The trails in the West Chop Woods have been temporarily closed due to concerns that an infestation of beetles has left the trees there too brittle to stand. 

The Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, which owns the 90-acre woods in Vineyard Haven, announced the closure on Dec. 24 after the trees there had been decimated by the invasive southern pine beetle. The nonprofit plans to cut down trees that have been affected, but there is no clear timeline for reopening.

“It’s time for us to go in again and do another round of cutting alongside the trails so that people can walk in there safely,” said Adam Moore, the executive director of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. 

The southern beetle made its way to the property earlier this year and has been moving east through the forest. The beetles are minuscule but hundreds of thousands will drill through pitch and white pine trees, cutting off their water supply and leaving them dead.

The southern pine beetle is native to the south and has migrated to the Island in recent years as the climate has grown warmer. After being ravaged by the beetles, Mr. Moore said infested trees can topple down or drop limbs. 

The property will be open to the public as soon as the cutting is finished. The foundation is only cutting trees it has marked dead, Mr. Moore emphasized.

Sheriff’s Meadow will mulch the tops of the dead trees to dispose of the wood and help fertilize the soil. The organization will saw down and leave some of the logs stacked on the property while hauling off the big ones to be milled.

The foundation cut trees on the property in late spring but more have died since then, Mr. Moore said. After the approaching cutting, Mr. Moore anticipates needing to cut another round at some point in the new year. 

West Chop has been hit hard by the beetles, and homeowners there recently started cutting down their own trees to prevent damage to their homes and vehicles. 

In April, Mr. Moore said the foundation cut down 2,000 trees across 35 acres of the Philips Preserve in Tisbury where the beetles first showed up on-Island. That property has been closed much of the year and Mr. Moore expects it to open later this winter.

The foundation will still need to go through Philips Preserve and identify any infested trees along trails or roads that will need to come down, but Mr. Moore said a bulk of the work on the property is done.

Mr. Moore said the foundation is worried that a closure may be needed for the Caroline Tuthill Preserve along Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Edgartown.

“In the fall we noticed a beetle outbreak happening at that property and we’d earlier been thinning a part of the forest and we’ll be continuing that over the winter too,” he said. 

Sheriff’s Meadow will be marking trees and seeking additional funding for cutting at the Caroline Tuthill. He anticipates closing the preserve’s trails in early spring.

“It’s not safe for people to be out there when we’re doing it,” Mr. Moore said. “But we try to limit that as much as we can.”