Emily>> Hi there – I’m Emily Myron, Assistant Director for Land and Habitat Conservation at MassWildlife, and I’m joined by Nicole Keleher, our Habitat Program Manager. We appreciate you taking the time to watch this presentation on our proposed revised goals for upland habitat composition on MassWildlife Lands. At this time, we are going to turn off our videos so that the slides can maximize the screen.
In order to set the framework for today, I want to start with the Agency’s mission. MassWildlife is responsible for the conservation of freshwater fish and wildlife in the Commonwealth, including endangered plants and animals. We work to restore, protect, and manage land for wildlife to thrive and for people to enjoy. In other words, MassWildlife is about All Wildlife, and we are on the forefront of conserving the Commonwealth’s biodiversity.
As you know, the Administration has made nation leading commitments to address the biodiversity and climate crises, and MassWildlife is proud to play a key role in advancing both of these efforts.
We manage our lands in accordance with goals for upland habitat composition that were approved by the Fisheries and Wildlife Board in 2006, but a lot of important things have happened since those goals were set:
- Our program at MassWildlife has grown – we own more land, we have more resources available, more science and data to drive our decision making, and we have a newly updated State Wildlife Action Plan, which identifies rare and declining species, also known as Species of Greatest Conservation Need. It also assesses important natural communities and habitats across the Commonwealth, and sets priority conservation actions, including restoration priorities, for the next decade
Transition: With all of this in mind, we are now revisiting our habitat management goals.
A bedrock strategy in biodiversity conservation is land protection – everything else builds from that. MassWildlife strategically acquires and permanently protects lands that include a wide variety of important habitats and provide recreational opportunities. Protecting and stewarding these lands is an important responsibility.
Unfortunately, despite the tremendous gains we, other state agencies, partners, and municipalities have made in land conservation, we are still seeing concerning declines in our biodiversity. That is why it is important that we not only protect these lands, but that we also restore and manage them for healthy, functioning ecosystems.
We own in fee and manage about 162,000 acres as Wildlife Management Areas – about 126,000 of those acres that are uplands, or areas that generally remain dry – these include many of our forest types, various shrub communities, grasslands, and heathlands – and they are the focus of our conversation today.
Because these lands are under our control, they can be managed pursuant to our mission and provide a type of INSURANCE POLICY in the long-term conservation efforts for all wildlife.
We take a strategic and science-based approach that to both protection and restoration – focusing on functional, interconnected systems and unique habitat types and features. Again, land protection alone isn’t enough. In today’s human-altered landscape, some habitats need active restoration and management to
- Remove invasive species
- Restore natural processes
- Mitigate changes to water quality and quantity
- Improve climate resilience
We take the responsibility of stewarding these important places very seriously, and all values of the land are considered when making management decisions, including the additional benefits associated with
- Wildlife-dependent recreation
- Public access to nature
- Climate change considerations
- And more
Sites where we do restoration and management are thoughtfully chosen and management actions are recommended based on the unique characteristics of each site and how they fit into the broader landscape context.
Transition: Before diving into the goals, I am going to turn it over to Nicole to briefly walk through the 4 broad categories of habitats that make up our upland habitat goals: grasslands, shrublands, young forests, and mature forests.
Nicole>> Thank you Emily
Slide 6: As we dive into discussing these habitat types, it is helpful to think about where they fit on a gradient from open to close canopy systems: Grassland habitats are more open canopy and mature forest tends to have a more closed canopy. This is a broad representation of habitats, and getting into further detail, there are multiple natural communities that fall into these habitat categories.
When talking about seral stage and early successional habitats, it can feel like the stages are a timeline progression and the age is the important factor, but it is really the structure and conditions that are the driving force of these habitats. Grasslands are common after a disturbance event but these can also be old, long-lived systems, even having individual old bunch grass. There can be trees in shrublands and more open woodlands that are quite old. And mature forests will have young vegetation or annual species that are important parts of their community.
Before I jump into each of the habitat types separately, I first want to stress the importance of having them all on the landscape. We need a dynamic upland habitat mosaic that has these habitat types in proximity to one another so that species can move across them and utilize them during different life stages. For example, the wood thrush establishes their breeding territories in mature forests but then require open habitats for food as they prepare for their migration. We need them all if we are in service of all wildlife.
