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Serving as a resource to help strengthen the ability of friends groups to better protect and enhance Massachusetts’ forests and parks since 2007.
Last update 8/2/2010
Biomass—Energy from Trees—Is it Right for Public Forests?
Read the EOEEA-commissioned Manomet Center for Conservation Science Study of Woody Biomass Energy.
Comments regarding the Manomet Study of Woody Biomass Energy sent to the MA Department of Energy Resources by Friends Network Facilitator Claudia Hurley.
Visit the groups below for more about biomass and MA forests
A message from Chris Matera, Massachusetts Forest Watch
At the following website are photos of recent logging on the Quabbin. The photos demonstrate on the ground the clearcut logging which is specifically called for in the 2007 management plans, and which are not aberrations or “mistakes”. www.maforests.org/QUABBIN.pdf
Unfortunately, DCR continues to repeat false and discredited claims that cutting the forest will improve “forest health” and "protect the water supply" in order to try and convince citizens to give up the public treasure for private gain. In their recent press release, DCR claims that the watershed logging that is done for "the primary purpose of protecting water supply and improving forest vigor and diversity"
Attached is a relatively short but very important PDF (about a 30 minute read) from Dr. David Foster and David Orwig of Harvard Forest that addresses and refutes many of the claims made that the Quabbin and other watershed forests need to be logged for “forest health” and to protect “water quality”. While common sense is enough to refute such claims, the report scientifically demonstrates that “doing nothing” ie. not cutting the forests, is likely to be the best management option to protect the water quality, which is of course the legal mandate for the watershed lands.
Also attached is a cutting plan for a Quabbin logging job near gate 40, that calls for ¼ to 2 acre clearcuts within Zone 1 (within 400 feet of the reservoir) and rare species priority habitat for the loon and bald eagle. According to the 2007 management plans, (page 151), zone 1 cutting shall only be: “Single-tree selection or small group or patch selection up to 0.5 acres in size, unless Chapter132 is more limiting.” The point being that it appears that even the 2007 management plans, which we consider aggressive and inappropriate, are not being followed. The logging on this job was cut by a NH logger, and can be seen in the photos on pages 14 and 15 at the link above (www.maforests.org/QUABBIN.pdf).
Finally, the Quabbin Reservation is the largest intact area of public forest in Massachusetts. We have a rare opportunity to permanently protect and enhance this accidental wilderness that provides rare habitat for endangered wildlife and much needed recreational opportunities in the third most densely populated state in the country. Most importantly, prohibiting logging on state owned watersheds would not only save the taxpayers from subsidizing below cost timber sales, it would definitively fulfill the state’s legal mandate to protect the drinking water for more than 2 million Massachusetts residents and help ensure that the EPA filtration waiver valued at $200 million is preserved.Chris Matera
Massachusetts Forest Watch
www.maforests.org/QUABBIN.pdf
www.maforests.org/Biomess.ppt
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