State Timber Work Under Way In Glastonbury

GLASTONBURY, CT — State-sanctioned timber work is under way in a forested section of Glastonbury.

Town officials said Friday that they have been advised that the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is conducting a planned timber harvest off of Thompson Street.

This work has begun and is expected to continue through March 31, 2023. The work scheduled for Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (weather permitting).

DEEP officials said the goal of the project is to "complete a shelterwood harvest in two forest stands and a thinning in a third stand located within the Diamond Lake Block of Meshomasic State Forest.

In all the area encompasses 37 Acres, DEEP officials said.

According to the DEEP:

"Dominant and co-dominant trees have reached or exceeded biological and economic maturity and the understory, dominated by red maple and black birch, is suppressed and of poor quality due to being overtopped by dominant and co-dominant trees in the overstory. Drought conditions and gypsy moth outbreaks have resulted in the mortality of many dominant oak trees. Therefore, a combination of thinning and shelterwood harvesting is prescribed for these stands in an effort to capture the value of biologically and economically mature trees, remove poor quality/suppressed trees from the midstory and understory, give residual trees more growing space so they can expand their crowns and increase their growth rates as well as to let sunlight to the forest floor to stimulate the establishment of the next cohort of growing stock within these stands."

• Sawtimber - 60,246 Board Feet
• Cordwood - 164 Cords

The lines areas on the map are those being harvested: