This letter was submitted to LebTown. Read LebTown’s submission policy here.
My name is Lee Wells and I worked at Governor Dick Park for ten years as a maintenance person and spent much of my time maintaining the forest there. I am writing in response to a one-sided video created by Mr. Ryan Fretz and Mr. Finn Royer. I will attempt to clear up some points made in their video.
Read More: Friends group premieres documentary concerning Governor Dick Park
First off, the clear cut that they showed was at the observation tower and was to open up the view to the west as in the summer time all you saw in that direction were tree tops. In fact, one of the documentary spokespersons complained that not enough trees were cut and demanded that another tree needed to be removed, one that was preserved as a large shade tree for visitors. The area cut will be replanted with native low growing trees and shrubs to solve any future problems.
As was pointed out in the video, invasive plants are a huge problem, but the group wants the use of herbicides banned and unless they have a small army of volunteers to go every week and pull them, they will eventually cover a large part of the park including the hiking trails. It was noted in the video that when trees are cut, invasives move in. Many trees in the park are mature and very large and are falling over due to age and being rooted on rocky soil. When a large tree falls down, it can clear a quarter acre of forest and open it up for invasives to move in. In a controlled cut the invasives can be managed, but in this scenario they go unchecked. I, too, still walk in the park occasionally and every time I see where more trees have fallen. Why not do selective cutting and sell the trees before they fall on their own? I’m sure that everyone associated with the video uses wood for something.
As noted in the video, deer browsing is a problem with forest regeneration. A selective cut can be fenced and managed for new growth of good trees. When a tree falls, because of the deer, no new trees have a chance to grow, only invasive plants.
The people who created this video have no idea about how to manage a forest and can’t understand why the park board doesn’t cave in to all of their demands when the park has a very capable forest manager (who does work for DCNR and the PA Game Commission) to maintain a healthy forest that will still be healthy for future generations to enjoy.
Lee Wells was a 10-year employee of the Clarence Schock Memorial Park at Governor Dick. In his role he was responsible for buildings and grounds, including maintenace of the forest.
