01/08/2022
The UNOFFICIAL site… there is no official site. Jamestown School Forest henceforth JSF) has no address, phone number, page or website, so I am filling the gap, at least where Facebook is concerned.
A LENGTHY DISCLAIMER
I have had no contact with JSF since 2004, when I was voted off of the Board at a special meeting. At the time, I was doing a stint teaching English in China and was unable to attend the meeting, so I was unable to speak in my defense or vote against being “fired“. It would seem as though, having served on the board for approximately 30 years I might’ve been given a chance to state my case, but that would’ve been inconvenient. Figuratively speaking, I tucked my tail between my legs, retreated and licked my psychic wounds. I didn’t visit the property for approximately 15 years.
JSF is a typical Western New York forest. It did however have one unique feature. A small stand, less than 1 acre, of spectacular hybrid larch trees. These trees were growing on a well-drained, fertile knoll, and in the 80 or 90 years since planting had grown to very impressive size. They were reminiscing of West Coast trees in that the massive root ball had raised the ground around each trees base. A new friend, Erik Danielsen was interested in seeing them. Most people like or love trees, even hug trees. Erik takes this to a new level and I accuse him of even hu***ng trees. He considers this a compliment and doesn’t even hate me!
We paid the property a visit and I was of course curious to see what had changed in the 15 years or so since I had set foot on it. The first thing I noticed was that the sign that I had commissioned about 20 years previously, and which had rested in the high school closet for several years before actually being installed, had weathered to the point where it was almost impossible to read. The walking trails which we had constructed were completely abandoned and very difficult to even find. There were signs that commercial timber sales had taken place. To Erik and I, the most appalling fact was that the larch stand had been completely clear-cut. Every tree was gone! This surprised me for two reasons. It had been unique, and larch is a very low value species, which is usually used for siding buildings or utility sheds. So there was no real financial incentive for cutting those trees.
This angered me because it epitomized the neglect and miss management of the property. My duties as a service Forester for the NYSDEC involved advising landowners on property management of their properties. As with most professionals, often my advice was ignored, and the owners lived with the consequences. In this case, the board of directors did not own the property. They had not purchased it, but were responsible for it. They didn’t suffer the consequences of neglect or mismanagement, the citizens of Jamestown did.
Welcome to the mysterious, hidden, potentially wonderful “world” of the JAMESTOWN SCHOOL FOREST! If you have never heard of this wonderful property, you are not alone. JSF was established almost 100 years ago by conservation minded educators as told in “WHAT IS THE JAMESTOWN SCHOOL FOREST?” Below.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAGE
To familiarize JSF in order that the public might enjoy it and benefit from it.
To encourage the Board of Directors to stop hiding from the public and shoulder their stewardship and fiscal responsibilities.
To bring JSF into compliance with the nonprofit and tax laws and regulations.
To dissolve the current Board and replace it with responsible and competent leadership.
To competently manage the property that it yields the intended educational and fiscal amenities that it is capable of.
WHO ARE WE.
As I write this “we” is actually “me”. My name is Dennis Wilson, page administer. I am a professional Forester, retired from the NYSDEC. I was a member of the JSF boards from approximately 1971 until 2003, and served as Vice President for several years. I advised the board during and following my tenure with the DEC. I also oversaw most management activities on the forest, including harvesting, construction and maintenance operations. Several stakeholders and I have been concerned with the mis-management of this property, the secretive culture and fiscal incompetence and general lethargy of the Board.
WHAT IS THE JAMESTOWN SCHOOL FOREST?
JSF Is a 360 acre property in the very north western corner of the town of Poland. It is located on the west side of Dean School Rd. With the exception of a few acres, with the exception of a small field, pond and four gas well sites, it is entirely forested. The forest is primarily native hardwoods and plantations of Norway spruce, white pine, red pine and larch.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF JSF
 In the early 20th century the eastern forests had been savaged by industrial logging with little thought about the future. This “cut out and get out” logging left devastated, eroded land that would take decades to recover. For example, what is now Allegany State Park, was mostly clearcut. The present cross country ski trails were originally beds for logging railroads. The industry moved west to the lake states and eventually the Pacific Northwest. There was fear of a timber famine, and in the early 1920s, the community leaders of Jamestown, notably Gustavus Bentley, resolved to purchase a property to demonstrate good forest management, educate students and produce income for the schools.