Slide 7: The suppression of natural disturbances, like fire and floods, as well as development and fragmentation, have caused a dramatic decrease in open habitat types, like grassland, shrublands, barrens, and young forests.
The newly updated SWAP shows that 45% of our species of greatest conservation need require or use open habitats at some point in their lifecycle. These include birds, plants, reptiles, butterflies, moths, beetles, and more.
These findings are consistent with national trends. In fact at the end of last year, the American Bird Conservancy, along with NatureServe and others, developed a watchlist of bird habitats, and they identified that early successional habitats in the east were among the most threatened bird habitats in north America.
Open habitat makes up very little of our upland portfolio, but they are critically important to maintaining our biodiversity.
Slide 8: Our first upland habitat category are Grasslands. These are open systems, typically dominated by grasses but will include other vegetation that thrive in high sunlight conditions, such as other graminoids, like sedges, and diverse flowing plants. Grasslands may even have sparse, scattered trees or shrubs.
Natural communities that are considered grassland habitats range from cultural grasslands, these are commonly former agricultural fields are popular sites for activities like pheasant hunting, to sandplain grasslands, an S1 ranked natural community which support some of the richest suites of specialized and imperiled species in Massachusetts.
The wide array of plant species in grasslands can then support a huge number of insects and arthropods, which then supports wildlife, like this grasshopper sparrow that feed on them. Exposed sandy soils are home to many animals like this purple tiger beetle (who is also a predator and enjoys feasting on the insect community).
Restoration work in grassland include a number of different types of projects.
- enhancing existing grasslands- a common restoration approach involves the conversion to native warm season grasses like little bluestem, and might include mowing, herbicide treatments, and seeding to achieve these goals.
- expanding existing grasslands or removing hedgerows: the size, shape, and sightlines of a grassland can be critical in maintaining and recruiting populations. Just having a grassland is not always enough, having a community of the appropriate size and proximity to other habitats is important. Tree cutting, mulching, and stump removal can be involved in these restoration projects.
Many grasslands require ongoing management to maintain the habitat type. Without management, woody species grows, close the canopy, and shade the ground cover. Mowing, mulching, or using prescribed fire to maintain an open canopy cover.
Slide 9: Example of Grassland Restoration: Southwick WMA, located in Southwick, MA in our Connecticut Valley District,
This restoration project began with Existing Grassland Enhancement through invasive species and woody plant control. The next phase focused on Grassland Expansion which involved Timber Harvest, Stumping, Grading, then final Seeding with native grass species; We are now in a Maintenance phase, utilizing Prescribed Fire as a tool to keep grassland conditions. And, for all our restoration projects, we use Ongoing Monitoring to inform adaptive management, adjusting as needed and identifying thresholds for actions, such as invasive species encroachment, increase or new introductions.
The work in Southwick benefited an S1 Natural Community, Inland Sand Plain Grassland, but also enhanced the broader landscape, the site is surrounded by complementary upland habitats, like pitch pine -scrub oak , Oak Woodland and wetland communities.
The results speak for themself. In 2025 bird surveys: Grasshopper sparrow, meadowlark, many whip-poor-will, along with large populations of prairie warbler, field sparrow, brown thrasher indigo bunting. American Kestrel. This is a Birding hotspot; public reports include rarities like blue grosbeak and clay-colored sparrow.
Southwick WMA also provided a unique opportunity for a SPADEFOOT establishment project. Working with partners, MassWildlife was able to develop a breeding pool at the site, and in 2021 had confirmation of breeding population success.
Slide 10: Our next goal focuses on shrublands, which are dominated by low woody vegetation, with varying amounts of herbaceous plants and sparse young tree cover. Shrublands can support a variety of grass species, flowering plants, and heath species such as blueberry and huckleberry. These areas provide foraging and nesting sites for many pollinators, nesting and basking habitat for reptiles ( like this little eastern hog-nosed snake), and breeding sites for songbirds, including many declining shrubland birds (such as the pictured prairied warbler). Despite the name, Prairie warblers require shrub or low woody cover for their nesting.
