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This is the fourth in a series of articles about how landowners can harness “The Power of Plants” to maintain shorefront property while following the rules established to protect these environmentally sensitive areas. The Harpswell Conservation Commission is organizing the series, with articles by local experts.
The author of this article, Tim Vail, is a retired arborist who serves as Harpswell’s tree warden.
Plants, like animals, are affected by stress. They deal with native pests and diseases, as well as introduced threats, which quite often have few natural controls. But that’s another story for a later discussion.
Trees also contend with environmental and man-made challenges. As stewards of Harpswell’s plants, from ground moss up to 80-foot-high white pines, we are charged with preventing our forest’s integrity from declining.
Our soils range from clay to soils as shallow as 4 inches holding 14-inch-diameter spruces. As we develop home sites on these shallow soils, we expose root systems to sun and wind, reducing their ability to retain moisture. An “edge effect” at the edge of cleared land allows drought periods to have more severe impacts.
You may have noticed quite a few dead spruce trees around Harpswell this summer after the dry late summers of 2024 and 2025. I suspect most of the dead trees will be found on shallow soils on top of ledge. The trees simply lacked a reserve of moisture.
We can help by adding mulch to exposed forest floor, perhaps 3 inches deep, to improve moisture retention, or by planting ground cover or even shrubs. Just keep in mind that, because the roots need oxygen, modest steps are best. Water retention methods as described in July’s article in the Anchor (“The Power of Plants: Managing runoff with shrubs and woody materials“) will help.
It’s also important to remember that before your house was built, trees were removed, which changed the wind integrity of the remaining community of trees. This created the potential hazard of weakened tree root systems, which may fail in the future. Care must be taken to choose which trees to remove for safety.
Our trees in Harpswell are facing more challenges than ever, and we may lose entire stands of hemlock and ash trees because of invasive threats, but nature will not allow voids in the forest canopy for very long. We just don’t know what she will give us.
It’s important to understand the responsibility you are given with your piece of Harpswell. Try to be the best land steward you can be. You will enjoy your property more, and those who come after you will benefit from your foresight.
