At the end of April and beginning of May, Blue Hill Heritage Trust completed a large-scale 9-acre tree planting restoration project at our Surry Forest property. Before BHHT’s ownership, Surry Forest was heavily harvested for timber, resulting in degraded and simplified forest conditions. Forest inventories conducted in 2019 and 2020 demonstrated that stands were dominated by single-aged, sapling-sized monocultures of balsam fir, aspen, and red maple. These areas exhibited poor natural regeneration, increased vulnerability to forest pests (particularly the balsam woolly adelgid), lower climate resilience, and decreased timber quality.
With the help of BHHT staff, board members, and over 30 volunteers, we planted a combination of 300 trees and shrubs per acre. Over time, these young saplings – which included shagbark hickory, yellow birch, red spruce, mountain ash, elderberry, allegheny serviceberry, and bur oak – will grow into a thriving forest. They will improve wildlife habitat, soil stability, stream water quality, and biological and structural diversity. This restoration will also strengthen the landscape’s ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions.
Projects like this are part of long-term forest stewardship and restoration work across the Blue Hill Peninsula. This project would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our wonderful volunteers, who helped plant these saplings during the cold and rainy days as well as the hot and buggy days. It was a long three weeks, and we are incredibly appreciative of the energy, enthusiasm, and commitment they brought to the project each day. Community support plays a huge role in conservation work like this, and we are grateful to everyone who came out to lend a hand.
We are also very thankful for the support of Hammond Lumber in Blue Hill and Lougee & Frederick’s in Bangor. Without their generosity and donations, this planting effort would not have been as successful as it was.