Taking critical steps to maintain and preserve the ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ Pines, ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ College, in consultation with forestry, faculty, and staff experts, is implementing a plan to proactively manage the health of a thirty-acre stand of pine forest on college-owned land. The ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ Pines are located on either side of Bath Road, just east of downtown, and include the approach to Whittier Field.
“The ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ Pines are an important part of the College’s history and place in the Brunswick community,” said Matthew Orlando, senior vice president for finance and administration for the College.
“Forest management is a long-term proposition, one to which ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ is fully committed as part of the College’s stewardship of its campus and as a small woodland owner in Maine.”
The advanced age of some trees, distress that can be alleviated with opening the canopy to allow in more light, and other conditions unfavorable to natural white pine regeneration have hurt and continue to threaten the health of the ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ Pines and the likelihood that the area will remain a white pine-dominated forest.
Severe storms in 2020 and 2021 caused significant and lasting tree damage and drew added attention to the deteriorating conditions present, resulting in the formation in early 2021 of an internal working group to explore options for sustaining care and use of the area.
Since 2021, the College has partnered with , a statewide organization that advances stewardship of Maine’s small woodland resources through the encouragement of good forestry practices. ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ also engaged forestry consultant Two Trees Forestry to explore with the committee a variety of approaches to preserving the white pine dominance and improving the health of the forest.
After careful consideration of the options, and in recognition of the College’s historic association with the ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ Pines and their iconic place in Maine’s landscape, the College has adopted a plan to preserve white pine dominance by undertaking selective cutting to open the forest canopy, remove diseased, non-native, and compromised trees, and create conditions favorable for natural regeneration on approximately seventeen of the ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ Pines’ thirty acres.
To provide for comparative study of forest succession and biodiversity, two areas of roughly thirteen acres will remain untouched. Other goals include improving access, signage, and trails for passive recreation and the creation of study plots for long-term data collection.
Later this spring, one may see the marking of trees and removal of some invasive species. The selective cutting operation is expected to begin in early June and conclude by the end of July. The public will be informed when trail closures are required.
The College’s plans align with recommendations from Central Maine Power (CMP) encouraging property owners to on their land to prevent outages. CMP, which maintains poles and lines close to the ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ Pines, says that falling trees and branches from outside its typical trim zone are the leading cause of customer power outages and account for half of all outages each year.
When forestry pioneer Austin Cary, a member of the Class of 1887, for the ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ Pines in 1896, he advocated that they should be managed according to scientific forestry principles. Cary would go on to in the forestry world and was an early champion of sustainable forestry.
The most substantive work in the area thus far has been in response to storms and wind damage; it is now time to address other existing conditions with the proactive measures laid out in the College’s strategy. With these considered steps, the future of the ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ Pines is bright.
This careful stewardship, in consultation with landscape architects, environmentalists, and arborists, will allow the ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ Pines to thrive as a vibrant and important piece of the Brunswick landscape for generations to come.
For questions, contact:
Tony Sprague
tsprague@bowdoin.edu
(207) 725-3423
