Bringing Home the Groceries for Wildlife at Guiney Memorial Forest
One of Mount Grace’s oldest conserved properties is the Guiney Memorial Forest in Royalston. This 33-acre forest was protected back in 1998, as a gift from Father John Guiney’s family. In the intervening years, Mount Grace has stewarded the property, following the family’s wishes that it be maintained as a wildlife sanctuary. Most recently, we completed a forestry project in 2024, focused on increasing forest complexity and improving bird habitat.
One of the key features of this project was the creation of a 3-acre patch cut. Removing most of the overstory and letting more sunlight reach the forest floor should produce a flush of herbaceous and woody plant growth that will provide habitat for different species of birds and other wildlife through time as new shrubs and sun-loving trees establish, grow, and mature, building the future forest along the way.
However, this 3-acre section of Guiney Memorial Forest has not always been a forest. The stand where we did the habitat work was characterized by large, crowded pine trees with a poorly developed midstory and understory. All evidence suggested it was once a farm field that had been abandoned and slowly reverted back to forest over time.
While our habitat work has set the table for a diverse and healthy forest to be restored, it still faces many challenges – everything from invasive species to browsing by deer and moose. Not to mention warmer temperatures and changing precipitation patterns due to climate change.
Go Native
To tilt the odds in our favor (at least a little bit!), we are planting several dozen trees and shrubs this spring. Everything from white oaks to hazelnuts. Our selected species all have two things in common: 1) they’re all native to MA (with one exception I’ll touch on later) and 2) they provide important food for wildlife.
Planting native species is important for many reasons, not the least of which is they tend to be best suited to the soils and environmental conditions of New England. All of the species we selected such as oaks, hickory, sassafras, and American plum are well adapted to full sun conditions yet can also handle a wet spring (remember June 2023?) or a dry fall like last year.
And all these species are critically important for wildlife. White oak and shagbark hickory are highly prized by wildlife. White oak acorns are preferred by wildlife over red oak because they taste sweeter and have less tannins. Even better, white oak acorns mature within a single growing season, unlike red oaks, which usually take two seasons. This means white oaks have the potential to produce acorns every year! Shagbark hickory produces nuts that are highly sought after by bears, turkeys, and other animals. The bark of mature hickory is also important as roosting habitat for species of bats.
Other species we are planting include American hazelnut, American Plum, and Persimmon. All of which produce nuts, fruit, and/or cover for wildlife. Now, some of you may be scratching your head and thinking ‘persimmon isn’t native to Massachusetts!’ And you’d be right, of course. But it’s a great example of adapting to future anticipated climate conditions. Persimmons (or Diospyros virginiana) are native to Connecticut and many states in the south and eastern U.S. By selecting a species that is well adapted to the growing conditions that Massachusetts may one day inherit, we are setting ourselves up for success with a species that should grow well at Guiney and provide another diverse important food source for our wildlife.
By planting a mix of soft and hard mast producing species, we are hedging our bets, that even if one or two species fail to produce food in a given year, there are other species to fill the gap and make sure our wildlife have plenty to eat.
Last but not least is Sassafras (Sassafras albidum). This tree is easily recognized by its unique leaf shapes that can look like anything from a mitten to a turkey track. Sassafras is an important host plant for Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies. Perhaps even more important, it was recognized by Indigenous peoples for its important culinary and medicinal value.
Planning for the future
Climate change modeling suggests that oak forest types will likely thrive under future climate conditions. However, getting oaks and other desirable species to successfully and naturally regenerate in a small forest opening like the one found in Guiney can be challenging. Abundant deer populations will preferentially browse oak seedlings and can greatly influence the structure and composition of future forests. One important step we can take to protect our investment is to place fencing around the vulnerable tree seedlings and give them time to grow and reach sufficient height to withstand deer browsing.
How You Can Help
Mount Grace will be hosting our planting event on Saturday, May 10th from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm at Guiney Memorial Forest on Morse Rd in Royalston. If you’re interested in native plantings, consider joining us on May 10th as a volunteer!
To RSVP or learn more information about this exciting volunteer opportunity, please email Matt DiBona dibona@mountgrace.org or call/text 302-943-3239. We hope to see you there!