The Conservation Commission has submitted for Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) review a forest management plan covering two adjoining town-owned open space parcels comprising an overall 42.5 acres near Stone Bridge Trail and Nighthawk Lane in Sandy Hook.

The IWC is expected to review and possibly act on the proposal when it meets on September 28. The application is submitted under the terms of the town's forest practices regulations, which the IWC administers.

The two parcels are located near a cleared right-of-way that is used by the Iroquois Gas Transmission System for its underground natural gas transmission pipeline.

The Conservation Commission is proposing that a selective timber harvest occur on the open space land to enhance the area's wildlife habitat. The proposed tree removal would improve the habitat for New England cottontail rabbits, plus 47 other species, according to the Conservation Commission.

Under the proposal, about 11.7 acres of upland oak habitat near the pipeline right-of-way would be clear cut, except for about two to three seed trees per acre, which would be left standing so that the forest could eventually regenerate itself.

An additional 10.8 acres nearby, which hold oak and northern hardwoods, would be thinned out by removing between one-third and one-half of the trees standing there. When that timber harvesting at the 10.8-acre site is complete, about 8.8 acres there would have half the trees left standing, and about two acres there would have two-thirds of the trees left standing.

Under the forest management plans, a buffer strip of trees, ranging between 50 and 75 feet wide, would retain two-fifths to three-fifths of its existing trees. That buffer strip would be located along Stone Bridge Trail.

An estimated 145,000 board/feet of saw timber would be removed in the timber harvest.

The timber harvest is designed to alleviate the need to cross streams and cross wetlands in the harvest area.