Recent logging on Cushman Mountain in Wiscasset is part of the Chewonki Foundation’s forest management plan that serves multiple purposes, Foundation President Willard Morgan said.

The plan serves the forest’s health, helps with public access on Cushman Mountain and is a small source of revenue for the nonprofit, Morgan said in telephone interviews Jan. 7 and 9. He expects the harvest to net in the low tens of thousands of dollars that will help support the foundation’s programs, including ones involving area schools, Morgan said.

However, after public concerns arose about the harvest, Morgan said that there are a couple of things the environmental educational organization would have done differently if it had that work to do over again: Because the work was not far from a neighborhood, Morgan said it would have helped to inform more property owners; letters only went out to abutters, he said.

And, while he admired the hired loggers’ work ethic for wanting to get as much done in a day as possible, the foundation was sorry about an early morning start near a populated area, he said.

“That was unfortunate.”

Wiscasset police on Jan. 2 received a 5:25 a.m., loud noise complaint involving logging; the loggers were not located. Wiscasset resident Larry Lomison told selectmen on Jan. 6 that the logging woke him up early one morning. He said the trees’ removal is devastating to wildlife and could risk a washout on Route 144.

In the interviews, Morgan disagreed with Lomison’s points. The cutting is selective, rather than taking all trees, he said. Tree removal disturbs the habitat, but in the long-term promotes forest health, he said; and Morgan said if a washout happens on Route 144, he would be surprised if it was due to the foundation’s forest management plan written by a state-licensed forester.

The foundation learned there were public concerns about the activity and invited Wiscasset Code Enforcement Officer Stan Waltz to visit the site, Town Manager Marian Anderson said Jan. 7.

“They reached out to us. They’ve always worked very hard to stay in communication with the town so that we know what’s going on,” Anderson said.

“We welcome a visit from the code enforcement officer,” Morgan said. “It’s all legal,” he said about the work.

Waltz will report on the Cushman Mountain logging to selectmen at the board’s next meeting on Jan. 20, Anderson said. Waltz could not immediately be reached for comment.

The cutting in that area is now either finished or nearly finished, with cleanup to follow, Morgan said.

A forester with the Maine Forest Service visited the site Jan. 6.

“There are no issues that would raise significant concern,” Morten Moesswilde, district forester for Lincoln, Knox, Kennebec and Waldo counties said Friday. “(The foundation is) taking a responsible approach.”

Moesswilde said his visit resulted from Lomison contacting the Forest Service.

Reached Friday, Lomison said he had wanted people to be aware of what he was seeing on the mountain. It astounded him, he said.

“I’ve spoken with everybody, so I know it’s perfectly within their rights to do it,” he said. “But just because it’s within their rights, is it the right thing to do?”