Opinion piece in the Greenfield Recorder by Bruce Spencer,
retired Quabbin head forester.
Wed 12/11/2024
MY TURN
Are these the ‘King’s Pines’ or the ‘People’s Pines’?
By BRUCE SPENCER
The colonists had not been long in New England before they noticed that there were tall conifers rising above all others as groups or groves of column-like trees. When word got back to England concerning these majestic trees, they soon became the property of the King’s Navy for much needed sailing ship masts and spars. They were blazed to define the King’s ownership. As settlements quickly grew the colonists also wanted these great pines. They soon became a relic of the past as logging operations moved quickly up the rivers into the interior.
The trees are white pine (Pinus strobus). On the public forest of the Quabbin, Ware River and Wachusett watersheds, white pines are again rising above the supporting oaks, maples, and hemlocks as they did in the past. The Quabbin foresters also have taken notice of these majestic pines as they are valuable lumber trees that generate significant revenue.
Consequently, after Gov. Maura Healey’s 2023-24 seven-month moratorium of all tree cutting on public lands, the watersheds quickly put out six timber sales in June 2024 without public review. One of these Quabbin timber sales in Ware was a liquidation of large tall pine trees of “King’s Pines” quality. In their place, however, there was little or no advance regeneration of viable young trees to provide a sufficient diversity of species required by the Quabbin Land Management Plan.
Recently DWSP (Division of Water Supply Protection) posted the proposed 2025 timber sales for public review. There are several timber sales that call for the harvest of tall pine trees. The DWSP reason for these harvests is: “White pine is dominant in some parts of the overstory, a species that is highly susceptible to breakage in high winds. See “Hurricane Damage” and “Forest and One for the Ages: The Hurricane of 1938 Battered New England’s Woods 75 Years Ago,” and another hurricane would result in exposure of soils and rapid loss of stored carbon.”
A proposed timber sale in Petersham, containing tall pines, is bordered by another stand of even taller pines. This stand of pines was carefully thinned in 1966 and again in the 1990s. These trees have grown another 50 or more feet in height since 1966 and none of the giants have since blown over.
The “King’s Pines” of colonial times survived hurricanes, and there are reasons for this. Perhaps the DWSP foresters need to find out why some forests survived hurricanes while others were mostly blown down. In the meantime, what is the rush to cut them down? If some blow down in a storm, is that really a bad thing for the watershed forest as the trees return carbon to the soil and provide habitat for the next tall pines?
Considering the threat to the forest caused by insects, pathogens and climate change, it’s important to preserve these healthy trees so they can continue to provide watershed services and the public can enjoy their grandeur.
Given that the goal of watershed forestry is maintaining water quality and not revenue, we need to hear from the public before these majestic trees are gone from the landscape.
Bruce Spencer, of New Salem, was the chief forester of the Quabbin Reservoir for 40-plus years
(1965-2006).
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