The Westfield Town Forest

The town forest in Westfield was established in 1929 on 5404 acres of land which protected the town water supply. Part of the land was purchased. Part of the land formerly served as the town poor farm. (Town poor farms were a widely practiced means of welfare throughout New England up until the end of the 19th century. Responsibility for welfare then shifted from towns to county or state governments, providing the opportunity for communities to retain ownership of town farm woodlots and convert them to town forest). An additional 483 acres were added over the course of several years.

The forest has been inducted into The Town Forest Hall of Fame for holding the record for the greatest number of trees planted in a town forest: over 777,000 trees were planted in this 5887 acre forest.

This is what Harris Reynolds, the secretary of the Massachusetts Forestry Assocation, wrote about Westfield's Town Forest in The First Quarter Century of the Town Forest in Massachusetts (December 1939):

Westfield has the second forest in area--5,701 acres acquired for water protection. A planting program was adopted several years before the town forest act was passed, and approximately 800 acres of hilly, worn-out farm land has been reforested. Had these hill farms been abandoned, as have hundreds of others in this state, they would now be partially covered with scrub growth of little value. Reforested, they are not worth several times the total investment made by the city in land and planting. The area is a game refuge, which will replenish the game supply of that region. The prime purpose of that area, however, it to maintain a forest cover for the conservation of water, but this can be accomplished and at the same time produce a profitable timber crop. As the present natural growth and the plantations reach merchantable size, the city can look forward to an increasing profit from this forest. It is conservatively estimated that within the next three decades the net project should reach $20,000 annually. Under forest management this income should be maintained indefinitely. This past year 40,000 board feet of lumber and 1,800 cords of wood were taken from the forest, valued at $6,534. The 802,000 trees planted by the city would have cost it more the $8,000 but by placing the land under the town forest act, most of the trees were provided by the state free of charge.