North Adams Leads Climate Response with Notch Reservoir Forest Project | Columnists

In addition to the city authorities and environmental organizations that provide technical assistance in planning restoration work, these groups share a sincere concern for the welfare of the forests.

However, one of the main objections to the proposed project is that Mother Nature can best manage the forest, and human interference with the composition and structure of the forest is both unnatural and unnecessary in this landscape.

Scientific research and historical context contradict this view. A broader understanding of the nature of our regional forests and the role of the people who interact with them is necessary to understand what actions are required and how they will interact with passive approaches to long-term management.

For over 10,000 years, humans have been integral to shaping the forests of this region. Humans both consume and impact the ecosystem services of clean air, water, food, fiber, shelter, and essential resources that the landscape provides. We have always been interdependent on all life in this ecological landscape.

Some suggest that the forests in Notch Reservoir are “virgin” or untouched by humans, but this forest, like most in Massachusetts, regrew after extensive land clearing in the 19th century. While most of the forest regrew naturally, the areas closest to Notch Reservoir were planted with conifers: red pine, white pine, and Norway spruce.

These plantations are now in decline. Invasive plant species that are crowding out native tree seedlings have become established in these declining plantations and will only expand if they are not removed as the tree canopies above them continue to collapse.

In addition, in the naturally formed northern hardwood forest on the slopes of these areas, an invasive pest, the emerald ash bark beetle, has already killed more than 30 percent of the white ash trees in the past two years. Almost all of the white ash trees will likely die in the next few years, creating more canopy gaps for invasive plants to colonize.

The planned management of Notch Reservoir focuses on removing invasive plants and encouraging new, young trees to grow in the spaces that will be left by trees that die over the next decade, whether they are cut down or not. Cutting them now will allow their carbon to be stored in wood products instead of being released into the atmosphere as the fallen logs rot in the forest. The City of North Adams has also committed to reinvesting revenue from timber sales into the watershed, ensuring that work to remove invasive plants and replant climate-adapted native trees to supplement natural regrowth can continue as they nurture the climate-adapted Notch Reservoir forest.

There are over 1,000 acres in Notch Reservoir, of which only about 70 have been identified for active management, while the forest management plan recommends designating 267 acres as permanent reserves. These reserve acres, along with over 650 acres of other public lands, will not be affected by this project.

Decisions about whether to take management actions on the forest now should take into account the goal of ensuring that future generations inherit a functioning landscape that continues to provide ecosystem services in an intact state. Active forest management, including logging, has aesthetic impacts on the land, but it also diversifies habitat for wildlife (including birds) and promotes plant and animal biodiversity for our future, a trade-off that many believe is worth making. North Adams should be commended for taking a proactive approach to finding the best path to resilience for the Notch Reservoir forest and the water supply it protects.

The Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts is a unique, local effort to protect forests, strengthen rural land-based economies, and support municipal financial assistance in a region of 21 towns in Western Franklin and Northern Berkshire counties. The board is comprised of representatives from each member town, land foundations, community development organizations, academic and watershed organizations, and state, federal, and regional agencies that recognize the importance of maintaining this forested landscape.

As current and former board chairs of the Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts, we’d like to invite you to join us on a walk through other places in the region that have lacked stewardship and could benefit from it—where invasive plants and vines have been allowed to take over, where stand loss and lack of regeneration have led to forests losing their ecosystem health.

We would also like to highlight places where proactive care has taken place in recent years and the forest has responded with vigor and health. Visit WoodlandsPartnership.org to see our upcoming events and learn more about our mission to support the communities of Northwest Massachusetts.