Photo by Julie Outericky 2010

Friends of Myles Standish State Forest
Volunteers supporting the largest Forest Reserve in Massachusetts!

Volunteers are not paid—not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.

~Anonymous

Dear Sharl,

The MSSF is never more beautiful than when it is in full Spring bloom! We hope you will join Friends of MSSF in the Forest for one of our hikes or nature activities. Please visit the Friends of MSSF Hiking and Birding Meetup Group for a current list of events. Looking forward to seeing you in the Forest!

MSSF Hiking and Birding Meetup Group

Friends Seeking New Board Member/Treasurer

Friends of MSSF welcomed Carolyn Gould, Laura Troll, and Richard Wall Jr. to the Board at the Annual Meeting on May 4. However, we must reluctantly say goodbye to our Friends, Board Members Pam Crowell, Secretary 2007-2011; Dianne Cosman, Treasurer 2009-2011; and Nick Perryclear 2009-2011. We thank them for their extensive and much appreciated service to the Group and to the Forest.

FMSSF is now actively seeking applications for Treasurer and Board positions. If you would like a more active role in this dynamic group and an opportunity to do something worthwhile for a wonderful Forest, please attend the next FMSSF Board Meeting on Wednesday, June 1, 7:00 p.m. at the Conference Building (across the street from MSSF Headquarters), or contact us for more information at friends@friendsmssf.com

Friends of MSSF in the News!

Our thanks to Frank Mand and the Old Colony Memorial for covering the FMSSF 4th Annual Meeting.

Forest full of Friends: Myles Standish group celebrates four years of outdoor activism

Also of interest to Friends of the Forest:
Conservationists, police, dirt biker riders may unite

by Frank Mand

DCR Public Meeting to Discuss the MSSF Resource Management Plan Draft

Plymouth Main Public Library
132 South Street, Plymouth
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will hold the final public meeting to discuss the draft of the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for MSSF on Wednesday, May 25 at the Main Plymouth Public Library. The Plan will guide future preservation and stewardship efforts in the Forest, and will ensure consistency between recreational uses and protection of natural resources. After the Draft is released, the public will have 60 days to submit comments. Please check the Friends of MSSF website after 5/25 for a link to the Draft and information on how to submit your comments.

Your input is important to the process! Thank you to everyone who participated in the five workshops hosted by Friends of MSSF. Please attend the final DCR public meeting and participate in the discussion on behalf of MSSF.

More about the Pulbic Meeting

Friends of MSSF
Pine Barrens Exhibit
at
Garden in the Woods
June 15 thru August 31

Friends of MSSF is proud and delighted to announce our selection as participants in the New England Wildflower Society's (NEWFS) Native Buzz Exhibition: Creative Container Gardening for Pollinators at Garden in the Woods:

Garden in the Woods provides an exceptional setting for “Native Buzz” -- to showcase the creative design and horticultural talents of individuals and groups and to be judged by not only a panel of outstanding professionals, but also enjoyed by the public along with thousands of visiting pollinators.

Winning the competition is very good news for Friends of MSSF. NEWFS will provide all of the plants for the exhibit (selected by native plant expert Irina Kadis). After the exhibit, the plants will be given to FMSSF for permanent placement in the Forest!

Want to know more about Native Buzz? Click here.

Just like MSSF, Garden in the Woods is listed as one of the 1,000 Great Places to Visit in Massachusetts. Be sure to visit Garden in the Woods this summer, and be sure to stop by the FMSSF Pine Barrens exhibit!

New England Wild Flower Society at Garden in the Woods
180 Hemenway Road, Framingham, MA 01701

DCR Assistant Management Forester Paul Gregory Explains Mast Road Forestry Work

The recent mechanical work along Long Pond Road and Mast Road in Myles Standish State Forest is part of a hazard fuels mitigation project, whose goal is to mitigate wildfire threats by reducing the continuity of hazardous vegetation, while maintaining and encouraging the existence of the fire-dependent and disturbance dependent native scrub oak/pitch pine ecosystem. The specific purpose of the 200 foot buffer being created along the edge of the forest is to reduce the natural fuel load to lessen the potential of wildfire of impacting the adjacent residential areas as well as to provide safe access for firefighters and fire apparatus.

As Myles Standish State Forest has a long history of large fires, the creation of the reduced fuels buffer along with prescribe burns is a major effort by DCR to reduce threats posed by wildfires to the residents of the Commonwealth. Mechanical work will continue this spring and summer to treat interior sections in the northeastern part of the forest to reduce ladder fuels. Ladder fuels are vegetation that provides vertical continuity between the surface and the tops of trees and is what helps initiate crown fires.

Future work may entail removing the non-native red pine plantations to further encourage the native scrub oak/pitch pine ecosystem as well as decreasing the density of trees and hence their potential in aiding in the spread of wildfires. The pro ject is a joint effort with the Nature Conservancy w ith funding through an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant.

Buffer before clearing bufferbefore