Disc golf course at Nantucket State Forest’s South Pasture. (See Appendix G for photo information.) SECTION 13. NANTUCKET STATE FOREST 13.1. INTRODUCTION wildlife habitat, and the protection of rare plants (Mason and McNamara 1980). Nantucket State Forest is located in the center of the town, and island, of Nantucket. (Figure 13.1) It was The 1980s and 1990s saw a municipal presence in acquired from the Nantucket Civic League as two the forest. In 1980, the Town of Nantucket and the separate reforestation lots; the South Pasture parcel DEM entered into a joint management agreement for in 1913 and the North Pasture parcel in 1919 (Mason the forest, allowing municipal departments to help 2003). The South Pasture is accessed via Rugged implement the 1980 management plan (Mason and Road, Ticcoma Way, and Lovers Lane; and the McNamara 1980). In 1991, municipal bike paths North Pasture via Polpis, Milestone, and Hinsdale were extended through the forest. Five years later, roads. 17.07 acres were sold to the town for the creation of a public water supply system; this was the first Forest management, including the establishment of change in the size of the forest since acquisition of pine plantations began in the late 1920s or early the North Pasture parcel. 1930s (Mason 2003). It was believed that softwoods would be economically viable to produce, and In 2010, the forest once again underwent a major additional plantations were established in the 1950s transformation when construction began on an 18- or 1960s. However, storm and insect damage, hole disc golf course. The course, which opened in disease, and weak local markets for the forest’s 2012, covers nearly all of the South Pasture and wood made commercial forestry unfeasible. In 1980, adjacent municipal water supply land. Disc golf is consideration was given to converting the forest’s perhaps the most popular and best known pine plantations to hardwoods and red cedar in order recreational activity in the forest, and has become to meet local demand for firewood, fence posts, and emblematic of Nantucket State Forest. pilings. This was not done. Instead, forest Nantucket State Forest’s physical, political, and management shifted toward passive recreation, regulatory attributes are summarized below. (Table forest aesthetics, the protection and enhancement of 13.1.1) 13-1 Brewster Road Polpis Road Orange Street Monomoy Road Chatham Road North Pasture Milestone Road Hindsdale Road Forest Avenue Ticcoma Road Amelia Drive Hindsdale Road Fair Ground Road Old South Road Youngs Way Seikinnow Place Pine Crest Drive Bayberry Siasconset Lane Wannacomet Rugged Road Water Company Daffodil Lane South Pasture Davkim Lane Nancy Ann Lane Lovers Lane Evergreen Way Municipal Well Marsh Parking Area Salt Marsh Nantucket State Forest Bike Path Open Water Figure 13.1. Major Road Other Protected Open Space Minor Road Nantucket State Forest 0 500 1,000 Hydrologic Connection Feet Town Boundary Geographic information provided by MassGIS and DCR GIS. 13-2 Nantucket State Forest Table 13.1.1. Physical, political, and regulatory Table 13.2.1. Water resources of Nantucket State settings of Nantucket State Forest. Forest. Setting Name or Metric Water Resource Name or Metric Location: Nantucket Watershed: Islands a Area (acres) : 117.91 Aquifer: Nantucket SSA Perimeter (miles)a: 4.67 Lens N/A Landscape Designation(s)b: Parkland Rivers and Streams (miles) 0.00 Legislative Districts: Vernal Pools House Barnstable, Dukes, and Certified (#) 0 Nantucket Potential (#) 0 Senate Cape and Islands Wetlands (acres) 0.00 Regulatory Designations: Priority Habitat Lakes and Ponds (acres) 0.00 a. Calculated using a Geographic Information System (GIS). b. For a summary of the DCR’s landscape designations, see http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/ld/ld-factsheet-final.pdf. The absence of water resources, combined with the forest’s location more than 2,200 feet from the Associated Properties. There are operational ocean, result in low susceptibility to flooding, storm connections between Nantucket State Forest and surge, and sea level rise. There are no predicted DCR properties on Martha’s Vineyard. The Forest impacts. (Table 13.2.2) and Park Supervisor III at Correllus is responsible Table 13.2.2. Potential impacts of flooding, hurricane for the management and operation of Nantucket inundation, and sea level rise to State Forest. They are also responsible for Correllus Nantucket State Forest. (Section 10), Sylvia (Section 11), South Beach Type of Impact Acres % (Section 12), and assisting Bureau of Forest Fire Flooding: Control and Forestry personnel with the 100-year Storm 0.00 0.00 management of the West Tisbury Fire Tower 500-year Storma 0.00 0.00 property (Section 15). Hurricane Inundation: Category 1 Storm 0.00 0.00 13.2. NATURAL RESOURCES Category 2 Stormb 0.00 0.00 Category 3 Stormb 0.00 0.00 Physical Features b Category 4 Storm 0.00 0.00 The forest is located atop a glacial outwash