STOP
THE MASSACHUSETTS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
Protect
New England’s Forests
Unfragmented,
Healthy, Beautiful Forests, Deerfield River, Massachusetts
A Rare
Old Tree Left in Peace in the Northeastern United States
Magnificent
Old-Growth Forest, Mohawk Trail, Massachusetts
******
Photos
Below are “Local” Clearcutting of MA State Public Forests and Conservation
Easements
Sold to
the Public with Promises of “Sustainable Forestry” and Approved by Licensed
Foresters
******
Massachusetts
DFW Public Forest “Management”, Muddy Brook WMA, March 2020 - Illegal Clearcut
ting
MGL
Chapter 131: Section 4: Part 16, Division of Fish and Wildlife: “It shall be a
condition of each contract for
the cutting and sale of timber
that clear-cutting timber on lands managed
by the division is specifically prohibited”
Muddy
Brook WMA Public Forests, March 2020 - Illegal Clearcutting
Drone
Photo, Muddy Brook State Public Forests, April 2020
Muddy
Brook WMA Public Forest – “BEFORE” Google Earth 2014 – Hardwick, MA
Muddy
Brook WMA Public Forest – “AFTER” Google Earth 2019 - Illegal Clearcutting
MA Division
of Fish and Wildlife, Herman Covey WMA, March 2020 - Illegal Clearcutting
MA
Division of Fish and Wildlife, Birch Hill WMA, May 2020 - Illegal Clearcutting
MA
Division of Fish and Wildlife, Birch Hill WMA, 2019, Google Earth - Illegal
Clearcutting
MA
Division of Fish and Wildlife - Muddy Brook Wildlife “Conservation” Easement,
March 2020
MA
Division of Fish and Wildlife - Muddy Brook Wildlife “Conservation” Easement,
March 2020
MA
Division of Fish and Wildlife - Muddy Brook Wildlife “Conservation” Easement,
March 2020
Many More Photos Below
****************
During the last public comment period, 96% of public comments
called for more protection of State forests and/or an
end to commercial logging of State public forests, watersheds and wildlife areas. However, to this day, no Massachusetts
State Public forests are legally and permanently protected from
commercial logging. For comparison, New York State has
permanently and legally set aside more than 20% of its forests in constitutionally
protected parks and reserves.
Additionally,
the public is still being forced to subsidize tree-fueled biomass
energy which is worse for the climate than even fossil fuels.
Now would be a good time for the humility to admit that what we
humans have been doing for centuries has created a deep
hole, and stop digging.
Most forest "management" is simply commerce masquerading as
conservation. What would genuinely
“improve” forests is for humans to stop our chainsaw “treatments”
and leave a portion of nature in peace to recover from the
damage we have inflicted, and continue to inflict, with our
economic goals to infinity (and beyond!) on a finite planet.
Luckily, we can improve protection for Massachusetts forests, air
quality and climate by passing the following Bills:
H.4150
An Act Relative to Forest
Protection
Would help protect DCR Public Parks, Forests and Watersheds from
logging. (About 14% of MA forests)
H.904
An Act Relative to
Increased Protection of Wildlife Management Areas
Would help protect 30% of DFW Public Forests from logging.
(About 2% of MA forests)
These Bills would provide increased protection for 16% of
Massachusetts Forests to leave them in peace to
capture and store carbon, clean the air and water, provide undisturbed
wildlife habitat, flood control, spiritual
refuge, scenic beauty, recreation opportunities, support the
tourism economy, among other benefits.
Please Ask your Representatives to Support and Sponsor
These Bills
***********
DFW State
Sponsored Forest Destruction Here
Narrated Aerial
Video (8 min) Detailed Report (23 MB)
************
UNDERSTANDING LOGGING PROPAGANDA
Forest Carbon Storage in the Northeast United States
Comparison of Logging vs. No Logging (No Management)
For a Reminder of
the Many Benefits Provided by Forests:
Click Here
A Short Video: The Importance of An Intact Forest
Canopy: Click Here
More Massachusetts
State Sponsored Forest Destruction
Ground/Aerial
Clearcut Photos of Boston’s Drinking Watershed
Forests (15MB) Click
Here
Google
Earth Clearcut Photos of Boston’s Drinking Watershed
Forests (5MB) Click
Here
Clearcut Photos of White Mountain National
Forest in New Hampshire (25MB) Click Here
Vermont
Clearcut Photos and Big Plans to Clearcut
Green Mountain NF (7MB) Click
Here
A Channel 5 Investigative Report Video of
Massachusetts State Land Logging Click Here
All Massachusetts State Public Forests (19% of MA
Forests)
Merit Full and Permanent Legal Protection from Logging
· Destructive clearcutting
is commonplace and most of the logs are trucked to Canada
· The timber program
costs outweigh revenues. Taxpayers pay to cut down their own forests.
