Bolster Hill Forest

Land Description

Bolster Hill Forest is a conserved forest (no building or development allowed) with gentle terrain, good quality timber and recreational opportunity in Warwick, Massachusetts, a few miles south of the New Hampshire border and east of the Connecticut River Valley. The town is quite rural and nearly one third of its acreage is state forest land. The 1,617 foot Mount Grace rising near the town center is the prominent topographic feature, providing visitors and area residents a host of outdoor recreational opportunities.

There are several ponds in Warwick, creating a mosaic of wetlands. The forest boundary stretches over the lower eastern portion of Bolster Hill, a prominent ridgeline in an area of rolling hills. The terrain rises gently from Northfield Road and reaches a small plateau near the center before gradually descending down towards an intermittent stream. Soils are well-drained throughout with only minor wetlands at the eastern boundary, so the terrain is suitable for year-round forestry operations.

The forest supports an oak-pine-hemlock species mix common to the region. Red oak and hemlock combine to occupy over half of the volume by species. The overall health and quality of the timber is good to above average with opportunity to increase the oak and pine component through future thinning. Approximately 81% of the sawlog volume is comprised of acceptable growing stock, revealing a forest of exceptional timber quality. The sawlog diameter distribution reveals opportunities for harvesting the economically mature trees in the upper diameters while maintaining a level of stocking that favors the oak and pine component. The species mix, size distribution and convenient physical access of this forest allows for year-round firewood thinning to remove poorly-formed or diseased trees that can ultimately accomplish long-term silvicultural objectives.