WILTON — Foothills Land Conservancy has signed up for three years of forest practices under the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program.
The federal conservation program is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Passers-by and users of the property on Pond Road will see a lot of trees being cut in a few areas. Fewer than 10 acres are affected, with the cutting spread out in several locations.
A couple of wooded areas will be thinned, trimming around selected trees such as beech, cherry and oak, which produce nuts, berries or fruit. Some large brush piles will be constructed for animal dens. Piles can be constructed out of trunks and branches of trees and brush that are left from the thinning.
Several trees will be used for cavity-nesting wildlife. Girdling the trees causes them to die, but they stay standing at least for a while and provide homes for cavity nesters.
In addition, several areas will be cleared to create habitat for American woodcock, a ground-nesting bird. Many people enjoy seeing and hearing the woodcock’s unique mating flight and dance on the property in the springtime, and woodcock is also a popular game bird species.
The goal of all of the tree-cutting activity is to improve the wildlife habitat for a wide range of animals, including neotropical warblers and other birds, reptiles and mammals, according to Pam Prodan, chairwoman of the Conservancy’s Land Committee.
In addition to the forest management activities, Prodan said she has built and installed four new bird nesting boxes in the woods at the northern end of the property, which is accessed on foot next to the Intervale Cemetery on the Weld Road. These bird boxes are of two designs for northern flicker and American kestrel. The property has other types of nesting boxes, including several for wood ducks, bluebirds and bats.
Foothills Land Conservancy was founded in 1997 and acquired the 238-acre parcel of conservation land in Wilton on June 15, 1999. In 2001, the organization conveyed a conservation easement to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, which insures that the property will remain forever in its primarily undeveloped condition, protects the wildlife habitat resources and water quality, and preserves traditional public uses of the property.
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