· The state agencies managing
forests use standard industry propaganda to confuse citizens.
Biomass Editorial Click Here
Biomass “Reality Check” Click
Here
Comprehensive PPT (45 MB)
Click Here
Forest, Biomass & Media Links Click Here
SEE MANY MORE PHOTOS BELOW
All photos below are FSC "Green”
Certified, Allegedly “Sustainable” Logging
on Massachusetts State Public
Forests, Watersheds and Parks
***********************************
IT’S
OUR CHOICE…..
This?
Deerfield
River, Mohawk Trail
Or
This
Schoolhouse
Road near
“Savoy State Forest, over
50 miles of wooded trails invite year-round recreational access to spectacular
natural features.
Or climb up Spruce Hill on
the Busby Trail for breathtaking views, especially during fall foliage and hawk
migration.”
DCR Website
“Savoy Mountain State
Forest makes it easy to leave the everyday world behind. Scenic North and South
Ponds,
with wooded edges and hills
rising in the distance, offer tranquil places to fish, picnic and swim.” DCR Website
We
shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive
~Albert
Einstein
Busy monster eats dark
holes in the spirit world... where wild things have to go to disappear
forever"
~Bruce Cockburn
When
the soil disappears, the soul disappears. ~Ymber
Delecto
Rules Are For Other People…..
Quabbin Reservoir, Aerial View,
Hiking is Illegal to Protect the Watershed for Boston’s Drinking
Water Supply
Quabbin Reservoir, Aerial View,
Boston’s Drinking Water Supply Area, White Blotches are Clearcut Areas
Quabbin Reservoir, Aerial View, Gate
40 Area, 2010
Boston’s Drinking Water Supply Area, White Blotches are Clearcut Areas
Quabbin Reservoir, Ground View, Gate
40 Area, December 2009
Reservoir Visible Behind Trees
Quabbin Reservation,
Gate 40, Reservoir Visible Behind Trees, December 2009
Quabbin Reservation, Boston’s
Drinking Water Supply Watershed, Gate 40, 2009
Quabbin Reservation,
Quabbin Reservation,
Our
modern industrial economy takes a mountain covered with trees, lakes, running
streams
and
transforms it into a mountain of junk, garbage, slime pits, and debris. ~Edward Abbey
Quabbin Reservation,
Google Earth Image, Quabbin Reservation,
Note: Hiking on the
Google Earth Image, Quabbin Reservation,
Google Earth Image, Quabbin Reservation,
Google Earth Image, Quabbin Reservation,
Google Earth Image, Quabbin Reservation,
Graves Landing, “Before”
Cutting, Image April 1, 2005
Google Earth Image, Quabbin Reservation,
Google Earth Image, Quabbin Reservation,
Google Earth Image, Quabbin Reservation, Boston’s Drinking Water Supply
*****
“At 16,500 acres,
Here visitors can camp, hike and enjoy the outdoors while they
visit nearby
Tanglewood and other
We
abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as
a
community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. ~Aldo Leopold
Every
creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who
understands
it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it. ~Henry David Thoreau
Man
has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to
what he's been
given.
But up to now he hasn't been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep
disappearing, rivers dry
up, wild
life's become extinct, the climate's ruined and the land grows poorer and
uglier every day.
~Anton
Chekhov
Let
us a little permit Nature to take her own way; she better understands her own
affairs than we.
~Michel
de Montaigne
“Beartown
State Forest offers visitors a chance to glimpse deer, bear, bobcat, fisher and
other wildlife, including the park's
namesake, the Black Bear.
Brooks, beaver ponds, rich deciduous forest, flowering shrubs and wildflowers
and fall foliage
are plentiful. The
Appalachian Trail passes near Benedict Pond and offers spectacular wooded views”
~DCR Website
There
is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.
~Mohandas
K. Gandhi
Poland
Brook Wildlife Management Area, Illegal Clearcutting, 2008
When
a man says to me, "I have the intensest love of
nature," at once I know that he has none.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Chester-Blandford State
Forest offers a rustic park experience and spectacular Sanderson Brook Falls…..
try the H. Newman Marsh
Memorial Trail featuring a challenging, but rewarding, climb to the top of
Observation
Hill, with views spanning
up and down the wild and scenic Westfield River valley. DCR Website
About 2005, a large clear-cut
on a steep slope was illegally cut right up to the edge of a long established
beaver pond in
into to the
“BEFORE CLEARCUT”, Aerial View, 2001 “AFTER CLEARCUT”, Aerial View, 2005
“After Clearcut to edge of Beaver Pond, Before Dam Breach”,
May 2008
“After Clearcut to edge of Beaver
Pond, Before Dam Breach”, May 2008
“After Clearcut to edge of Beaver Pond, Before Dam Breach”,
May 2008
“After Clearcut and After Dam Breach”, Nov, 2008
“The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is
responsible for the conservation - including restoration,
protection and management – of fish and wildlife resources for the
benefit and enjoyment of the public. DFW Website
Google Earth “Before” photo
of large, un-fragmented, interior forest
Fox Den Wildlife Management Area, 2005
Aerial View “After” Photo
Of Illegal Clear-Cuts In The Same Location
Fox Den Wildlife Management Area, Chipman Rd, March, 2008
We do not inherit the
earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
~Native
American Proverb
Below is a logging job on Bear Mountain Road in Wendell State
forest.
