Jose Ayala ’22 (CAHNR), left, and Alexandra Pouliot ’23 (CAHNR) position a log on a portable sawmill in the Fenton Tract of the UConn Forest near Horsebarn Hill Road on Aug. 2, 2021. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)
The UConn Forest is vital for teaching, research, and extension work. It also provides wildlife habitat, watershed protection and popular recreational hiking trails. The Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (NRE) manages the forest.
Proactive management sustains and enhances the many benefits the forest provides. Thomas Worthley is an Associate Extension Professor with joint appointments in Extension and NRE. He uses the forest for his undergraduate and extension education activities. Worthley also helps facilitate research projects. He and the UConn Forest crew, a group of undergraduate students, attend to day-to-day management tasks.
Forest crew members are all professionally trained on chainsaw use and safety, as well as with other woods-work equipment. They harvest wood from trees lost to damage and disease. Utilizing wood and creating durable products is a way of storing sequestered carbon from these trees. Active forest management retains the environmental benefits and promotes growth of more trees.
Extension educator Thomas Worthley says, “The UConn Forest has a long history of human intervention.”
On this week’s #AskUConnExtension Showcase, we show how Forest Managers preserve the natural landscapes and beauty of the UConn Forest as a key educational resource for students.
Learn more about CT Forestry at s.uconn.edu/forestry
Text: The UConn Forest, located around the UConn campus, comprises several parcels of land stretching over hundreds of acres through Mansfield, Willington, and Coventry. Its natural beauty, though open to the public, is a core educational facet of the Forestry program at UConn. The Forest has been carefully designed to model ideal land-use patterns for environments in Connecticut. Stretching across the Fenton River watershed, its tree diversity keeps students informed.
Text: Extension educator Thomas Worthley says, “The UConn Forest has a long history of human intervention.” Managers of the UConn Forest plant trees that are desirable, and remove trees that threaten habitats. When these trees are removed with chainsaws, it’s important to make a lot of noise so the operator hears!
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Sometime early in 2016 a sugar maple tree died somewhere on campus and was removed by the UConn arborist crew. Knowing that our UConn student Forest Crew runs a portable bandsaw mill on occasion, arborist John Kehoe arranged to have some of the larger logs from the tree dropped off at the wood yard, thinking they might be of interest.
The logs remained there on the ground throughout the summer while the Forest Crew worked on other projects.
In October of 2016, for the annual Cornucopia fest, the Forest Crew set up their portable band saw mill on the corner of the quad as part the Forestry exhibit and to conduct a sawmilling demonstration. Needing logs for the demonstration, Professor Worthley suggested that the crew, “Bring over a couple of those old maple logs that have been laying around.”
Now, some sawyers will tell you that making the first cut into a sawlog can be like opening a gift package – sometimes you find something special – and such was the case here. The maple lumber from this not-so-special log exhibited some very interesting figure and color and a bit of “spalting” (a black meandering line that can be seen in spots), all characteristics that are prized and valued by woodworkers. The lumber was stored away in the shed to wait for some special purpose to present itself (or, perhaps, for some wealthy wood-working customer to come along).
Photo: Defining Studios
When Dean Weidemann announced his retirement and with that announcement came the topic of a recognition gift, the question arose as to whether something could be made from “UConn wood”, and lo and behold, a special purpose presented itself. So pieces of the Cornucopia-fest maple were loaded onto the old Ford pickup and delivered to the artisans and craftsmen at City Bench, in Higganum. There they were kiln-dried, planed, turned, book-matched and assembled into the bench we are proud to present today.
The “Product of UConn Forest” and “Connecticut Grown” brands provide recognition that raw materials in this item were locally grown and produced following sustainable forest management practices.
