Community Forestry

Maine Audubon’s Focus Species Forestry - Community Forest Project

Maine Audubon worked with the following towns and land trusts and their foresters to integrate Focus Species Forestry practices into their forest management plans. Links to examples of several plans are also included.

Bangor Land Trust, Walden Parke Preserve, Bangor
400 acres
Forester: David Thompson, Orono
This forest is part of a conservation corridor that abuts a rapidly developing area. The forest was heavily harvested in the last 20 years before it was acquired by the Trust. When the forest is more mature, the land trust plans to pursue sustainable harvesting for revenue and to promote diverse wildlife habitat values, including both mature interior forest and edge/open habitat. This tract will offer a wilder counterpart to the nearby Bangor City Forest.

City of Bath, Butler Head Preserve and Whiskeag Woods, Bath
304 acres
Forester: Walter Armstrong, Woolwich
This coastal town was the southern most FSF project and provides an example to countless other towns in Maine’s most heavily developed coastal region. One parcel that is located in the middle of the city gets heavy recreational use while the second is located in a more rural part of the city and has a network of recreation trails. Management goals include thinning to promote long term forest health and vigor and restoration of mature forest habitat. The town arborist plans to have logs milled into construction lumber that can be used by the high school’s technical program to build low-income modular homes for city residents.

Blue Hill Heritage Trust, Preuthun Lot, Blue Hill
160 acres
Forester: Steve MacDonald, Hancock, ME
The Preuthun Lot management plan (PDF) represented the first foray into timber management for a well-established land trust that previously focused primarily on strict land protection. The management plan demonstrated that sustainable harvesting can provide wildlife habitat values that will not be found on the fully preserved lands owned by the trust, while providing inputs to the local forest products economy. This property is habitat for one of the southern most occurrences of the spruce grouse, whose range which extends across the boreal forest to Alaska. As a result, Maine Audubon developed a first-of-its-kind habitat management guide for this species.

Downeast Lakes Land Trust, Farm Cove Community Forest, Grand Lake Stream
27,000 acres
Forester: Mandy Farrar, Orion Forestry, Bangor
Wildlife biologist: Kevin Stevens, Lincoln
The largest of the Focus Species Forestry projects, the Farm Cove Community Forest is located adjacent to the town of Grand Lake Stream in Washington County. The land trust was formed to protect the forest and its streams and lake shores, which are critical to the town’s economic base of hunting, fishing, guiding, and other tourism. Sustaining and restoring wildlife habitat and stream management zones is the primary objective of the plan, which includes an active timber harvesting program to promote specific habitat objectives while providing revenue to the land trust, jobs, and materials for the regional forest products industry.

Downeast Salmon Federation/Downeast Rivers Land Trust, Pleasant River Corridor, Columbia Falls
420 acres
Forester: David Irving, Back to Maine Forest Management, Lincoln
The Downeast Rivers Land Trust’s mission is to preserve forests around salmon spawning habitats and salmon wintering areas in the Pleasant River in Washington County. The management plan objectives for the Pleasant River Corridor tract are to protect stream habitats, promote wildlife habitat diversity, and to produce commercial timber crops. Timber revenue will be used for recreational trails and habitat protection, and DRLT plans to actively use their managed forest as a model for private woodland owners in the area.

Friends of Unity Wetlands, Regional Forest Management and Conservation Plan, Unity
Forester: Vite Vitale, Albion, ME
The Unity Wetlands Region represents one of the largest areas of minimally developed forest in central Maine. This plan identifies important habitats and management techniques that can be used on private lands throughout the area and uses two local woodlots to illustrate management opportunities. The information will be used by this conservation group to promote sound stewardship to private woodlot owners in the region.

Good Will-Hinckley School Forest, Fairfield, ME
1,600 acres
Forester: Jake Maier, Brewer
Good Will-Hinckley is a private, residential school for young people located north of Waterville. The management plan will improve the stands for wildlife conservation and long-term productivity while creating an important source of revenue for the school. One of the recent harvests under the plan has been used as a demonstration site for vernal pool workshops by the Maine Department of Conservation.

Greater Lovell Land Trust, Regional Forest Management and Conservation Plan
Located in the western foothills of the state, this land trust is actively involved in forest management on its protected lands. Our report reviewed their entire portfolio of properties and provided strategies for management of current holdings and used focus species as a tool to help identify and prioritize future land acquisitions. The report also provides information and recommendations that apply generally to other lands in the region. GLLT is eager to do outreach to other private landowners in the area to promote habitat conservation, and they will be using FSF as an educational tool in that effort. View the plan here. (PDF)

Orono Land Trust, Marsh Island Lot, Orono
40 acres
Forester: David Wardrop, Golden Forestry Services, Orono
This forest is located in an inland suburb and university town. A light thinning is planned to improve tree vigor and encourage regeneration. Harvest trails will be used as recreation trails when the project is complete, and the land trust plans to use the revenue from the timber sale to finance additional trail construction.

Readfield Conservation Commission, Readfield Town Forest, Readfield
160 acres
Forester: Harold Burnett, Two Trees Forestry, Winthrop
This town forest, located outside Augusta in central Maine, includes an historical farmstead owned by the town and provides a good example of how to manage a forest for timber, wildlife, and recreation while maintaining an historic legacy of old field pine, stone walls, and foundations. The Focus Species Forestry plan is an addendum to a 2003 forestry plan prepared by John Churchill of Readfield; the plan is being implemented by Two Trees Forestry. The plan also includes management of invasive plants that threaten forest regeneration on part of the property.

Sangerville Tree Board, Bean Hill and South Sangerville Woodlots, Sangerville
533 acres
Forester: Sam Brown, Parkman, ME
Located in a rural part of the state with economic challenges, this project involved working with the Tree Board on two town-owned woodlots. Some harvesting had been done many years ago, but the forest management plan was updated to include FSF and regular, sustainable harvesting for revenue. This plan provides an example of balancing desired timber production with management for ecological values.
View the plan here. (PDF)

Somerset Woods Trustees, Coburn Woods, Skowhegan
280 acres
Foresters: Will Reid and Howard Charles, Skowhegan
This parcel is owned by Maine’s oldest land trust, which owns several properties in the central Kennebec River region. Somerset Woods Trustees has had an active harvesting program, but it was not managing specifically for wildlife and other elements of biodiversity. Maine Audubon provided a set of recommendations that included elements such as increasing the areas in ecologically mature stands and maintaining large/older trees in all stands, and promoting patches of early successional habitat when regenerating stands.