The large trees were cut for sawtimber and the others were chipped
for biomass with a large
on-site chipper. The contractor stated that most of the
chips went to the Portsmouth NH biomass
plant, 125 miles away, with a smaller portion going to the
Pine-tree biomass plant in
The state received $3,000 for the wood and $2,520 worth of road
repairs.
The picture below shows an early spring
aerial photo of the area before clearcutting.
The stand is very alive Norway Spruce mixed
with some hardwoods with 1800’s era
Miller cemetery located between 2 areas
slated for clearcutting.
Below is the “after” photo showing the
FSC sanctioned clearcuts right up to the
cemetery. March 2008.
See following photos for ground views photos 1 and 2
Below is “Photo 2” view identified in
the previous picture, a ground view of an FSC
sanctioned clearcut
to the edge of Miller cemetery area, soon after the clearcut,
May 2008.
Edge trees left around the cemetery demonstrate
that the stand was alive and healthy.
Below is the “Photo 1” ground view of
FSC sanctioned clearcut to edge of Miller
cemetery a year later, March 2009. Remaining edge trees have died from
exposure and some have blown down into
the cemetery.
A view looking out from within Miller
cemetery, March 2009
“SCS investigated the sites of
concern raised by Massachusetts stakeholders in a substantive
manner that conforms with
FSC-mandated audit protocols. This investigation included site
inspections of most of the sites in question.
SCS felt confident that the DCR lands in
question were in conformance with the
FSC standards.”
There is no good reason for
commercial logging of State public forests, watersheds and parks.
• State public forests, watersheds and parks
comprise only 12% of Massachusetts land area and 20% of its forests and
represent
our best chance to
preserve and protect wilderness areas, fish and wildlife habitat, clean water,
clean air, tourism income, carbon
sequestration,
scenic beauty and recreational opportunities in this 3rd most densely populated
state of 7 million residents.
·
The $14 billion
tourist industry depends heavily upon protected public forests.
·
According to the
FSC peer reviewer comments, the public “overwhelmingly” prefers no commercial
logging on public lands.
·
Most of the wood
cut on state forests is sent out of state to
·
The timber program
loses money, taxpayers are paying to cut down their own forests.
•
claims of hypocrisy
when we admonish third world countries to protect 25-50% of their forests from
logging
Public Lands Belong To The Public
It’s
Our Choice…..This?
Non-threatening Norway Spruce,
And
This?
Mixed Forest,
Or
This?
Quabbin Reservation,
STUMPS DON’T LIE
Only when the last tree
has died and the last river been poisoned
and the last fish been
caught will we realize we cannot eat money
Now would be a good time for the humility to admit that what we
humans have been doing for centuries has created a deep
hole, and stop digging.
Most forest "management" is simply commerce masquerading as
conservation. What would genuinely
“improve” forests is for humans to stop our chainsaw “treatments”
and leave a portion of nature in peace to recover from the
damage we have inflicted, and continue to inflict, with our
economic goals to infinity (and beyond!) on a finite planet.
Immunize and
Arm Yourself Against Logging Propaganda
Click Here
For a Reminder of
the Many Benefits Provided by Forests:
Click Here
A Short Video: The Importance of An Intact Forest
Canopy: Click Here
Recent
Massachusetts State Sponsored Forest Destruction
Narrated Aerial Video (8 min): Click Here
Detailed Report (23 MB): Click Here
Ground/Aerial
Clearcut Photos of Boston’s Drinking Watershed
Forests (15MB) Click
Here
Google
Earth Clearcut Photos of Boston’s Drinking Watershed
Forests (5MB) Click
Here
Clearcut Photos of White Mountain National
Forest in New Hampshire (25MB) Click Here
Vermont
Clearcut Photos and Big Plans to Clearcut
Green Mountain NF (7MB) Click
Here
A Channel 5 Investigative Report Video of
Massachusetts State Land Logging Click Here
For More Forest, Biomass & Media Links Click Here
OUR PUBLIC FORESTS AT THE CROSSROADS
Speak Up For the Trees!
Contact:
Chris
Matera, PE
christoforest@gmail.com