Myles Standish 10 Year Pine Barrens Restoration

Initially planned Year 1 tasks were completed early due to contractor efficiency.  The prescription for units originally planned for the second year were prepared and work began in May 2019.   Units originally called 2-a and 2-c have been renamed to 1-d and 1-e.

This year the project will be split between two separate operations.  161 acres in the Camp Cachalot Conservation Easement will be mowed/mulched in place.  Large white (10”+ diameter) will be removed in previously mowed/mulched areas across 595 acres (415 acres in Myles Standish State Forest; 19 acres in SE Pine Barrens WMA; and 161 acres in Camp Cachalot Conservation Easement)."  

In 1914, the State Forest Commission was formed to acquire and restore unproductive waste lands to commercial forests, to protect the soil, and regulate water flow. In 1916 the State Forest Commission purchased the 5,700-acre Game Sanctuary Association property, creating Myles Standish State Forest (MSSF). By the end of the 1920s, the state had purchased the majority of the land we now know as MSSF. Today, MSSF has approximately 12,437 acres, and is the largest public recreation area in southeastern Massachusetts.

As a result of colonial wood utilization and wildfires, most of the original forest was cleared and burnt over by the mid-1800s. The Massachusetts Game Sanctuary Association initiated reforestation efforts in 1912 by planting 30,000 white pines around Barrett Pond and East Head Reservoir (Rothman, 1996).

After acquiring the land the state continued the reforestation program over the next 40 years. With the help of state unemployed crews and Civilian Conservation Corps crews in the 1930s, approximately 1.9 million white, red, Austrian, jack and Scots pines, spruce and other species were planted in the forest between 1916 and 1937.