The wildlife cover provided in shrublands make our WMA’s attractive sites for hunters and birders.
Shrublands do require periodic disturbance to maintain the open cover, the interval is dependent on the individual site and the natural community, but most shrublands will eventually have tree growth which begins to shade out the understory shrubs. Management can include tree removal, mowing, mulching, or prescribed fire.
Slide 11: Example of Shrubland Restoration: Eugene Moran WMA, in Windsor, MA in MassWildlife’s Western District
This high-elevation property is part of a large collection of conserved land scattered across the Berkshire Plateau. The forested areas are primarily northern hardwood interspersed with spruce–fir stands. The Fobes Hill area is managed for shrubland and young forest habitat. The WMA is one of our most popular sites, the diverse character of Eugene D. Moran WMA attracts hunters, birders, and other wildlife enthusiasts.
Habitat management at the Eugen Moran involved Tree Clearing and mulching for shrubland restoration
- Began in 1998 with tree clearing operations: created a shrub cover by removing overstory trees.
- Follow up work happened 2010 and 2020 with mulching on portions of the site: reduced woody species growth to keep site as shrubland.
The work on Eugen Moran benefited SWAP species including Mourning Warbler, Wood Thrush, Field Sparrow, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Ruffed Grouse, Nashville Warbler, American Woodcock, White-throated Sparrow, Black Billed Cuckoos, Northern Long eared bat, Moose, Snowshoe Hare, Bobcat.
Slide 12: The next habitat group is Young Forests. Young forests are those forests that are less than 20 years of age and occur where a natural or human-induced disturbance has resulted in removal of the overstory tree canopy. The increased light allows dense regeneration of early successional tree species.
Young forests may occur within any forest type and are characterized by regenerating stands of young trees, accompanied by shrubs, grasses, and flowering plants. These areas provide particularly important cover and food for migrating, breeding, and fledgling songbirds (like this chestnut sided warbler), foraging habitat for large mammals (moose love feeding on tender young trees), as well as for the winter survival of the New England Cottontail.
Ruffed grouse, a declining game species, feed on the plants and insects of young forest stands, making these sites popular for hunting.
Slide 13: Example of young forest management is Stafford Hill WMA in Cheshire, MA, the Western District.
This high-elevation WMA contains gently sloping fields and forests that are home to a wide variety of wildlife. Historically, much of this property was farmed. And fields throughout the WMA are mowed annually to maintain grassland habitat and provide cover for upland birds. Portions of the wooded areas are managed for young forest and aspen. Continuous aspen stands are not common in Massachusetts. But Aspen is an important food and cover source for ruffed grouse, American woodcock, and migratory songbirds like the mourning warbler.
Restoration work at this site involved a phased approach and included Tree Clearing, Mulching for young forest, calcareous fen restoration and apple orchard restoration
2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Tree clearing for young forest/aspen regeneration – totaling 233 acres
2020 mulching on 50 acres of the previous tree cleared footprint was completed to diversify age classes of aspen/young forest and begin to restore an adjacent fen
Management at this site benefits numerous SWAP species including Mourning Warbler, Wood Thrush, Field Sparrow, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Ruffed Grouse, Nashville Warbler, American Woodcock, White-throated Sparrow, Black Billed Cuckoos, Northern Long eared bat, Moose, Snowshoe Hare, Bobcat and restoration of sloping calcareous fen which is an S1 natural community that supports several state listed plants.
Slide 14: One particular habitat type that I want to draw your attention to is barrens. If you are familiar with habitat restoration work completed by MassWildlife’s team, you may have heard the term barrens and dry oak woodlands. Depending on the structure of the particular barrens, these may fall within young forests or shrubland goal categories.
Barrens are a globally rare habitat that support unique assemblages of endemic species. We have a disproportionate responsibility to manage these habitats. The vegetation structure can vary across sites, but all barrens share dry, nutrient poor soils and communities that are dependent upon disturbance. Due to the reoccurrence of natural disturbance events, most barrens retain a relatively open canopy cover. Most barrens in Massachusetts are found in coastal areas like Plymouth and Mashpee, but smaller isolated barrens can be found in interior areas like Montague.
Slide 15: Example of a barrens restoration site is Muddy Brook. Restoration and management at this site was recently featured in Massachusetts Wildlife Magazine, Senior Restoration Ecologist Chris Buelow wrote an article detailing the management work and astounding restoration results.
Cutting operations were used to create an open tree canopy and promote tree species composition. Following the initial restoration work, prescribed fire has been used on the site as a periodic disturbance event
Biologists have already documented positive results from prescribed fire and cutting activities at the site. MassWildlife Habitat Specialists monitoring the site have seen long-absent birds like the whip-poor-will, along with pollinators and specialized plants, returning to the area. Biologists monitoring the native pollinating insects at Muddy Brook WMA observed a dramatic, positive increase as a result of restoration activities. Within one year after prescribed burns, an abundance of lowbush blueberries, native little blue stem grasses, and scrub oaks are now established in the treated areas.
- The emergence from the seedbank of 23 fire-influenced plants not observed prior to the restoration event, including 3 Endangered, 2 Threatened, and 4 Watchlist species;
- The return of the eastern whip-poor-will bird to the site following a documented 30-year absence;
- A significant increase in early successional breeding birds, including the American woodcock, prairie warbler, field sparrow, and eastern towhee;
- An increase in bee species from 36 species document pre restoration to now 179 confrimed species
- A growing list of specialized moths and butterflies that includes several state-listed species; and
- An abundance of important vegetation assemblages such as lowbush blueberries, native little blue stem grasses, and scrub oaks which support numerous species including moose, black bear, and monarch butterflies
Slide 16: Final upland habitat are Mature Forests. Mature forest can include almost all forest types. Mature forests are mostly closed canopy forests and may have scattered older and larger trees with some small gaps and openings in the canopy. Many mature forests will have well-developed organic soils, and large woody material in various stages of decay. Mature forests will look different depending on the site and the dominate tree cover type- a highly shaded dense hemlock forest is very different from a mixed northern hardwoods forest. The other vegetation and associated insects and wildlife will vastly different in different forest types.
Most mature and maturing forests will have limited intervention and be driven by natural processes, but some may require active management to support their continued growth, promote complexity, and maintain ecological services. Mature forest may require active management to protect native species and keep these sites on their developmental trajectory. The most common reason for intervention is reducing the impact from invasive species. But there are other threats to mature forests and significant direct and indirect impacts from changing climate conditions.
As a forest matures into older growth, it will increase structural complexity that can create micro habitats and niches for invertebrates, animals, plants and lichen to inhabit.
Slide 17: An example of a mature forest that required management actions is Maple Hill WMA in West Stockbridge.
Maple Hill WMA supports one of the best examples of a rich mesic forest in the Commonwealth. But invasive plant spread threatened the diverse system and this mature forest site benefited from habitat management actions.
Maple Hill Invasives: Honeysuckle (and to a lesser degree bittersweet) had grown to dominate key sections of the Maple Hill Rich Mesic Forest. This over-topped and ultimately displaced the signature species (some MESA-listed) associated with this priority natural community, resulting in pushing these footprints from biodiversity hot-spots to biodiversity deserts. The initial goal was to stop the spread of these infestations into yet-to-be-impacted areas, which we did, and in the process ended up also naturally restoring those footprints back to excellent examples of the Rich Mesic community again.
The orchid is woodland yellow lady-slipper, MA Endangered. The photo is from the edge of the treatment area at Maple Hill, literally within feet of the invasion that was treated. These plants are very mysterious in their reproduction, and we seldom see evidence of reproduction. In other words, it hasn't spread, but the fact that it's still there is a big deal (we would have lost it otherwise).
Slide 18: Ultimately, we would love to see even older forests across the landscape. Old growth forest are more than just old trees, they are an ecological phase of the system. Old growth forests are stable systems that usually have complex composition and physical structure: supporting large mature trees, openings with regeneration and young tree growth, and a component of standing and fallen dead wood.
We don’t currently have any on our WMAs, but we aren’t alone - old growth forests are rare in Massachusetts, but they provide unique characteristics for sustaining forest biodiversity.
