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Pelham Lake Park is a treasured forest and lake landscape located in the heart of Rowe, Massachusetts. The 1,412-acre park occupies most of the northern triangle of land between Pond Road and Davis Mine Road. Forests make up 1,331 acres of the park and another 81 acres that is Pelham Lake itself. From the shores of the lake, the forest stretches up the mountainside and provides a range of ecotypes, places to explore, and habitat for wildlife.
Over twenty miles of trails wind through the park, providing access and recreational opportunities. Having a healthy future forest with a diverse array of species at Pelham Lake is an important climate adaptation step for the management of this land. This step requires securing and then nurturing a new cohort of young trees under changing and often adverse conditions.
Maintaining a healthy and resilient future forest with a diverse array of species was identified early on as important climate-adaptation outcomes for the management actions taken on this land. Rowe has been working towards improving forest resilience by establishing an old growth characteristics interpretive trail; treating white ash against emerald ash borer; engaging the community to monitor for hemlock wooly adelgid; and planting tree species, such as white and red oak, that would persist as the local climate changed.
Addressing Pelham Lake Park’s primary vulnerability to climate change, a lack of establishing young trees (regeneration), is also a priority. Future management strategies will address this vulnerability by conducting a small resilience harvest that will focus on removing trees (while retaining a few trees that are well adapted to climate change as a seed source) to create space for the establishment of young trees and improve forest diversity.
The planned harvest will consist of two side-by-side two-acre group selections with reserves, meaning strategically retaining specific trees in an otherwise clear-cut patch. This harvest activity will also include an innovative strategy called a slash wall, a large wall of woody material designed to exclude deer and protect young trees. The wall will slowly biodegrade over time and will not need to be rebuilt or removed. A slash wall will help address the impact deer are having on our forest’s ability to adapt to climate change, while demonstrating innovative solutions to these challenges.
Residents of the Town of Rowe have been directly involved with decisions relating to the stewardship of their forests and the use of sustainable forest management practices. They helped guide the development of the stewardship plan, which included community-centered planning, outreach, education, and consensus building.
With climate change, this important ecological area presents both huge opportunities and vulnerabilities. This large, natural forest provides a place for a diversity of species to flourish, and the presence of invasives on the land is presently relatively minimal. Large sections of this property are designated as a wildlands preserve, which means it provides areas free of human intervention and allows natural processes to unfold on the landscape over time. This designation must be considered as decisions are made about where and how to implement management strategies. These decisions must also explore climate change related vulnerabilities such as hemlock mortality caused by invasive insects that will persist through warmer winters.
Anticipated Climate Impacts
The hydrology of the park is complex and includes many flashy mountain streams draining off the peaks of Mounts Adams and Todd; a set of more established brooks and wetlands in the lowlands; vernal pools and marshy areas; and of course, the lake. Potter Brook and Tuttle Brook join near the park’s northern boundary and then flow together into the eastern side of the lake. Exiting the lake, Pelham Brook then flows on to join the Deerfield River about 4 miles downstream. Davis Mine Brook has its headwaters in the eastern uplands of the park. Climate change modeling scenarios for the region indicate a high likelihood of increased and more intense precipitation events that will test the hydrologic limits of the natural hydrology here.
A historical farm abandonment land use pattern is typical across much of the Pelham Lake Park Woods, as it is across much of New England. Stonewalls, wire fencing, and modified soil profiles attest to the agricultural past. These old fields grew into dense, complex, and highly resilient forests. The historic legacies of stone piles in old mowing, animal pens, cellar holes, and barn foundations all tell the tale of European settlers’ past here.
Prior to removal and dispossession of the land many Indigenous Peoples including the Mohican, Wabanaki, and Nipmuc Tribes used these uplands as fishing and hunting grounds. Members of Indigenous Tribes are present on the land today and participate in important stewardship and care for the land.
After successfully implementing several climate smart practices including understory tree plantings and establishing an eastern hemlock monitoring program, park staff and volunteers continue to devote time to maintaining these practices. The two proposed patch cuts have received a climate-smart operational plan that outlines key considerations for that harvest and the associated slash wall.
Rowe’s Park Commission is working to build public understanding of the proposed harvest and is collecting public input. Once sufficient support and input is gained, the project team will secure the remaining funds needed through a community forest stewardship grant.
Andrew Randazzo
Forest Ecologist
Mass Audubon
arandazzo@massaudubon.org
413-252-9534
massaudubon.org/climateforestry
Special thanks to Rick Whitney of Mass Audubon, Emily Boss of Massachusetts Woodlands Institute, Alex Barrett of Longview Forest, Mary Wigmore of Wigmore Forest Resources, and the Rowe Park Commission for their help preparing this case study.
Rowe
The land is in the town of Rowe, MA on unceded land of the Mohican, Wabanaki, and Nipmuc First Nations (Learn whose land you’re on)
The Town of Rowe
Municipal
Town of Rowe, Pelham Lake Park Commission, Park Manager, Rowe Selectboard, Foresters Alex Barrett and Mary Wigmore, Municipal Vulnerability Grant Program, Woodlands Partnership of Western Massachusetts, Mass Audubon, New England Forestry Foundation, Franklin Regional Council of Governments
Pursue active and passive forest management practices to preserve water quality, biodiversity and other ecosystems services, especially those that may be vulnerable to climate change; create community partnership and education plan
Forest protection, understory planting and monitoring, invasive and pest management, old growth forest enhancements, community educational programs, patch cut, slash wall
New England Forestry Foundation
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Mass Audubon
