LOUDONVILLE — Columbia Gas Transmission and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources have reached an agreement that will reduce the ecological impact of tree and undergrowth clearing around gas storage wells in the Mohican Memorial State Forest and Mohican State Park.

“We have an agreement, and we believe it’s a good agreement,” Andy Ware, ODNR Division of Forestry, said of the five-year agreement.

Under the agreement, Columbia Transmission will clear a 60-foot radius around the well heads of trees and any woody vegetation, and replant with an ODNR-approved seed mix, said Kelly Merritt, communications manager for NiSource Pipelines, Columbia Transmission’s parent company. In a 60- to 120-foot selective cut zone, trees that could fall and do damage will be removed.

“We will clear nine well sites initially,” said Merritt, “and eventually get to all 56 of the well sites. We will gain some experience working together and gain some trust. We’ll come back and talk about the pipelines at a later date.”

Although the radius numbers, 60 and 120 foot, remain the same, the new agreement allows for greater discretion when choosing which trees have to be removed. Now, some smaller trees — 10 inches or less in diameter — or trees that might be down slope from the well head and are in no danger of falling on the well head, can be preserved.

“We have nine different sites, nine situations that will all look a little bit different because of that [discretion],” said Ware.

For example, he said, in the Clear Fork Gorge area a number of trees won’t have to be cleared because a good bit of the area is down a very steep slope from the well head.

“That’s one important thing to realize,” he said. “We are not going to be making cookie-cutter 60- to 120-foot cuts at every site.”

Ware said the goal was to try and retain as many trees as possible, especially concentrating on native hemlocks.

“We wanted to set some good guidelines that everybody would understand,” he said. “The managers on site can now make some adjustments to limit the impact on the forest.”

Clearing around the nine sites will begin in the spring. Some clearing will be done before March 15 so as not to interfere with the breeding habits of the endangered Indiana Bat, which was a concern raised by environmental groups. Trees that are cleared before March 15 will be left on site and removed later.

Columbia has also agreed to take into account adverse weather conditions when clearing the trees and in reclamation activities.

Another concern raised last fall during public information sessions involved who received the proceeds from cut logs that were sold. Currently, Ware said, the state values the logs and Columbia Transmission pays the state. Under the agreement, Columbia will pay for an approved logger to cut down and stack the merchantable logs on site. The logs will then be picked up and moved to another site for a public auction. This method, he said, will provide transparency to the proceedings. He added that the money raised from the auction will go toward conservation easements from willing sellers.

Columbia Transmission has 56 well heads and 13 miles of pipeline in the forest and park. ODNR manages the 4,525-acre Mohican-Memorial State Forest, the 1,294-acre Mohican State Park and the 29-acre Clear Fork Gorge State Nature Preserve. Clearing of trees was initially to have begun in November 2006, but was postponed pending talks between Columbia and ODNR.