The Manuel F. Correllus State Forest on Martha’s Vineyard

Key Points: Why was it first established? How has it changed since then? How is it beneficial for the island? How is it not beneficial for the island? What is the future of the State Forest?

A typical view inside the State Forest

Another typical view.

Some key dates in the history of the State Forest: acres (established as a Heath Hen Preserve) expanded to 1040 acres expanded to 4484 acres. [1932] - Heath Hen declared extinct (WWII) - Navy took one sq. mile for an airport Manny Correllus served as first State Forester. Planted thousands of white and red pines to John Varkonda is State Forester to present – Virginia Dautreuil takes over about 800 acres donated (The Flynn Property) Total acreage today = 5343 acres (That’s 8% of the island!)

Today the State Forest is mixture of vegetation types. Not all of it is pine plantation.

There is some good news about the State Forest and there is some bad news too.

First the Good News: 5343 acres of undeveloped and protected land in the middle of Martha’s Vineyard! Over 300 acres (and growing) are “grasslands” - mostly fire lanes and meadows. Provides good habitat (including some sandplain grasslands and scrub oak barrens). Possible grassland restoration? Great recreation, trails, hunting. Serves as a NATURAL RECHARGE AREA FOR OUR AQUIFER. (For every one inch of rainfall, 140 million gallons of water land on the Forest.)

And now the Bad News: The Heath Hen didn’t make it. Red pines died from a fungal disease. Major fire hazard today (dead wood). Too much monoculture in places (pine plantations). Trees “drink up” LOTS of water. So? Not all the original vegetation of this area. Little native grassland.

The fire lanes are critical to the safety of the forest. There are over 33 miles of them.

The fire lanes also have been discovered to contain many native and some rare species of the sandplain grasslands

But the state forest remains a major fire threat.

A fungus has nearly wiped out all the Red Pine, littering the forest with dry wood - fuel for a dangerous fire.

Hurricanes and heavy winds also provide much fuel for a potential fire.

But since 2009, 250 acres of dead red pine were removed and shredded into mulch to reduce fire hazard. Also, prescribed burns by trained people have reduced the fuel load in a controlled and safe way.

But historically, before modern fire-fighting, fires were a fairly common and even natural event in this area. The native vegetation was well adapted to it.

The Great Irony of the State Forest? The extinct Heath Hen is probably the reason we still have clean drinking water on Martha’s Vineyard!

No one will argue how lucky we are to have the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest on Martha’s Vineyard.