Deer Pond Farm encompasses 850 acres, roughly half in Sherman, Connecticut, and half in Pawling, New York. About 75 percent of the total property is mixed deciduous forest.
Forests are managed for many reasons, like making the forest more resilient to major disturbances (storms, insects, fire etc.), removing carbon dioxide for cleaner air, maintaining permeation rates and reducing erosion for cleaner water, harvesting timber, supplying wood for wood products, and supporting the forest products industry.
The CT DEEP Forestry Division says healthy diverse forests provide these things and, “have the greatest capacity to adapt to changing conditions, and as long as they remain healthy, they will continue to deliver social and ecological services.”
We are monitoring the forest for health issues and external factors, like disease, fire, invasive insects and plants, as well as weather and precipitation impacts.
According to CT DEEP, many of the forests in Connecticut are around 100 years old, so the age class of trees is not very diverse. Many bird species and other wildlife rely on young forest habitat for cover, protection from predators, nesting, and food. Our forestry management projects are designed to assist these species, like the Chestnut-Sided Warbler, which is listed as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need (GCN).
In 2024 and 2025, we planted 900 tree seedlings as part of a major forestry management project. The five project areas encompass six and a half acres on the New York side of the preserve.
This project is designed to help birds and other wildlife that require young forest habitats. The goals are to diversify the age class of the forest and the species of trees here. The action items included felling of select trees, addressing competing vegetation and planting native forest seedlings.
This project was funded by a matching grant from the state of New York Department of Environmental Conservation Forestry Division Regenerate NY Forestry Grant (Round 2).
We attained this grant to remove invasive species and improve structural diversity with an emphasis on native species to improve forest health to benefit birds and other wildlife. We also aim to teach our visitors about sustainable forest practices and timber stand improvement, through canopy thinning and early succession habitat creation.
We planted a diversity of 400 native hardwood bare root trees in 2024. These were all one-to-two-year-old seedlings of various sizes that were grown at a northeast native forest nursery. The trees were planted in a two-acre area and spaced approximately 10 to 15 feet apart in tree tubes. You can see this forestry plot along the Kirby View Trail.
Additionally, 500 native forest seedlings were planted within a deer exclosure fence in the spring of 2025. You can see this forestry area along the Big Bear Trail, just passed Ledge Loop Trail.
The late Kathy and Walter Wriston, who gifted Deer Pond Farm to CT Audubon, had had active forestry management plans and did a lot of forest improvement over the decades. When the gift of Deer Pond Farm came to CT Audubon Society, we continued with their forestry stewardship plans on both the CT and NY side of the property and continue to expand upon them.
For this project, we worked closely with a New York State licensed consulting forester. We also hired specialty contractors to manage invasive plants and competing vegetation, fell select trees, plant seedlings and install tree tubes.
Thanks to our knowledgeable and dedicated team of volunteer forest monitors who will help maintain these new plantings for the forest of the future!
For more information on forestry in Connecticut, visit
https://portal.ct.gov/deep/forestry/ct-forestry-division
For more information on forestry in New York state, visit:
https://dec.ny.gov/nature/forests-trees
For federal forestry information visit:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/forestmanagement/vegetation-management/silviculture/index.shtml
Deer impact article from National Audubon:
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/surging-deer-populations-are-crisis-eastern-forests
