Horse logging during Forest Festival 2023 / NPS

Marsh-Billings Rockefeller National Historical Park in Vermont will begin annual forest management operations on November 4 and continue for approximately three weeks. During this time, there will be temporary trail closures in and around the work areas between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Posted signs at trailheads will alert hikers to the closures and alternative routes will be marked. The Prosper Road parking lot will remain open.

Felling and removal of the trees will be completed using traditional horse logging techniques by Third Branch Horse Logging of Braintree, Vermont. The public is invited to safely view the horse logging operation during a Working Woodlands Program on Thursday, November 14. To learn more about Working Woodlands and to register for the program, visit www.nps.gov/mabi.

This year’s forest management operations will target a subset of ash trees that could pose a hazard to visitors due to mortality caused by Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) and a subset of American beech affected by Beech Bark Disease (BBD) that are limiting regeneration of other native tree species and impacting forest biodiversity. The treatment plans were developed in consultation with Redstart Forestry of Corinth, Vermont, in accordance with the park’s forest management plan.

EAB was first confirmed in the park in 2023. EAB is a destructive wood-boring pest of ash trees, native to Asia and first discovered in North America in 2002. EAB larvae feed on the inner bark of ash trees, disrupting the tree's ability to transport water and nutrients resulting in widespread mortality of mature ash trees. Using a multi-year phased approach, the park is taking proactive steps to remove ash along the main carriage roads and trails that could become safety hazards to visitors in their eventual mortality. To learn more about EAB and its impacts Vermont’s forests, visit Emerald Ash Borer in Vermont | Vermont Invasives (vtinvasives.org).

BBD is caused by a scale insect and fungus complex. The resulting fungal infection attacks the tree’s vascular tissue, eventually girdling the tree, causing canopy death. When a beech is afflicted with BBD, it responds to the stress by sending up root suckers that grow into genetically identical trees. This creates dense thickets of young, diseased beech which inhibit the regeneration of other native tree species, limiting biodiversity. Removal of the diseased beech and thickets will create favorable conditions for diverse tree regeneration resulting in improved forest health and climate resilience. To learn more about BBD and it’s impacts to Vermont’s forests, visit Beech Bark Disease | Vermont Invasives (vtinvasives.org).

The Mount Tom Forest is the oldest professionally managed forest in the United States. Forest management on Mount Tom began in 1869 when Frederick Billings purchased the land from the Marsh family and established an estate that would serve as a model of wise forest and farm stewardship. Billings’s granddaughter, Mary, and her husband, Laurance S. Rockefeller, sustained this stewardship approach and entrusted the National Park Service to continue forest management on the property.