Being Stewards of the Land

One aspect of owning land is being a good steward of that gift. We have had a forestry plan for as long as I can remember, making sure we were taking care of the tract for the health of the flora and fauna. For me, this land is my church. I often hug the trees and speak quiet thanks as I walk the trails and bushwack through the woods. I thank the animals for sharing their home with us. I feel honored and blessed.

When the Emerald Ash Borer was found in Michigan in 2002, it was only a matter of time before the beetle would make its way to Vermont. The first confirmation of the pest in Vermont was in 2018. At that time, three sided purple traps were hung from ash trees in an attempt to monitor its spread. One hung from an ash on lower Deane Road. Eight years later, this invasive species continues to spread across the state, to 110 towns, Underhill being one of them. There is no sign of an infestation in our trees yet. The 20% of dying or dead ash could be caused by a host of other pests. That’s the good news. 

To keep ahead of the borer, which results in a 99% mortality rate once an infestation occurs, we are harvesting the ash in an accessible section of our land.  My beloved ash: revered for its stunning easy-to-identify bark and soaring height as well as its ease of splitting. It is one of my hug trees. These ash are from 30-90 years old…many have sprouted and matured since 1931 when we took over caring for this land.  The sadness is quickly mitigated by the words of one of our foresters, Addison Kasmarek: “By removing the ash, we are opening up growing space for sugar maple, red maple, yellow birch, beech, red spruce and paper birch. We are also removing other species where appropriate to encourage structural diversity. We are also enhancing old growth forest characteristics by creating openings that mimic natural disturbances, retaining large, old trees for structural diversity and retaining trees with wildlife cavities. The wildlife will benefit from the work by having more food in the form of browse, and continued yield of beech nuts.”  Ahhh, from the sadness grows hope and relief that what we are doing is the right thing for Squabetty’s forest.  We are being good stewards of the land and that is how it should be. - Gigi