Park Watch
DCR Rangers have set up a Park Watch program to better protect public lands with the help from volunteers. Concerned citizens can call (866) PK-WATCH 24/7 to report any suspicious activity. DCR Rangers will contact the appropriate agency AND they will record your call for future enforcement planning. Report illegal activity every time to make it work! Callers remain anonymous. Find out how to organize Park Watch for your favorite forest or park. Contact Bureau of Ranger Services. We need one number that works statewide to report problems and to help protect our forests and parks! Demand Park Watch!
Read the June 28, 2010 letter sent to DCR Commissoner Sullivan from the Friends Network regarding the need for Park Watch.
Public Tours of Forest Lands
Professional foresters and biologists from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) are leading a series of evening tours this month on state lands to explain and discuss state forestry and wildlife habitat management practices.
These tours are open to the public. Tours will take participants through areas that have been open to commercial harvesting for the purposes of watershed management as well as forest and wildlife habitat diversity. The final tour in the series will feature a sawmill and forest products manufacturing company.
The state lands tours will be conducted (rain or shine). Participants should wear sturdy footwear and bring bug repellant.
July 21, 6:30 PM—DFW Phillipston Wildlife Management Area, Phillipston
This site features a 30-acre, old-field, white pine harvest that used a seed-tree cut to regenerate a more diverse stand of mixed species, including red oak, white pine, black cherry, and hemlock. The resulting young forest habitat benefits several declining bird species, such as brown thrasher, blue-winged warbler, and white-throated sparrow. Meet at the Templeton General Store at the intersection of Routes 101, 2A, and Baldwinville Road. Carpooling to the tour location is encouraged.
July 28, 6 PM—Heyes Forest Products, Orange
This sawmill and forest products manufacturing tour will feature Heyes Forest Products (HFP), a company that has harvested trees and manufactured lumber products from the forests of the North Quabbin region for 40 years. Meet at 6 PM at Heyes Forest Products, 34 Daniel Shays Highway (Route 202) in Orange.
For more information contact Jessica A. Rowcroft, DCR Resource Management Planner: 617.626.1380/Jessica.Rowcroft@state.ma.us.
Friends Network Note: Please attend the forestry tours, and when you go, ask the DCR forest professionals how the state can continue to harvest forest products from public lands in good conscience knowing that a site-specific Resource Management Plan (RMP), required by MGL Chapter 21, Sect. 2F, has not been completed for each forest?
Forest Resource Management Plans (FRMP) were developed for DISTRICTS with a focus on timber management. They are way too general to fully protect our natural and cultural resources. To really insure sustainable and multi purpose forests, we need a complete inventory of all forest values for each forest and a comprehensive RMP plan to insure the survival of representative forest types throughout the Northeast. Accepting FRMP’s is like being interested in buying a house and having the realtor tell you that you don’t need a house inspection because the neighborhood is in pretty good shape! You’d never buy that! Insist upon RMP’s for each forest and park and insist upon a statewide comprehensive conservation plan before accepting any more logging on public land! |
