Biodiversity of the Karner Brook Headwaters Forest
Save the Karner Brook Headwaters Forest!
The Karner Brook Headwaters Forest is a sugar maple-dominated forest comprised of century-old trees that shelter regenerating maples, cold seeps, and ephemeral streams that feed Karner Brook – an outstanding Class A water resource that provides drinking water for the town of Egremont, MA. The state has designated this area as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. Yet the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) plans to log and spray herbicides in this sensitive area.
DCR has already sprayed over a dozen acres with glyphosate (Roundup) within 50 feet of Karner Brook. Their plan purports to “diversify the forest structure for climate resiliency.” Environmentalists disagree; they see this as an extractive operation that will take out many of the most valuable mature maple trees and irrecoverably damage the forest and the waters it shelters. Over 70% of households in Mt. Washington have signed a petition opposing the logging operation.
This artwork was created to highlight the ecological integrity of the Karner Brook Headwaters Forest with guidance from Ben Nickley of Berkshire Bird Observatory. Check out their website and support them.
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Biodiversity of the Karner Brook Headwaters Forest
The primary forest cover type around the brook is a rich mesic forest dominated by sugar maples, that drive the ecology and create a moist and cool microclimate at ground level. Their leaves are rich in bases that decompose quickly, resulting in rapid nutrient cycling and a thin litter layer that allows small vernal forbs to complete their life cycles before the canopy leaves out. Sugar maple forest cover is rare within Mt. Washington State Forest – comprising only 1% of the overall forest cover.
Sugar maples do well in low light conditions and take a long time to reach maturity. Many of the trees of this forest are well over 100 years old and are sequestering and storing large amounts of carbon--helping to mitigate climate change. This forest has also shown resiliency toward recent spongy moth outbreaks as the invasive caterpillars that have decimated nearby oak stands have left the maples largely untouched. Though resistant to insect pests, sugar maples are surface-rooted, and regenerate best under a closed canopy – they are sensitive to disturbances from logging.
The forest is pervaded by a network of headwater streams that feed the Karner Brook. All are crucial for the forest's rich biota, including the salamanders that depend on them for their life cycle: Dusky Salamander, Two-lined Salamander, Red-backed Salamander, and the regionally rare Spring Salamander.
