Hinesburg embraces forest health and recreation at its town forest

Sharing the woods

On a gorgeous spring morning in the Hinesburg Town Forest, Pat Mainer took a walk in the woods. The sun shone through tree branches whose leaves were just a couple of weeks from unfurling. Beneath their canopy, black flies had already begun to swarm, though they weren’t biting yet, Pat assured.

The forest was also attracting migratory birds like least flycatchers and a few querulous blue-headed vireos. Further into the forest, Pat pointed out spring ephemeral wildflowers poking through the carpet of fallen leaves along well-kept hiking and biking trails: pastel hepatica, scores of lemon-yellow trout lilies, dramatic crimson wake robins (also known as red trilliums), and blushing spring beauties.

“It just blows my mind that when you walk up this trail this time of year, for probably half a mile, you look out on both sides and it’s just frosted with wildflowers,” she said. “I’ve never seen a wildflower display that’s better.”

Spring beauties

Pat has kept tabs on the forest’s rhythms for decades since stumbling upon it in the 1970s during a walk.

A storied town forest

The Hinesburg Town Forest has a storied history as one of the oldest and largest pf Vermont’s town forests. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an example of longstanding forest stewardship. The town forest began in 1936, when the first 100 acres were given to the town. Over the years the town grew it to over 800 acres, piecing together several parcels.

In 2022, VLT worked with the Town Forest Committee, the Hinesburg Land Trust, and hundreds of residents to expand the existing forest and permanently protect the resulting block of 1,125 acres.

Pat participated in the expansion and conservation effort as chairperson of Hinesburg’s town forest committee. She’d been invited to join in the 1980s and took over as chairperson after raising her children and retiring from her career as a middle school teacher.

Andrea Morgante of the Hinesburg Land Trust said conserving the town forest was important for securing the enduring benefits forests provide. “It was a way of emphasizing that forests are important in our town, and that we are serious about avoiding forest fragmentation,” she said.

The town also prioritized education and recreation, while staying focused on thoughtful forest use.

Miles of trails at the Hinesburg Town Forest are frequented by walkers, bikers, nature lovers, and community members attending educational events. Here, Pat Mainer (far left) and forester Ethan Tapper (far right) talk to visitors.

An evolving relationship with the woods

In the four decades that Pat has served on the forest committee, she’s seen attitudes toward the forest change substantially. In the early years of her tenure, the committee met infrequently, sometimes to mark off areas where townspeople could harvest firewood.

Ethan Tapper was closely involved with the forest over his many years as Chittenden County Forester, and he studied its history. He cites the creation of the town’s first forest management plan in 1978 as a major turning point.

“It was the first time that the town really put a plan in place to protect the forest’s many values and the town’s many long-term interests,” he said.

In the 1990s, stewardship of the forest continued to evolve as mountain biking became popular. A local mountain biking group called the Fellowship of the Wheel began stewarding the forest’s 18 miles of multi-use trails.

“The Fellowship of the Wheel has been an amazing partner in building and maintaining all these wonderful trails for human-powered recreation,” Pat said. “I can’t sing their praises highly enough.”

Still, town forests must meet the needs of many human visitors – some who want more opportunities for recreation, and some who may want to limit it. In the 2010s, the committee innovated a “triad approach” to forest management to balance areas of heavy, medium, and light use. In recent years, they have added a fourth category of “reserve” zones, which will have no trails or logging.

The committee has also commissioned studies of how the forest is faring, paying attention to and learning about the balance between ecological health and wildlife habitat on the one hand and human use on the other – and how thoughtful forest management can support both.

The 1,100+ acre town forest is home to vernal pools, wetlands, and miles of headwater streams in the Lake Champlain Basin. Here, a swath of the town forest (left) sloped down to a wetland area.

Managing for forest health

The forest management plan continues to mature along with conservation best practices. Beginning in 2018, Ethan oversaw projects to make the forest more complex and resilient by encouraging a range of wildlife habitat types and conditions. An ‘ecological forestry’ approach guided decisions about what trees to harvest to foster old-growth conditions and support adaptation in a changing climate. The resulting timber stayed local, sold to lumberyards in the region.

A related goal was to share best practices with other forest managers and the public in an open, inclusive way. Ethan said the forest became the launchpad for 40 public events attended by over a thousand people, sharing why and how the forest was being managed. Events covered managing forests for wildlife, bird habitat, climate change and forest carbon, the Emerald Ash Borer, and more.

“The Hinesburg Town Forest has really become this incredibly iconic place to demonstrate sound forest management practices,” Ethan said.

Learning to balance the many values of forests

Several years ago, Pat was honored with the Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Program’s Leader award for her service to her community and the town forest. But on her early spring walk through the forest, Pat was more excited about what was going on all around her.

She pointed to a carpet of wildflowers that practically glowed in the sun. They had taken root in place of several ash trees that were harvested to forge the new wood floor for the town hall – an innovation that helped lower costs, while inviting more biodiversity into the forest and creating a place for young trees to grow unobstructed.

It’s one of many ways that the forest’s stewards and managers are trying to balance the forest’s needs, benefits, and uses. The committee has recently tried to address forest health challenges from a growing deer population that over-browses the woods and stunts essential regrowth. They close portions of the forest to non-hunting uses for varying periods during deer hunting seasons to manage ecological and safety concerns.

“The community has embraced a lot of creative and thoughtful ways to manage the Hinesburg Town Forest that other towns are considering in their forest management discussions,” said VLT’s Bob Heiser, who worked closely on the forest’s conservation.

Communities across Vermont are wrestling with increased pressures on their forests from climate change, invasive species, and loss of biodiversity. At the same time there is growing recognition of the importance of places for people to get out in nature and for sourcing our resources locally.

“There is no single balance point that will be ‘right’ for every property or community,” said Bob. “But our capacity to work together with creativity, collaboration, and attention to all the values forests provide will be critical for all who rely on these forests, and for the forests themselves.”