By Adam Moore

The summer of 2023 finds Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation addressing two forest health issues simultaneously. First, beech leaf disease is afflicting beeches on most up-island properties, and we expect this malady to spread across the entire island before long. Second, a southern pine beetle outbreak has been confirmed at the Phillips Preserve in Vineyard Haven, and the Foundation is taking active steps to address this.

Beech Leaf Disease

First observed in Ohio in 2012, beech leaf disease is caused by a nematode,
Litylenchus crenatae mccanni. The nematode is a microscopic worm, and this nematode is a subspecies of a nematode known to occur on beeches in Japan. The nematode attacks the buds of the American beech (Fagus grandifolia), and also attacks the buds of European beeches. When the leaves emerge, the infected leaves bear dark stripes between the veins. Over time, the leaves curl, become leathery, shrivel, and then fall from the tree. If able, a tree will produce a second flush of leaves. Ultimately, however, successive defoliation will kill the tree.

Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation will take a generally passive approach to addressing beech leaf disease. With American beeches so common and so widespread across the Sheriff’s Meadow properties, any sort of chemical treatment would be impractical and inappropriate. Should dying beech trees present a safety or fire hazard, these trees will be felled and either removed or left on site to rot. Others will be left standing dead as wildlife habitat. If an appropriate use emerged(s) for the lumber of a particular sturdy beech, that beech may be milled into lumber. The Sheriff’s Meadow staff will carefully monitor properties to ensure that invasive plants do not use the demise of beech to gain entry into the sanctuaries.

Southern Pine Beetle

Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis), however, is a different matter. With the southern pine beetle, Sheriff’s Meadow will take an active approach. The Foundation has filed a forest cutting plan to suppress an outbreak of the southern pine beetle at the Phillips Preserve in Tisbury. At least 200 pitch pines will be cut in an infested area (the “spot”) that now measures approximately 2 acres, but will be larger by the time the suppression effort occurs. Technically, what is proposed is termed a “sanitation cutting.” The purpose of this cutting is to stop the outbreak, prevent the beetle from killing all the pitch pines at the Phillips Preserve (and abutting properties), and to slow the spread of the beetle around the island.

Location

The outbreak is found in a two-acre spot in the northern portion of the Phillips Preserve.

The Phillips Preserve is a 69-acre, completely forested Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation property located on the west side of Lake Tashmoo in Tisbury. The property enjoys excellent access via trail and road. From a trailhead on the Northern Pines Road, a walker may walk the Margaret Stewart Lindsay Memorial Trail on a loop around the property. A spur trail leads to a bench at the edge of Aunt Rhoda’s Pond, which is a bay of Lake Tashmoo. The trail passes through the southern pine beetle spot. The Phillips Preserve is easily accessed by vehicle via Northern Pines Road, Army Road, and the Road to Chappaquonsett.

Infestation

As winters on Martha’s Vineyard and in New England have gradually warmed, the southern pine beetle has made its way northward. Southern pine beetles were detected on Martha’s Vineyard by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation in 2022, and likely reached the island earlier than that. Until now, however, an outbreak has not been observed on Martha’s Vineyard.

In May of 2023, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation learned of the presence of southern pine beetles on Nantucket, and Foundation staff were asked to be alert for signs of the beetle (“popcorn” shaped globs of resin on pitch pine trees, red needles indicating a dying crown, dead trees killed by beetles, etc.). Staff investigated the spot at the Phillips Preserve, and alerted MA DCR Forest Health Program Director Nicole Keleher and Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program Biologist Ale Echandi to a possible outbreak.

On July 19, 2023, Nicole Keleher inspected the spot and collected beetles for identification. After examination of the beetles, she determined that the spot was indeed a southern pine beetle outbreak. She recommended that a sanitation cutting be conducted, once the prohibition against cutting of pitch pines during the “pup season” for the endangered long-eared bat had elapsed. This pup season prohibition forbids cutting within a certain distance of maternity roosts between June 1 and July 31.

I updated the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation Board of Directors with this information at its July 21, 2023 Board meeting, and gave the Board a presentation on both the southern pine beetle and beech leaf disease. I recommended that a sanitation cutting take place at the Phillips Preserve, and the Board voted unanimously to accept this recommendation and proceed with the sanitation cutting. The following week, I marked and tallied the timber, and filed the Forest Cutting Plan with DCR, Natural Heritage, and the Tisbury Conservation Commission. In Massachusetts, Forest Cutting Plans must be filed by either a Licensed Forester or a Licensed Timber Harvester. I am a Massachusetts Licensed Forester, so for me, it was a good opportunity to use my forester license.

