The Trustees of Reservations was awarded a state grant last week for tree cutting at its Wasque Reservation property in anticipation of invasive beetle infestations.
The organization will thin parts of its pitch pine forest to prepare for an invasive southern pine beetle outbreak. The state’s Department of Fish and Game announced on Thursday that $75,000 from the MassWildlife Habitat Management Grant Program will be allocated for the project.
Shea Fee, a coastal ecologist for the Trustees, said trees on Chappaquiddick have already been marked for cutting and the organization hopes to start this month.
“We don’t have any active infestations, but we’re really looking to prevent an infestation from happening,” Ms. Fee said. “We figure it’s only a matter of time.”
The southern pine beetle migrated to the Island in recent years as a result of global warming and have been flying from tree-to-tree, decimating pockets of pitch and white pines. The beetles cut off the trees’ water supply, turning their crowns a dusky shade of orange and killing them within six weeks.
The southern pine beetle has a stronghold on pines in West Chop and has infected the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest’s west side. Forest managers in down-Island towns are also noticing the beetles in their communities.
Ms. Fee said in advance of the beetle’s arrival, the Trustees plans to thin 28 acres of the property in two sections, one by Pocha Road near Wasque’s entrance, and the other near Washqua avenue.
The Trustees plan to close portions of the property to ensure safety during the cutting. Ms. Fee said the work should take about a month depending on weather and is expected to be wrapped up by May 1.
Though the exact number of trees that will be cut is not yet determined, Ms. Fee said the Trustees plan to take their 200-square-feet per acre pine density and reduce it to what forestry professionals advised be 60-square-feet per acre.
“It’s reducing the amount of trees by quite a bit,” Ms. Fee said.
The Trustees is working with Adam Moore, executive director of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, to create a forest cutting plan. Mr. Moore has led thinning operations at the Phillips Preserve and West Chop Woods in Vineyard Haven, and Caroline Tuthill Preserve in Edgartown.
Ms. Fee said there is no way to contain a southern pine beetle infestation, but thinning the forest will help preserve remaining trees.
“If a beetle does find its way to Wasque, it’ll start releasing pheromones, signaling to other pine beetles to come congregate and create an infestation,” Ms. Fee said. “But when you open up the forest, it disrupts that signaling with that airflow…”
A growing problem for forest managers and homeowners is what to do with all of the cut down trees since places on-Island are full and mainland facilities won’t accept the infested wood.
Ms. Fee said it was a puzzle to determine how the Trustees would dispose of the wood. The nonprofit plan to mulch tree crowns and smaller limbs, leaving trunks in stacks where they will decay naturally on the forest floor.
Reducing the tree cover also has secondary benefits. Ms. Fee said thinning the tree cover increases the amount of sunlight that can reach the forest floor which helps promote plant biodiversity.
“There’s not a lot of species that grow there besides huckleberry,” Ms. Fee said. “So by opening up the canopy, we’re hoping to increase plant diversity there and then increase the other species that are present in our adjacent heathland and grasslands to start coming into and utilizing the forest.”
Ms. Fee said the forest is currently too dense for certain birds, moths and vertebrates to utilize the forest and trees are competing for sunlight. Thinning the forest will also help reduce risk of wildfires.
“With this threat of the southern pine beetle, it’s sort of given us the impetus to evaluate our forests a little more closely and try to make them healthier,” she said.
This article appears in February 6, 2026.
People playing God with Mother Nature. “Lets kill all the deer to kill the ticks”, “Lets cut all the trees down to kill the beetles”, good luck with your plan. God has his own!
Thank you, Trustees. You know what you are doing. This will actually save trees in the long run the way I see it.
Wow. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. Kill the trees to save the trees – just in case?! Interesting that TTOR has asked Sherriff’s Meadow to assist in the cutting plan. How many trees has SMF chopped down in the last 18 months in the name of preservation? This approach is beyond heavy handed and seems to serve interests that go far beyond protecting the pitch pine.
I think they are figuring out that if they don’t do this, all of the pines will be jeopardized. They already have experience in other areas of the Island. And I don’t understand what the other interests could be-could you please elaborate?
Won’t cutting such a large percentage of these trees leave the remaining ones more exposed to harsh wind, weather and salt? I suspect the remaining trees won’t last long, especially after what’s happened along the oceanside trail… It seems to me this is only serving to expand the grass plain, rather than retain the pine forest habitat which naturally already exists in that specific arrival area of Wasque… Perhaps the Trustees are more financially motivated by increasing the marketability of a tourists ‘arrival’ into Wasque with this move…? Hm…
What a pity, to cut down all the trees because they might fall prey to the beetle—-meaning that we hubristic humans will never find out which trees have natural defenses against the beetle, nor how Nature might respond creatively to this natural disturbance. Nature, unlike Homo sapiens, is always creative. Humans are always impatient. Disturbances are an integral part of Nature: “All primary forests evolve with natural disturbances like fire, outbreaking insects, and other events that kill trees. In fact, natural disturbances create niches for many life forms and are therefore essential for the maintenance of biodiversity. . . . Pine beetles increase forest complexity, thereby supporting native biodiversity” (https://conservationnorth.org/project/life-after-disturbance/).