Slide 19: As you can see in this graph based on national Forest Inventory and Analysis data, 80% of forests across Massachusetts are 50-100 years old, meaning that both younger and older forests are rare across the landscape. This is a legacy of land clearing in the 18th and 19th centuries and the subsequent forest growth. We have very homogenous, even aged forests across the Commonwealth. The forests have not had the time to develop into older, mature forests. And human development and action has altered the natural disturbance processes that create younger conditions.
We are not working to have the same amount of these habitat types; the goal is to balance these across the landscape so that we have that dynamic mosaic.
Slide 20: Management needs a balanced approach to meet all habitat needs to develop that mosaic landscape. Reserves designation is a management decision to allow natural processes to determine the trajectory of development on a subset of lands.
In May 2026, there was a presentation to both our Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board and the DCR Stewardship Council about forest reserves. That presentation was very comprehensive, and I want to cover just a few highlights from that discussion.
“Forest Reserves are formally designated landscapes where natural processes, including small and large-scale natural disturbances, such as wind and ice storms, determine changes in the long-term structure, composition, function, and dynamics of the forest ecosystem without deliberate human intervention, unless managers are confronted with a specific, unacceptable risk to human safety or forest health.”
MassWildlife worked alongside DCR and EEA to develop criteria and guidance for establishing forest reserves and for what kind of activities are allowed in those reserves. Reserves will generally be managed passively without attempts to alter ecosystem process and function or shape structure and composition. However, human-induced changes to our climate and the introduction of exotic and invasive plants or insect pests can significantly alter natural processes, and negatively impact carbon storage, biodiversity, and forest resilience. In the face of these impacts, certain activities, like invasive plant control, will be allowed as standard practice, and others, like restoring rare species habitat or implementing prescribed fire, are subject to approval by Division leadership and require consultation with Forest Reserves Science and Technical Advisory Committee.
I also want to explicitly note that forest reserves will remain open to low impact recreation, including hunting, fishing and trapping.
The process by which reserves will be formally designed is part of the Mass Ready Act, which is currently being taken up by the legislature. Assuming the final language is similar to that which was proposed, the Board will ultimately review and approve any forest reserve designations on MassWildlife land. In that case, we plan to start bringing those proposals forward this fall or winter.
Slide 21: This has been a lot of information about the habitat and I have brought up the concept a mosaic landscape several times. I want to share this short animation to help visual how this looks across space and time. I do want to say this is a very simplified and stylized example – not representative of our goals, but representative of the concept of a dynamic landscape.
- Here we’re starting with some areas that have been designated as reserves, shown with dotted background, as well as some open grassland and shrubland habitat.
- Over time, through active management and natural processes, we see different age classes of forests move across the landscape. Maintaining diverse forests structures allow for forest connectivity and movement corridors
- A mosaic landscape like this is also more resistant to stress events, better able to recovery from disturbance, and able to adapt to our changing conditions.
- **this is our philosophy in a micro setting
The take home message is that these systems are dynamic. We are thinking over long periods of time, during which habitats shift across the landscape. And now I will hand it back to Emily.
Emily>> Thank you, Nicole. Nicole has covered in detail how restoration supports our native biodiversity, but we would be remiss if we did not talk about the other added benefits of this work.
For example, maintaining a mosaic of upland habitats on public lands provides opportunities for hunting, birding, and other wildlife viewing. Many of our restored and managed sites become hotspots for recreation – both for the sporting community and as must visit places for bird, butterfly, and plant enthusiasts. These sites also provide unique experiences not available on other protected lands.
This work also promotes resilient systems.
Protecting land ensures they can provide a myriad of benefits, including clean air, clean water, flood storage, and carbon storage and sequestration. Managing them to restore ecological processes across a complex mosaic with diverse species compositions and age classes makes them more resilient to natural disturbance events so that they can continue to provide these services into the future.
Ongoing land protection efforts by MassWildlife and upland carbon storage and sequestration have continued to grow the pool of carbon on our lands, vastly out numbering the small amounts of carbon initially released from management on a small portion of our lands. And, as you will soon see, our revised goals overall decrease the amount of land we are actively managing across the landscape and increase the acreage of mature forest and reserves, tipping this carbon budget even further toward carbon storage.
