Members Tour the SFMA
All day, we’ve been a chatty bunch. Twenty-five North Woods enthusiasts - some foresters, some ecologists, some forest landowners, some conservationists, and some, like me, just visiting Baxter’s Scientific Forest Management Area (SFMA) for the first time and eager to learn. There have been impassioned conversations about harvest methods and equipment, wildlife, carbon sequestration, spruce budworm and forest fires, logging history, forest products and markets, and Governor Baxter’s vision for this 30,000-acre rolling landscape at the north end of the park. But there’s something about this particular stand in this particular late-afternoon slanted light that commands quiet.
We’ve walked into the Frost Pond Unit of the SFMA, a 150-acre parcel identified as exceptionally old and undisturbed. Though not untouched, it has escaped harvesting for well over a century. These woods are dominated by hemlock and red spruce, many of which are well over 200 years old - broad at their bases and towering above us. Nava Tabak and Shane Miller, Natural Resource Director and Land Manager for the Park, respectively, help explain what’s different here from the vast majority of the Northern Forest. It’s darker because taller trees cast more shade. It’s cooler and more moist, welcoming for mosses and lichens; it feels lush and green even in late October. Large fallen trees on the forest floor have decomposed to the extent that they are just moss-covered mounds – spongy underfoot and fertile ground for new seedlings. The structure of the forest is complex and layered. Standing here, I can begin to imagine what the Maine woods looked and felt like in pre-colonial times.
This was the October 27 SFMA tour organized by Friends of Baxter and led by Nava, Shane, and BSP forester Dee George. Park Director Kevin Adam also joined us for much of the day. Former Director (and FBSP Board Member) Jensen Bissell was another wonderful resource, providing some historical context. The Frost Pond Unit was our last stop, an example of a stand whose ecological values as a late successional forest are given top priority in its management. The only silvicultural interventions that will take place here will be in cases where these characteristics are threatened.
Earlier in the day, we had looked at a series of stands exemplifying various other goals of the SFMA. While ecological values are a consideration in all of them, the overall goal of the SFMA, as set forth by Baxter in 1955, is to balance ecological health with economic viability. Baxter was inspired by demonstration forests he’d visited in Europe, Chile, and Russia, where this balance was emphasized, and he envisioned similar work here when he donated the SFMA portion of the park in 1955.
The current SFMA staff is responsible for interpreting and filling in the details of this broad mission with the help of a statewide advisory committee. “It’s all about diversity,” Nava told us at the start of the day. We returned to that word throughout the tour, in discussions of tree species, age classes, and habitat types - at both the stand and landscape level. As Shane and Dee talked about all the considerations that go into their planning (ecological, economic, scientific, aesthetic, recreational, historical, social, and educational), their intimate knowledge of each stand was evident and impressive. They projected a sense of stewardship and legacy fitting for this place. Tour participants left feeling inspired and grateful for Governor Baxter’s gifts, this day of camaraderie and enriching discussion, and the smart and dedicated people managing this incredible resource.
-Liz Burroughs, Friends of Baxter State Park board member
Click to learn more about the SFMA from experts Alec Giffen, Nava Tabak, Shane Miller, and Jensen Bissell.
