News  Habitat restoration benefits wildlife and local hospital 

Recent visitors to MassWildlife's Herman Covey Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Belchertown may have noticed increased forestry activities. These activities are part of a multi-year large-scale natural community restoration project designed to improve habitat for wildlife on the WMA and enhance recreation opportunities. At the same time, this project benefits Northampton's Cooley Dickinson Hospital in the form of renewable locally-sourced energy to power their facility.

Improving Wildlife Habitat  

The natural communities of woodlands, barrens, and grasslands that are being created at Herman Covey WMA will provide excellent habitat for game birds like ruffed grouse and wild turkey, less common birds such as eastern towhee and prairie warbler, and the rarer eastern whip-poor-will which is listed under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. These species thrive in open and sunlit environments with sandy and loamy soils. Unfortunately, these habitats are declining due to development and an interruption of the natural processes like wild fires that once kept them open. In response, the plants and wildlife that depend on these same habitats to survive and thrive have also declined. 

After a thorough evaluation and planning process, MassWildlife developed a habitat management plan for the Herman Covey WMA to restore open habitats. The initial phase of this habitat restoration began in 2015 with invasive plant control, mowing, and replanting of native warm season grasses.

Working with the Local Hospital  

In addition to benefiting wildlife, this project also helps local businesses. For the past two years Wagner Wood, a family-run farm and forest company in Amherst, has been thinning the closed canopy oak and white pine stands on the Herman Covey WMA under the direction of MassWildlife. The resulting timber products have been put to good use. Wood from the tree tops and branches removed from the WMA are being chipped and shipped to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton. The chipwood generates electricity, hot water, heat, and clean steam for sanitizing medical equipment. Facilities staff at the hospital noted that the use of locally sourced and sustainable wood products supports local jobs and reduces their reliance on fossil fuels, thereby reducing the hospital’s carbon footprint. Other wood products generated from these locally harvested trees include mulch, compost, firewood, and lumber.

The Next Phase  

At first glance, habitat improvements may not be obvious to the casual observer. “The site may look bare following habitat management work,” said John Scanlon, MassWildlife’s Habitat Program Supervisor. “However, in a relatively short period of time, the recently cut areas will be covered with sprouting native plants whose root systems and seeds have been patiently waiting in the soil for the environmental conditions we have created.” MassWildlife Connecticut Valley District Manager Joe Rogers noted, “The re-establishment of open woodland and barrens habitat provides excellent hunting cover as well as the necessary food and cover for native pollinators requiring these special types of habitats."  

The next phase of this project will involve developing prescribed fire plans and eventually conducting prescribed burns in re-established understory vegetation. Open woodlands and barrens communities often require continued maintenance by means of periodic low intensity fires. These prescribed burns are carefully conducted by highly trained staff with required permits and partnership of fire management partners from local, state, and federal agencies. To safely prepare the property for prescribed fire, the initial forestry activities at the Herman Covey WMA will:  

• Reduce decades of accumulated woody fuels to allow for safe use of prescribed fire.  

• Encourage growth and germination of desirable native herbs, shrubs, and trees by providing the necessary sunlight in the cleared openings.  

• Provide improved recreational opportunities for bird watching, hunting, foraging, and other outdoor activities.  

Currently, mature white pines in the WMA prevent sunlight from reaching the forest floor; a direct result of fire exclusion. Without periodic fire, white pines outcompete other fire-tolerant trees like shagbark hickory, oaks, and pitch pine. Because they produce large crops of nuts or seeds for wildlife, the biggest and best quality oaks and all hickory and pitch pine trees will remain growing on the WMA. Restoration efforts will eventually establish a dense shrub layer of New Jersey tea, scrub oak, lowbush blueberry, and other desirable native plants underneath an open tree canopy of mature oak, hickory, and pitch pine. The current work in Belchertown is similar to another successful agency barrens habitat restoration effort at Muddy Brook WMA in Hardwick.

• Learn more about barrens restoration at the Herman Covey WMA  

• Learn more about the benefits of restoration and management  

• Learn more MassWildlife's prescribed fire program