Managing the Forest for Multiple Values

Adapted from the MEF Stewardship Plan, developed by Robin Wildermuth and Josh Flad, Woodland Management Services

The MEF property was purchased by the Pinchot family around the turn of the century in support of the recently founded Yale School of Forestry which had its summer programs in Milford, PA. The Yale Forestry School Camp used the Milford Experimental Forest for fieldwork and forest research for several decades. The descendants of James Pinchot continued ownership of the property until 2008. At that time a Forest Legacy Program Conservation Easement was placed on the property by the current Pinchot owners after they purchased the other family interests in the property. The property is currently owned by a small number of Pinchot Family members and is subject to a Forest Legacy easement administered by the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). Goals for the property as established by the family and contained in the easement are as follows:

MEF Forest Management Objectives and Goals

1. Restore and sustain healthy forest habitat that will support viable populations of native flora and fauna on the property and help to maintain a buffer forest of over 14,000 acres in association with the surrounding landscape of State Forest and State Game Land.

2. Conserve and protect the water quality of the Sawkill Creek, its tributaries and wetlands, and protect rare ecological communities or species on the property.

3. Demonstrate active forest management as part of a program of forest research and conservation education. Utilize the research and education to encourage other private landowners to practice conservation and sustainable management of their forest lands.

4. Restore forest health and timber productivity, which has been degraded by decades of overabundant deer populations and invasive pathogens and insects. Work with hunters to maintain a healthy deer population.

5. Continue the recreational use of the property by the owner and hunting club. Provide access and participation for the general public by the creation of a public trail and educational programs.

6. Manage selective landscapes for natural esthetics with the goal of creating a stronger bond between the owner and the land and demonstrating the role of esthetics in promoting conservation.

 

For more background on silviculture:
https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/fmg/nfmg/fm101/silv/index.htm

For more background on harvesting systems:
https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/fmg/nfmg/fm101/silv/p3_harvest.html

For more information on ecological forestry:
https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/fmg/nfmg/fm101/silv/p4_ecology.html
https://www.forestguild.org/ecological_forestry/Ecological_Forestry_evans_06.pdf

Information for kids about forest stewardship:
https://extension.psu.edu/publications/uh133/at_download/file

Information for kids about harvesting trees:
https://extension.psu.edu/publications/uh135/at_download/file

Information for kids about sustainable forestry:
https://extension.psu.edu/publications/uh154/at_download/file

To search publically available scientific articles:
https://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/

Managing Forest
The shelterwood harvest site in 2015. Most of the tall regeneration is maple sprouts and black birch seedlings, however some oak and hickory sprouts and seedlings are growing up above the fern layer as well.
Managing Forest
Managing Forest

The shelterwood harvest site in 2012

Managing Forest