Forest Stewardship at The Bethany Park

Forest Stewardship at The Bethany Park. . In the early 1900’s, The Bethany Park and Forest was mostly covered with open fields, with a native northern hardwood forest growing along the sides of Black Creek. By 1938 many of the fields on the east side of the park had been planted with pine and spruce seedlings; more plantings took place on the west side in the 1960’s and 1970’s. And by 2005 the Park had changed to become mostly forest, as much of the pine and spruce seedlings had grown up into tall mature trees. , This specific part of the park is represented by a naturally occurring northern hardwood forest – the same forest growing adjacent to Black Creek described above. The sugar maple, red maple, American beech, cherry, and white ash growing in this forest are native to this part of NY. , This area was abandoned from agricultural use in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s before the rest of the park. Since then this forest has undergone much change, going from a forest composed of young trees to a mature forest composed of the older trees seen here now. , An evaluation of the forest in 2003 determined that the trees here were becoming crowded and would begin to grow more slowly. It was also observed that for the most part the trees were all about the same age and were reaching maturity, with very few younger trees present. The younger trees were too few in number to replace the older ones as they died or were harvested. , In 2003 a harvest of this site was carefully planned to thin out the poorest trees and reduce crowding amongst the better ones that were left. At the same time, small patches were strategically located and cleared of all trees to allow sunlight to reach the ground. There are three more patches nearby. , The objective of this harvest was to regenerate a new age class of trees in the patches. This treatment will be repeated in the future, and over time the forest will be composed of trees of many different ages. In the summer of 2004, new seedlings were growing in the patches, germinating from the seeds deposited by those trees left nearby (inset photo left). , The trees harvested from this site were sold to a local wood products company; they were manufactured to make lumber for home construction, flooring, furniture, and cabinetry. , This will allow large tall trees to always be present and with continued stewardship, the forest here will be healthier, more vigorous, and more productive for future generations to enjoy.