Jim Thorpe Borough Council authorized Keystone Timber and Forestry last week to proceed with the development of a timber sale prospectus on several parcels of borough-owned forestland. The approval, according to borough officials, allows Keystone to mark trees and define harvest boundaries in preparation for a selective timber harvest proposal.

Zac Hess and Cody Campion, representatives from Keystone, addressed council Thursday night, explaining that they are seeking permission to mark trees and prepare the sale layout before presenting a formal bid package.

“We submitted a map of two different areas of proposed harvest blocks, and today we are here to seek approval for going out and actually scaling the timber and laying out the harvest,” Campion said.

Council members heard that the process would include identifying property lines, marking trees sustainably, and preparing documents for potential timber buyers. “We’re going to go out and basically put a two stripe or a three stripe around a harvest boundary and then mark the trees in a sustainable manner,” Hess said. “We want to do what is right for the woods and help out the trees that are growing there. At the end we will present a bid prospectus to you guys.”

The timber harvest, the duo said, is not a clear-cutting project.

“It’s a selective style harvest,” Campion added. “It’s not clear cutting by any means. If you were to look at a percentage, it would be less than 30% of the trees.”

The two parcels under consideration are a roughly 100- to 120-acre tract along Route 903 on the east side of the borough near Silk Mill Run, and a tract near Flagstaff Road and West Broadway on the west side of the borough. A stream restoration project is already underway in the Silk Mill Run area, involving the removal of five dams through a project with Wildlands Conservancy.

“We’re hoping maybe the end of 2026 is when we would be going to construction, but it’s really demolition of those old dams,” Dennis DeMara of the Wildlands Conservancy said. “We should coordinate the timing if this comes to fruition.”

Environmental concerns, including invasive species and deer browse impacting the seedlings, were also discussed.

“Deer browse is a significant issue for tree regeneration,” Campion noted, explaining that timber tops are left to protect seedlings. “That’s not saying that deer browse isn’t an issue, but we do try to provide areas that can lend to regeneration.”

The duo added that managing sunlight is also critical.

“There’s no sunlight reaching the forest floor,” Hess said. “So you’re not going to regenerate any oak anyway just by letting it sit the way that it is. To manage the woods, you need to get some sunlight in there through timber harvesting.”

When asked about the potential impact of invasive species, the foresters acknowledged the risk.

“You’re going to get invasive species that come in,” they said. “Ferns and stilt grass respond quickly to sunlight. But over time, as the trees grow and shade returns, it suppresses that stuff naturally.”

Councilman Connor Rodgers was the only member to vote against the motion.

“The proposed timber harvest offers limited financial return when weighed against the potential costs and risks,” he said after the meeting. “Logging these areas would expose our forests to invasive species and could require significant investment to rebuild and properly manage the forest ecosystem afterward.”

Rodgers also cited concerns over truck traffic and road conditions.

“Borough roads including Center Street, Reservoir Road, Flagstaff Road, and West Broadway will be affected by this project,” he said. “Of those roads, the borough-owned portions are in very poor shape and this project would only further deteriorate our infrastructure without offsetting benefits.”

The motion passed by majority vote allows Keystone to develop the prospectus and mark trees, but no trees will be harvested at this stage.

“We’re just painting the trees,” Hess and Campion clarified.

The next steps include presenting a finalized bid prospectus and maps for council’s consideration before any harvesting takes place.

Keystone has offered to take council members and residents into the woods to observe the marking process and explain their tree selection methods.

Council President Greg Strubinger summarized the goal as a balance between environmental stewardship and limited financial return.

“In my mind, it can be done in somewhat of a productive way that it helps forest management … and then there’s some financial compensation to be gained from it,” he said.