This summer Westford’s Town Forest Committee will be thinning some of the forested land close to Westford Academy to help area’s ecological health.
In a process known as silviculture, or active forest management, the Forest Committee has indicated that land within the Spaulding Forest, located near the intersection of Cold Spring road and Forge Village road, is currently reached a tree density of 400 trees per acre.
Accepted as a donation by Town Meeting in 1926, the two parcels that make up the Spaulding Forest are 13 acres in total and were donated by Oscar Spaulding.
Since that time the Committee says, a lack of management has led to a forest of almost all mature white pines.
According to their projections, the ideal density for wildlife and other vegetation in the area is 300 trees per acre.
They believe that after the conclusion of the silviculture efforts, different types of trees will have a chance to grow in the forest, and that the lower density will also help with water and soil protection, as well as improve the animal habitat.
The committee expects to revisit the forest seven years after the thinning is concluded.
Information was not immediately available exactly when in the summer the efforts will begin.
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