BUCKFIELD — Selectmen on Tuesday evening opted to get a second opinion from licensed forester Merle Ring on a possible timber harvesting plan for the pine grove behind Bessey Field on Paris Hill Road.

Town Manager Cindy Dunn told selectmen two weeks ago that a local logger came to the Municipal Building to ask if the town had done a selective cut to maintain a healthy stand of trees. The logger suggested the town use licensed forester Chris Love to assess the health of the 7.5-acre grove.

Love’s assessment cost roughly $113 and he advised the town should do a selective cut because some of the trees are suffering from a fungal disease that has spread west from Ellsworth and Bar Harbor.

“It is need of a thinning. There are some trees that have already died due to canopy competition,” Love wrote to Dunn. “This is a smaller parcel and there needs to be enough volume harvested to justify this activity. This by no means suggests a clear-cut.”

Two weeks ago, Dunn suggested Love be a consultant for the town and design a work plan and create bid specifications for the work. He estimated the town could garner between $3,000 and $4,000 in stumpage and Love would receive 15 percent.

“I just want to make sure that when we’re looking into this we’re doing what’s best for the property and not the money aspect,” Selectman Scott Violette said Tuesday.

“I agree,” Dunn said.

Resident Dick Clark expressed concerns over the possible cutting, noting Bessey Field is an asset for the town and is used recreationally.

“You’re cutting some big trees and there’s not a lot of big trees out there,” he said.  “I would rather see it maintained and thinned and with a forward eye looking toward using it as a park, not a wood lot.”

Resident Vivian Wadas asked why Ring hadn’t been consulted and said he would have given the town an assessment on the grove for free. She also has her own wood lot and was given grant money to maintain it through the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

“No way am I proposing to clear-cut this property,” Dunn said. “I agree with everybody. It’s a very nice stand of trees, however, to maintain that status we need to take care of these trees that are dying and keep it healthy.”

“That’s the part that scares me is the volume part of it. I don’t want someone to come in there and hack down the trees to make it worthwhile,” resident Fred Horsfall said.

Violette agreed with his assessment and Wadas strongly encouraged selectmen to contact Ring for a second opinion.

Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Martha Catevenis made a motion that Ring give the town a second opinion, which passed unanimously.

Dunn said she would bring Ring’s findings to board.

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