The plan to commercially log The Preserve, a nearly thousand-acre forest, has been signed by Old Saybrook leadership and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). The Final Forest Management Plan calls for active logging across all but two protected core areas over the next 30 years. Nearly all The Preserve will be affected. Despite a long fight by the public to protect it, the plan does not acknowledge or include input from residents’ comments regarding DEEP’s proposal. 

 

 

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Image: Fern glade by Judy Preston

 

DEEP’s attention is now on its operational plan, to start with “Stand 10” the ecological heart of the forest that connects two “Core Protected Areas.” Doing so will fragment the intact forest and further threaten the survival of its inhabitants with “edge effect” consequences. For all who care about this one-of-a-kind forest in Connecticut, it is now urgent to stand up and speak up for the forest.

 

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Image: Pequot swamp dam (left) and Stand 10 vernal pool (right) by Judy Preston

 

The Preserve’s treasure of biodiversity boasts 43 wetlands, 38 vernal pools, 25 species of amphibians and reptiles, 30 species of mammals, and more than 57 species of birds that nest there. Rare or threatened species—dusky, marbled and four-toed salamanders, spotted and eastern box turtles, wood frogs—are residents of its fragile coastal wetlands.

 

 

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Image: Eastern painted turtle by Judy Preston

 

DEEP’s purpose is to remove “saw timber,” primarily by large mechanical vehicles. Wooded trails will turn into logging roads, stream crossings installed for heavy equipment, and infrastructure expanded that threatens water, soils, and wildlife habitat.

 

 

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Image: An example of how logging equipment can damage forest roads by Judy Preston

 

Equipment used to remove commercially viable trees includes a Harvester—a heavy tracked or wheeled machine with a cutting and processing head that de-limbs the trees, fells them, and cuts them to length. A feller-buncher cuts trees at the base and gathers multiple stems before placing them in a skid line or pile. To move timber out of the woods, a skidder pulls cut logs to a roadside landing area to be loaded for transport.

 

Meanwhile, spotted turtles, found at multiple locations within The Preserve, are vulnerable to being crushed as they move from wetland to wetland through the forest, or in dormant periods in late summer when they hide under leaf litter. They’re not the only ones. Forestry operations pose dangers from soil compaction, destroying sub-soil mycorrhizal and fungal networks that can require scores of years or centuries to recover, but are essential to the health of trees.

 

In this era of climate change, in what season would this wetland forest not be vulnerable to trucks and heavy equipment creating deep ruts that crush plants and animals? For years we missed a hard winter freeze. Summers have alternated between flooding and drought. Once a logging operation starts, it can’t instantly stop due to heavy rains.  

 

Our group calls for hands-off on “Stand 10” as DEEP refers to it. We advocate for no-touch on the Core Protected Areas as well. The canopy gaps called for in the Plan were just created by blizzards. Please join us to stay informed about what can be done next to stop the destruction.

 

The Preserve is jointly owned by Old Saybrook, CT DEEP, The Nature Conservancy, and the Essex Land Trust. Please contact us at ThePreserveProtect@gmail.com.

 

Lea Sloan is a Sierra Club member.

 

Editor’s note: This issue will be the topic of the Shoreline Group meeting on March 21 in Old Saybrook. More information and RSVP here.