WHITEFIELD — The chairman of the town's cemetery commission said Wednesday his three-member panel had been planning for five years to find ways to expand Whitefield's dwindling cemetery space.

But the recent clear-cutting of a large section of the Park Street Cemetery at the east end of the village has angered some town residents and owners of cemetery plots, who say the extensive cuts have ruined the cemetery's appearance.

They say they don't understand why all of the 100-plus trees had to go, and why the commissioners could not have left selected trees in place.

“That's what I'd like to know; that's what a lot of people would like to know,” Jean LaBrack said Wednesday. Although he and his wife, Bonnie LaBrack, live in Dover, LaBrack said he grew up in Whitefield and has a long-standing attachment to the town. He and his wife plan to be “future residents” of the Park Street Cemetery, he said.

Alan Astle, a longtime Whitefield businessman and resident who now lives in nearby Dalton, said Wednesday evening he hadn't heard in advance about the clear-cutting, and was appalled when he went to the cemetery and saw the grave of his late wife, Susan Hennessey Astle.

“They took a spruce tree out that was 1 1/2 feet to two feet away from the stone. I chose that spot because it was the last one in the row and it was shady there. They just clear-cut the whole damn thing,” Astle said.

Others were more circumspect about the work, which took place over about three weeks this spring.

Art Hammon, whose property abuts the cemetery, pointed out that voters at a recent annual town meeting gave the cemetery commissioners a vote of support. And, he said, the logging work has opened up a view of Cannon Mountain and other peaks around Crawford Notch.

“It's one of the best views in Whitefield,” he said.

Selectman Duane Hall said Wednesday town meeting voters gave commissioners “the authority to make decisions about the cemetery,” rather than having to first clear those plans with selectmen. “And unfortunately, they have exercised that authority,” Hall said.

Asked if other town officials knew about the clear-cutting plan, he replied: “Not really, no. Not to the extent they did it. We did get them to stop and listen, and we were able to save the couple of tress that are still standing, but it's unfortunate.”

Hall said the selectboard got a legal opinion that it had no authority to stop the commissioners from cutting.

Cemetery Commission Chairman Edgar Cormier said there are five cemeteries in town, but only Park Street offered the possibility for expansion that the commissioners believe will be needed in coming years. He acknowledged that the clear-cutting decision has met with considerable opposition in town.

“Yes, we've had objectors, but nobody can see the clear picture. This is the only one we can expand. We decided the best way would be to cut everything off, then de-stump and de-rock. We picked the best logger we could.”

He said the town had been paid about $8,000 for what was largely “poor-quality trees; mostly softwood” that went for wood chips and some pulp. If the commission had decided to log the cemetery periodically, as some have suggested in retrospect, the town would likely have been charged — rather than been paid for — that work, he said.

But Astle said he believed the commissioners have exaggerated both the need for more grave sites and the financial benefit to Whitefield.

He said he doubted the money gleaned from the timber sale would come close to covering the cost of having the many stumps removed and reseeding the cemetery.