Although the southern pine beetle is an insect that is native to the eastern United States, it is new to Martha’s Vineyard, and has the potential to multiply rapidly and kill many of the pitch pines across the island. Rapid mortality of pitch pines could be detrimental ecologically and could also raise the risk of wildfire. Although the southern pine beetle is here to stay, the suppression of this outbreak and others will help to slow its spread and limit the damage it can do. The sanitation cutting will be followed by the preparation and implementation of forest stewardship plans for pitch pine stands across the Island that call for the thinning of pitch pine stands and regenerating young stands of pitch pines.

Sanitation Cutting in the Spot

Some 200 trees have been marked with blue paint for cutting. These trees are contained within the area outlined in red and blue on the map included with this article. The spot is located within priority habitat. The spot is not located within a wetland resource area or the buffer zone.

All of the trees proposed to be cut are pitch pines, and they range in diameter from six inches to twenty-two inches. The trees contain about 12,000 board feet of lumber. At the time of marking, perhaps ⅓ to ½ of these trees had an active infestation, while the rest are in a buffer. No snags will be cut unless they pose a safety hazard, as these will be left for wildlife. Sheriff’s Meadow has been granted flexibility on the cutting boundary, as the beetles are expanding the spot. Trees now outside the spot will likely be infested by the time the sanitation cutting occurs, and the buffer will need to be expanded further. The number of trees to be cut, therefore, will be greater than the 200 trees initially marked at present. DCR offered to help with the sanitation cutting and in determining the cutting boundary at the time of cutting.

DCR and the Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program have approved the forest cutting plan and the proposed sanitation cutting. No cutting took place or was proposed or allowed to occur during the northern long-eared bat “pup season.”

The marked trees will be cut and felled toward the center of the spot, if possible. Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation has hired a licensed timber harvester to perform the cutting operation. No logs or branches will be removed from the spot. There are several local sawyers operating small, portable sawmills on the island. We will work with one or more of these sawyers to saw the logs into lumber on site. The lumber will be removed from the site, provided it has not been ruined by blue-stain fungus. Lumber will be used in Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation’s renovation of its future office and maintenance facility, and for other purposes. If no sawyer is available to saw the wood, it is an acceptable protocol to leave the logs on the site. This is referred to as a “cut-and-leave” operation.

The Massachusetts slash law and best management practices pertaining to slash will be complied with. The slash— tops, branches, and the small stems—as well as slabs and bark—will either be converted into biochar on-site or they will be burned using an air curtain burner.

Our first preference is to create biochar from the slash. This may depend on whether the time of year requirements pertaining to biochar can be met with respect to the need to conduct this operation in a rapid time frame. We are considering working with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and Maggie Craig and her biochar project, as this might present a good opportunity and a good demonstration project. We are also interested in using the “CharBoss” firebox trailer created by Air Burners, Inc. as a pilot demonstration. Either biochar method will require close coordination with the Tisbury Fire Chief and Fire Department and may require air quality permitting from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. If produced, biochar will be removed from the site and used elsewhere.

The desired future condition for the spot is a young forest of pitch pine seedlings and sprouts, with a vigorous growth of white oaks, black oaks, and post oaks that are flourishing after being released from the shade of the overtopping pines. The understory will continue to be a mix of huckleberry, bayberry, and Pennsylvania sedge. Staff will carefully monitor for invasive plants. This spot and the entire Phillips Preserve will continue to remain a forest and continue to remain conservation land.

Public Information

Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation will conduct a variety of types of outreach to inform the public about southern pine beetle and about the sanitation cutting. A press release will be written in consultation with DCR and will be issued. Sheriff’s Meadow will offer guided walks of the property to explain the work that is planned or that has been conducted. Sheriff’s Meadow staff will be available to speak with neighbors, elected officials, regulatory agencies, members of the press, and members of the public. Information will be printed in the Sheriff’s Meadow newsletter, posted on the website, posted in the TrailsMV app, and made available via social media. Appropriate signs will be posted on the property kiosk and at the spot.

Monitoring

Sheriff’s Meadow will systematically monitor the Phillips Preserve for additional signs of southern pine beetle outbreaks. Staff will also monitor other pine stands for beetle activity. Four years ago, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation established permanent forest measurement plots at the Phillips Preserve. These plots were inventoried by Lucy Packer. An update of this inventory will prove very helpful in assessing the impact of the southern pine beetle on island forests.

Those with questions are encouraged to contact Adam Moore at
moore@sheriffsmeadow.org or at (508) 693-5207.