Hull Forest Products hosted a field tour for Society of American Foresters national convention attendees in October 2025 at its Myers Pond Forest in Union, Connecticut. Attendees learned about the property’s conservation easement with the Nature Conservancy, as well as the property’s recreational leasing program, old growth preserve, white pine regeneration, oak shelterwood harvests, old grist mill site, watershed protection, and the story of George Hewitt Myers, the American forester and philanthropist behind this forest as well as the Yale-Myers Forest, the largest private landholding in Connecticut.
Located within the Quinebaug Highlands Landscape, the Myers Pond Forest has been formally managed for timber production for over a century. It is home to wetlands, streams, and forest that provide critical wintering and staging areas for migratory waterfowl, and the property helps sustain the largest drinking water supply watershed in Connecticut.
Tour attendees learned about the forest management plan for the property, and the total forest products harvested under Hull Forest Products’ stewardship, as well as the property’s recreational leasing income, and how this income helps support the conservation of the forest, road and field maintenance, dam and building upkeep, and ongoing timber stand improvement work. Attendees visited one of the property’s cabins, observed areas of old growth pine that were spared by the 1938 hurricane that heavily impacted other parts of the property, visited some of the largest trees in the forest, and learned how Hull Forest Products is preserving these old growth pine stands today. Attendees also observed areas where hemlock pulpwood had been harvested in the late 1990s and toured a section of the property that underwent an oak shelterwood harvest in 2022-23 to encourage oak regeneration.
History stops along the tour included the foundation site of the George Hewitt Myers summer home, as well as the small private family cemetery where Myers, his wife, and their three daughters are buried. Tour attendees learned about Myers’ twin passions for forestry and textiles, and his collecting vision for each. Other stops of historic note included the Lawson house foundation, the site of the old Lawson sawmill, one of five mills once powered by Bush Meadow Brook, and the glacial pothole/Nipmuck mortar. The Hull Forest Products forestry team enjoyed sharing their work with fellow forestry professionals and demonstrating the ways that forest management has a positive impact on wildlife habitat, air and water quality, carbon sequestration, and overall forest health.
