BUCKFIELD — At their upcoming meeting, selectmen will revisit the idea of a selective timber harvest at the Bessey Field pine grove to help maintain tree health after a local logger suggested the town look into the practice.

Buckfield Town Manager Cindy Dunn brought the issue to the selectmen’s attention at their meeting on Tuesday, April 21. The 7½-acre pine grove located behind Bessey Field on Paris Hill Road is owned by the town.

A local logger stopped into the Municipal Building asking if the town had ever done a selective cut to maintain a healthy stand of trees, Dunn said. He thought the area had become crowded, which can cause trees to die. He suggested a forester look into the issue and give a professional opinion about what should be done.

“This pine grove, to my knowledge, has never been cut selectively or otherwise,” Dunn said at last week’s meeting.

She reached out to Maine Licensed Forester Chris Love for an assessment of the grove. He was paid $112.50 for the assessment from the Recreation Committee’s Bessey Field operating budget.

“Some of those trees are dying. Some of them have tree diseases and he really recommends we do a select cut,” Dunn said.

The tree disease is a form of fungus lichen that has slowly crept from the Ellsworth and Bar Harbor area into Oxford Hills.

“Several years ago, it was brought to the selectmen and at that time, they chose not to do anything,” Dunn said about doing a selective cut. “As we all know, trees grow and as a result, it started causing damage to other trees and infect them with these diseases. … Not being a tree person, I can only suspect if some of these trees have these diseases, it’s going to spread.”

The town manager suggested Love act as the town’s consultant on the project. He could design a work plan, devise bid specifications with the town’s recommendations and the town could provide him a list of local loggers, she added.

“He estimates that as things stand right now, the town is looking at $3,000 to $4,000 in stumpage and he would get 15 percent of that stumpage,” Dunn said.

Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Martha Catevenis and Selectman Scott Violette opted to revisit the issue at the 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 5, selectmen’s meeting at the Municipal Building, 33 Turner St.

Selectman Cheryl Coffman was absent from last week’s meeting.

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