In an April 17, 2026 petition update, organizers announced Friends of Vineyard Forests. FVF describes Correllus as its origin story and first campaign within a broader Island-wide mission.
Change.org organizer update · April 17, 2026
Manuel F. Correllus State Forest
The Manuel F. Correllus State Forest campaign is FVF’s origin story and first campaign.
It brought Island residents into a wider conversation about the value of mature trees and forests, the evidence used in major land-management decisions, the scale of proposed removal, available alternatives, public participation, restoration obligations, maintenance, and long-term monitoring.
FVF’s position is not that a tree should never be cut. FVF believes the scale, process, evidence, alternatives, cumulative effects, and long-term obligations associated with consequential tree removal deserve careful public scrutiny.
About the Forest
Manuel F. Correllus State Forest spans more than 5,300 acres in the center of Martha’s Vineyard. Its landscape includes pitch-pine and white-pine forest, scrub-oak barrens, grasslands, and habitat important to rare species and Island biodiversity.
Save the White Pines
DCR has proposed forest-management work in Manuel F. Correllus State Forest involving white-pine stands. FVF believes the proposal should be evaluated using current evidence, a scale proportional to the stated goals, meaningful public participation, consideration of reasonable alternatives and cumulative effects, and clear restoration, maintenance, and monitoring obligations.
Friends of Vineyard Forests supports the community effort to move the proposal in a less destructive direction.
The Correllus Story
How We Got Here
This timeline traces research, land-management decisions, public process, and community organizing that shaped FVF's first campaign in Manuel F. Correllus State Forest.
A botanical pine descends from its living canopy into a deep root, carrying the chronology backward from 2026 to 1998.
DCR’s project page lists 175 acres of eastern white-pine plantation work planned in phases, with 79 acres in Phase 1. The petition remained active as community opposition continued.
Mass.gov project listing + Change.org petition · checked August 17, 2026
Massachusetts released the Climate Forestry Committee report in January and an implementation work plan in June, while Correllus project planning continued.
Mass.gov · Forests as Climate Solutions
The Climate Forestry Committee completed its report, stating that maintaining forest cover is essential and recommending climate-oriented forest management.
Massachusetts Climate Forestry Committee report
DCR and NHESP documented unauthorized trail creation and began restoration planning.
Separate research by Oswald, Foster, and colleagues included Martha’s Vineyard in a regional study finding that closed-canopy forests predominated before European clearing, providing context for debates over woodland, barrens, heathlands, and grasslands.
Mass.gov trail records + Nature Sustainability (2020)
FVF’s historical summary says state environmental officials required an Environmental Impact Report following fire-lane work in the State Forest.
FVF historical summary · see Source Note below
FVF’s historical summary says the proposed clearing plan was halted amid growing public attention and opposition.
FVF historical summary · see Source Note below
Harvard Forest ecologists David Foster and Glenn Motzkin assessed the site’s vegetation history and ecology in relation to proposed grassland restoration; their report was published in 1999.
Harvard Forest research listing
The roots of today's White Pine debate reach back decades.
The “Native” Question
Eastern white pine is native to New England, but the stands at issue were planted, and their role in this sandplain system is disputed. Harvard Forest’s 1999 review found that pollen records near Correllus support a pre-European landscape dominated by woody vegetation, while cautioning that much of the pine pollen—especially white-pine-group pollen—may have come from the mainland. The record therefore does not establish that today’s planted stands reproduce the forest’s historic composition.
Regional research published in 2020 found that closed-canopy forests dominated southern New England for roughly 8,000 years before European colonization and that widespread openlands developed after European deforestation and agriculture. That history provides important context, but it does not by itself settle today’s management decision.
DCR describes the proposed work as restoration of oak woodland and sandplain heathland habitat, including habitat for state-listed species. FVF’s position is that labels such as “native” or “planted” should not end the analysis: the public should also weigh current ecological functions, biodiversity goals, alternatives, cumulative effects, restoration, and long-term monitoring.
Source note
FVF’s State Forest advocacy draws on the public timeline, talking points, and research archive compiled by White Pine Friendly / MVWhitePines. For the petition, supporting materials, and advocacy archive, visit the White Pine Friendly research archive.