plain. Sea Level Rise 0.00 0.00 Elevations range from 29 to 48 feet for the South a. Cumulative value; includes 100-year storm impacts. Pasture, to approximately 40 to 50 feet for the North b. Cumulative value; includes impacts of all lower category storms. Pasture. Rare Species Water Resources State-listed Species Nantucket State Forest is entirely uplands; there are no surficial water resources. (Table 13.2.1) Nine state-listed species are known from the state forest. (Table 13.2.3) 13-3 Nantucket State Forest Table 13.2.3. State-listed species of Nantucket State Invasive Species Forest, as identified by the NHESP. Only two invasive plants have been documented d c (Table 13.2.4); other invasives are likely. In 1983, Speciesa, b 100 black locust and 100 Norway maples were Type MESA Barrens buckmoth I SC planted in the forest (Mason 1983), the status of Barrens daggermoth I T these invasive trees is undetermined at this time. Chain dot geometer I SC Two potentially invasive plants, a honeysuckle and Coastal swamp metarranthis I SC an olive, have also been observed. Long-eared owl B SC Table 13.2.4. Known invasive and likely invasive Melsheimer’s sack bearer I T plants of Nantucket State Forest. Pink sallow moth I SC a b Sandplain heterocampa I T Species Status Waxed sallow moth I SC Oriental bittersweet I a. Presented alphabetically, by common name. Sycamore maple I b. Fact sheets are available at: a. From Mason. (2003); presented alphabetically, by common name. http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/natural- b. Plants are classified as being either Invasive (I) or Likely Invasive heritage/species-information-and-conservation/mesa-list/list-of- (L) according to MIPAG (2005). rare-species-in-massachusetts.html. c. Types of state-listed species include: B = Bird; and I = Insect. d. Status of species listed under the Massachusetts Endangered Natural Communities Species Act (MESA): E = Endangered, SC = Special Concern; and T = Threatened. There have been no formal surveys of natural communities. Only one community type has been Priority Habitat identified; it is uncommon in Massachusetts. (Table 13.2.5) Approximately one-third of the forest (36.24%) has been designated Priority Habitat under MESA. This Table 13.2.5. Known natural communities of Nantucket State Forest. includes the southern end of South Pasture, all of North Pasture between Hinsdale and Milestone c b roads, and a small portion of the North Pasture north d of Milestone Road. Community Typea System State Rank Source Vegetation Pitch Pine-Scrub Oak T S2 1 There have been no comprehensive surveys of the a. Classified according to Swain and Kearsley (2011). flora of Nantucket State Forest. b. E = Estuarine, P = Palustrine, T = Terrestrial. c. The NHESP ranks communities from most rare (S1) to the most The forest’s vegetation is a mixture of native and common (S5). non-native species that reflects its management d. Information contained in this table was obtained from: 1. Mason (2003). history. Plantations of non-native white, Scots, and red pine were established in the 1920s and 1930s Forests (Mason 2003). Japanese black pine, Scots pine, and larch were planted in the 1960s. Many of these non- Nantucket State Forest is 81.58% forested. See native pines are now dead or dying, creating a fire Vegetation, above, for additional information. hazard. The 1970s saw experimental plantings of hardwood species, such as sycamore maple. The Wildlife more natural areas of the forest are dominated by No formal surveys have been conducted; however, pitch pine and black oak, with an understory of scrub information is available on the forest’s birds. As of oak, viburnums, black huckleberry, and lowbush March 2015, eBird (http://www.ebird.org) reported blueberry (Mason 2003, Freeman 2012). The 52 species. creation of a disc golf course in 2011, and its subsequent maintenance, has further modified the forest’s vegetation. 13-4 Nantucket State Forest 13.3. CULTURAL RESOURCES sites abut or are in close proximity, and five systematic archaeological surveys have been This section describes the known and potential conducted within portions of the forest. In the South cultural resource areas, including pre-Contact and Pasture an intensive locational archaeological survey post-Contact archaeological resources, and historic was undertaken in 2009 in advance of building the landscapes, buildings, structures, and objects. An disc golf course. This survey uncovered no overview of significant events in the history of significant intact sites because of previous Nantucket State Forest is presented in Table 13.3.1. agricultural land-use and associated history of The forest’s cultural resources are identified in Table cultivation. 13.3.2 Because the occupation of Nantucket spans over Archaeological Resources 9,000 years, there is no doubt that the forest was traversed or frequented by Native Americans during The Massachusetts Historical Commission’s that time.