Tall, straight pine trees tower over the driveway, their long green needles creating a protective canopy, shading the forest floor below. Ahead, on the picturesque shore of North Pond, is Pine Tree Camp, a place that has helped people with disabilities access and enjoy the Maine wilderness since 1945.
“It’s relaxing,” said Harvey Chesley, the camp’s director of facilities. “I’ve heard from families that drive into camp that the forest reduces the anxiety they have about sending someone to camp.”
The camp, run by nonprofit Pine Tree Society, has grown over the decades to offer programs to people with a wide range of physical and mental disabilities. As a part of its effort to expand and improve, the organization has worked to keep its 285-acre forest beautiful and healthy for campers.
This week, in recognition of these efforts, Pine Tree Camp was named Maine’s Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year for 2016. The award was presented Wednesday by Gov. Paul LePage at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show in Augusta.
What’s a tree farm?
When most people hear the word “tree farm,” they think of rows of planted trees, according to Andy Shultz, Landowner Outreach Forester for the Maine Forest Service.
“In Maine that’s the exception, not the rule,” Shultz said.
Designated Maine Tree Farms are pieces of property that have met the qualifications to be a part of the American Tree Farm System, a network of approximately 82,000 family forest owners sustainably managing 24 million acres of forestland in the United States.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, this system is the oldest and largest forest conservation, certification and advocacy program in the country.
In Maine, the first two designated Maine Tree Farms were dedicated in 1952. Today, there are about 2,000 Maine Tree Farms in the state, posted with official diamond-shaped green-and-white “Tree Farm” signs. Most of these tree farms are natural stands of native species, not rows of planted trees.
“We do have some Christmas tree farms in the program, but most are not,” Shultz said.
To qualify to be a Maine Tree Farm, a property must meet the following criteria:
— At least 10 acres in size.
— Managed under a qualified written management plan.
— Managed for the sustainable production of timber and other forest products, while recognizing the importance of water, wildlife and recreational opportunities.
“When you become a Maine Tree Farm, you sign onto a set of standards,” Shultz said. “There’s a random audit or inspection every few years to ensure folks are living up to those standards.”
Shultz is one of the many licensed foresters in the state who inspects Maine Tree Farms on a regular basis, and he nominated Pine Tree Camp for the past three years to be Maine’s Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year. This is the first time the camp has been awarded.
“The Pine Tree Society’s primary goal has been to provide quality recreational experiences designed to improve the overall health of disabled individuals,” Shultz wrote in this year’s nomination packet. “It would have been very easy for them to adopt a hands-off attitude toward their forest, using it only as a buffer from the rest of the world. Instead, they have embraced sustainable forestry as a means of enhancing their mission.”
Maine’s Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year is selected annually by a special subcommittee formed out of the Maine Tree Farm Committee. This subcommittee visits each Maine Tree Farm nominated for the award to make a final judgement based on how well each Maine Tree Farm is following its management plan and documenting any deviations to that plan. The committee also looks at how each Maine Tree Farm is being enhanced and sustained and the ways in which the tree farmers are spreading the practice of sustainable forestry.
“The tree farm program is a third-party certification system, so there’s somewhat stringent requirements — but they aren’t difficult to achieve,” Gretchen Heldmann, coordinator for the Maine Tree Farm program, said. “The Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year just does that and then some.”
“Myself and a few others from the Maine Tree Farm Committee are going to nominate Pine Tree Society up the chain for the national award,” Shultz said.
The national award will be announced sometime this spring.
Harvesting the right trees
Pine Tree Camp has a long tradition of managing its forest, which totals about 285 acres and includes about a mile of shoreline on North Pond and over a mile of Great Meadow Stream. Over the years, the camp has thinned certain stands to allow new species of trees to take root, while tagging certain trees — especially old white pines — to be conserved. The camp has also erected duck nesting boxes and created brush piles to encourage wildlife to move in.
“A lot of our campers don’t get a lot of opportunities to get out into the middle of the Maine forest, but at camp they do,” Chesley said. “For some campers who are in wheelchairs, just getting the chance to look for a squirrel or rabbit or just hang out in the woods — it sounds simple, but it’s a pretty big thing.”
Designated as a Maine Tree Farm in 1993, the property has been under a written forest management plan since 1979. The camp’s forest management plan focuses on the land’s use for recreation and wildlife conservation, and also stresses the importance of the forest’s aesthetic value and ability to generate extra income for the camp from timber harvests.
“We do it because it’s the right thing to do, for us and the community,” Chesley said. “We do it for our programs, our campers, our neighbors and the environment.”
“It’s a unique piece of property and a well-managed piece of property,” Chesley said. “We’ve had a tremendous amount of support from the Sappi forestry program and the Maine Forest Service. We’ve had a lot of good partners.”
Nestled among the trees beside North Pond, the campus of Pine Tree Camp is a compound of beautiful log buildings, threaded together with smooth wheelchair-accessible paths. On the pond is a new boat launch, and tucked back from the shore is a giant treehouse classroom, a playground, a ropes course and a network of nature trails, all designed for people who use wheelchairs and other mobility devices.
This winter, the camp is clearing trees from an old pasture on the property where staff will create a new trail.
“A part of being a tree farm is active management — harvesting at the right time and the right place and the right trees,” Shultz said.
The public is invited to learn more about forest management at Pine Tree Camp at the annual Maine Tree Farm Forestry Field Day, a free event hosted at the Outstanding Tree Farm of the Year each fall. Hosted by the Maine Tree Farm Program and the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine, the event will feature workshops and demonstrations about many different aspects of forestry and related topics.
For information about the event and the Maine Tree Farm Program, visit mainetreefarm.org.