A suitable parcel of land in the town of Poland was located. It was a mix of farmland, and degraded, pastured forest. A fund drive, which consisted of donations of nickels and dimes from students raised the two or three dollars per acre required. So the total price amounted to less than $1000.
Given the poor condition of the existing forest it took several decades before any wood products would be mature enough for harvest, so the main activity was an ambitious tree planting project.  Since conifer seedlings were available from the New York State Nursery and it was easier to establish conifers than hardwoods, a variety of pines, spruce and larch were planted. Eventually several hundred thousand seedlings were planted. The rule of thumb at the time was very high density… about 1000 per acre, which allowed for mortality and possible pulpwood thinning, which didn’t materialize due to a lack of markets. As a result stagnated, slow-growing and overcrowded stands developed.
A PERIOD OF ACTIVITY BEGINS
Given the immaturity of the forest, there a was little activity from the 1930s through the 1970s. But two developments changed that. The natural gas resource in western New York began to be developed and hundreds of gas wells were drilled, four of which were on JSF. The local Amish community provided a market for small diameter conifer logs especially red pine, and portable sawmills processed the logs, thinning the overcrowded stands and converting them to native hardwoods.
The income from the gas wells and sales of conifer timber to the Amish made possible improvements to the property. Under the leadership of Alan Ayers, a retired Jamestown High school teacher, and later on Eric Eklum, also a retired teacher, a wide range of improvements were made. Also key to the development of the property was Merlin Sprague, a retired dairy farmer whose forebears were owners of some of the original JSF property. Merlin was a woodsman and WWII I’m at veteran with deep knowledge of the property, and was an informal caretaker of it. If someone discarded trash on the property or trees blew down blocking roadways Merlin cleaned them up. In spite of the fact that he sat on the board of directors for about 50 years, he was never an officer. By all rights, he should have served as president.
Among the accomplishments during this period were:
Development of walking/ski trails.
Construction of a shallow water impoundment to encourage use by waterfowl.
Installation of steel gates to restrict unauthorizedvehicle traffic on the property.
Given that the property was so unknown to the public, a sign was erected identifying the property.
Since the installation of the gas wells left ugly piles of soil randomly scattered through the area affected, an excavating contractor was hired to restore the well sites and roads.
The Amish continued harvesting non-native, low quality conifers
Convicts from the Brocton State Prison thinned some overcrowded hardwood stands.
Jamestown teachers were able to request science materials not provided by the administration.
Scholarships for deserving high school students were awarded.
By the late 1990s The financial assets of the JSF had increased to several hundred thousand dollars, all of which was kept in an account at the Jamestown teachers credit union, yielding a very low return. A new member, Andrew Dickson, and I suggested that at least some of the funds should be invested in mutual funds as the stock market was doing very well at the time. fifty percent was subsequently used to purchase funds, which increased the value of our holdings significantly.
A PERIOD OF NEGLECT AND CONTROVERSY
In the mid 90s board President Eric Eklum retired from the board and a new President, Richard Steinman, was elected.
I continued as Vice President. The Board had always kept a low profile, partly due to its lack of resources and partly just to its culture. Some of the board members including Trina Newton, Kay Henry, Merlin Sprague and I, felt that the people of Jamestown, whose ancestors purchased the property, should be aware of its existence and benefit from our new-found wealth. I would routinely ask Jamestown residence “Do you know anything about the Jamestown School Forest?” Invariably The answer was either “No.” or “Do you mean the 100 acre lot by JCC?” They were generally totally unaware of the existence of the Forest.
