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Preserve trail plan and state forest work debated after bat survey
Summary
Commissioners reviewed a recreational‑trails plan that would reroute and remove user‑created trails to protect vernal pools and core habitat, and discussed a state forest 'Stand 10' proposal after a bat acoustic survey detected four endangered bat species, triggering seasonal limits on logging; public input and stand‑level plans are planned.
Members of the commission spent the largest portion of the meeting reviewing a draft recreational‑trails plan for the preserve and discussing a related state forest management proposal after a bat acoustic survey found endangered species.
The director reported the trail team used a heat‑map derived from user tracking to show about 30 miles of informal trails across the preserve and said the working target is a much lower trail density — discussed in the meeting as roughly 17 miles — with prioritized reroutes to protect vernal pools and other core protected areas. The director said the team will ground‑truth proposed reroutes and that the first stage is to “prioritize trails requiring reroutes, mark potential reroutes” and then test them on the ground before implementation.
On forest management, the director told the commission that the state identified Stand 10 (about 94 acres) for silviculture work and that an acoustic bat survey found “four different bats in there. All of them are endangered,” which constrains when timber‑stand work can occur. The director said those findings limit active work to certain months (roughly November through March) and that the state will prepare a stand‑level prescription and hold public meetings on the proposed treatment before any contract or work proceeds.
A commissioner raised concerns about erosion and low‑bid contracting practices during logging, noting that the lowest bidder can sometimes create “a lot of erosion problems out there” when operations occur in wet months. The director and other commissioners emphasized that the state leads the forest‑management contracting process, that there will be additional public input on stand plans, and that timing and specific tree removals will be set in the forthcoming stand‑level plan.
The commission did not adopt a final decision at the meeting; members were told to expect a state plan and additional public meetings later in the season, and to watch for opportunities to comment once the stand‑level prescription is released.
