decrease. This is expected to increase forest damage from emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid and other pests.
Maintaining snow cover on ski trails will be an important consideration for recreational opportunities and revenues from ski pass sales.
To reduce soil impact, access to potential silvicultural management areas via snow-covered or frozen roads will become more limited as winters warm.

Other Project Challenges

The 4,000 ash trees that lie within 50’ of the trails (covering approximately 260 acres) at Notchview may need a special focus as existing threats by emerald ash borer may make stressed or dead trees a hazard on the recreational trails.
Finding the balance between carbon goals (storage and sequestration), biodiversity goals and active management activities (i.e. timber harvesting, patch clearing) will require deep planning and monitoring.

Site Dynamics

With nearly a million live trees, Notchview is covered by a diverse forest dominated by eleven tree species, most of which are shade tolerant. The most abundant species are red maple, yellow birch, beech and spruce, followed by sugar maple, black cherry, white ash and several other less common species for this region. These contribute to the overarching forest type of Spruce-Fir-Northern Hardwoods. This forest type typically occurs above 1400’ elevation (average elevation at Notchview is 2000’).

Notchview includes a variety of forests, wetlands, grasslands, and early successional habitats. The property’s size, particularly when considered with its continuity to the Windsor State Forest (>1,500 acres) and the Moran Wildlife Management Area (2,447 acres), provides a vast expanse of relatively unfragmented forest that is critical habitat for wildlife and forest-interior birds.

The property includes various wetland types and hydrology, including fast-running streams, beaver impoundments, forest seeps, vernal pools and large expanses of forested swamps, shrub swamps and sedge meadows. Large areas of grasslands, including hay fields, pastures and old fields, provide both valuable habitat for grassland wildlife and pastoral views. It is an important cultural, scenic and ecological landscape that is treasured by thousands of visitors and, as such, needs to consider public access and safety in keeping the property open to hikers, skiers and other recreationists.

Climate-Smart Management Practices

Practice passive management and maintain large portions of Notchview as wildlands, providing refugia for wildlife species dependent on old growth structure and large tracts of interior forest
Retain large, old, healthy tree growth habitat and long-term carbon storage
Encourage biodiversity, forest regeneration and address forest health issues through active management and harvests, including the implementation of well-planned, early successional harvesting at specific sites and stands
Monitor, remove and control of invasive species
Track presence of Emerald Ash Borer in landscape and on Notchview, and plan salvage cuts along 50-foot borders of trails for safety in face of rapid decline
Support large scale forest regeneration harvests using slash wall exclosures to protect seedlings from browse by deer and moose, with monitoring of outcomes inside and outside of exclosures to measure effectiveness
Create of early-successional forest habitat through patch openings, shelterwood, or other methods

Project Status

The Climate Adaptation Forest Stewardship Plan has been completed. Recommendations from the plan are being targeted for implementation, beginning with a resiliency project that is funded by the Climate Adaptation Fund of the Wildlife Conservation Society and private philanthropy.

The goals of this current project are:

Increase climate resiliency of the forest by regenerating red oak and hickory to aid the transition to Acadian forest to central hardwoods as the climate changes
Protect regeneration using slash walls – trial use of slash walls within the Notchview forest as means to protect regeneration from deer and moose browse.
Increase genetic diversity of red oak and hickory by planting seedlings from Trustees properties or others within the central hardwood ecoregion.
Demonstrate activities to address climate resiliency to a broad audience through on site field visits, social media, podcasts, and more. Target audiences will include Trustees’ members and visitors, local communities, natural resource professionals and students, and private forest owners.

Gallery

Contact:

Julie Richburg
Lead Ecologist, Inland Natural Resources
The Trustees
Jrichburg@thetrustees.org
413.217.0509

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Julie Richburg, Mike Mauri and Emily Boss for their assistance in preparing this case study.

Spruce-Fir forest at Notchview (c) The Trustees

Fast Facts

Town:

Windsor

Native Heritage:

The land is in the town of Windsor, MA on unceded land of the Pocumtuc, Mohican and Nipmuc Nations and is stewarded by the Trustees. Learn more about whose land you’re on.

Project Proponent:

The Trustees of Reservations

Landowner Type:

Conservation Nonprofit

Project Stakeholders:

The Trustees, consulting foresters Michael Mauri, MA Department of Conservation and Recreation Forest Stewardship Program, Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, Wildlife Conservation Society, Private Supporters

Goals:

Develop and implement Forest Stewardship Climate Plan; increase climate resilience; enhance wildlife habitat; protect natural communities; preserve recreational opportunities

Management Practices Applied:

Invasives control; passive management for forest transition; targeted harvesting; herbivory control; monitoring plan