And, of course, all of these habitat types, from forests to grasslands, contribute to the critical natural climate solution that our natural lands play.
So, keeping all of this important context in mind – here are our updated proposed management goals…
Here you can see the existing goals from 2006 and our proposal for goals moving forward. These proposed upland habitat goals will change the total acreage of anticipated management compared to 2006 goals.
Grassland and shrubland goals remain largely unchanged and most of those sites will be managed in place, meaning once we have established a healthy grassland, we will continue to maintain it through periodic mowing and or prescribed fire.
We have reduced our young forest goal and increased the amount of management that will be done in place. This means that, moving forward, 50% of young forest management will be reoccurring on the same footprint; these areas will have periodic management to maintain young forest conditions at the same site. The other 50% will not undergo repeated management but will age and develop, and work will be done to create young forest characteristics at other sites. This ultimately leads to a total decrease in acreage impacted from the 2006 goals.
And, again, I want to note that the shrubland and young forest goals include those globally rare barrens that were mentioned earlier.
The vast majority of our lands will be in mature and maturing forest at any given time, and we also propose designating 20% of our upland forests as Forest Reserves. This would more than double our current acreage of reserves.
Now, the next logical question is, how does this compare to where we are today.
As you can see here, we have not yet reached either our 2006 goals nor our proposed goals. We have worked hard to grow the habitat program, and I am so proud of all the hard work that the habitat team has done across Massachusetts to move the needle on ensuring a suite of diverse habitat types across the landscape.
As you can see, we are already very close to reaching our grassland and shrubland habitat goals, and this is partially because we often buy land that already has grassland on it, or has shrublands on an abandoned agricultural field, for example, meaning they require less extensive intervention. However, we need to place some more focus on our young forests goal, which requires more expensive upfront work. In recent years, much of our young forest work has been focused on barrens restoration.
As we have added more lands to our portfolio, funding for stewardship and management has largely remained static over the years. We know what we need to do to achieve these goals, and as more capacity and funding become available, we will be ready.
Finally, we have been maintaining our original forest reserves from 2006, which will be increasing with our new proposal, as well. Forest reserves and more actively managed open habitat types are important complements one another and allow us to maintain a diversity of habitats and age classes across the landscape.
I am a visual learner, so here is another way of visualizing our goals – as you can see, the vast majority of our upland habitats will be forested and allowed to age over time. About ~78% of uplands will be left to age and develop as mature and maturing forests, and again, 20% of the upland forests will be designated as reserves.
These revised goals will allow us to drive toward both our biodiversity and climate commitments.
We are aligning with biodiversity conservation goals that call for restoring 75% of our most important habitats, which will be achieved through both active and passive management techniques.
We also continue to utilize climate-oriented management strategies and have addressed the Climate Forestry Committee’s recommendations, including managing in a way that balances multiple values, managing most of our upland habitat as aging forests, reducing early successional habitats, and increasing forest reserves.
So what’s next?
We invite you to continue to learn more about these important upland habitats, the species they support, and our work to restore them through our website, featured projects that dive more deeply into some of the examples Nicole shared today, Biomap, and the State Wildlife Action Plan.
We also invite you to provide feedback on these proposed habitat goals. There is a form that will be available until July 31st at 5pm, which you can access via this QR code or through our habitat goals webpage.
Ultimately, goals must be approved by the Fisheries and Wildlife Board. Once we receive feedback, we will review it and then present to the Board this fall to share that feedback and ultimately ask for their vote on approving our revised habitat goals.
The goals we have presented today balance the habitat needs of our species (whether rare or common) with climate considerations and other benefits, like recreation and public access. These upland habitat goals are one piece of the bigger effort to maintain healthy diverse habitats for the long-term.
We look forward to building upon years of successful implementation and tremendous expertise to advance these goals, have a landscape scale impact, and ensure that all Massachusetts residents have access to nature and can enjoy the benefits of our rich natural heritage, now and for future generations.
Thank you for your time, and we hope you will share your feedback with us soon.