Friends Network Hot Topics!
Demand Resource Management Plans for Every Forest and Park!
Help your park. Insist on a Resource Management Plan (RMP) for all forests and parks as required by MGL Chapter 21, Section 2F. Click here for more information on what you can do to help get a RMP for every forest and park!
Ask for Park Watch!
Read the June 28, 2010 letter sent to DCR Commissioner Sullivan from the Friends Network regarding the need for state agencies to fully support Park Watch.
DCR Rangers have set up a Park Watch program to better protect public lands with the help of volunteers who serve as the "eyes and ears" of the park. Concerned citizens are advised to call (866) PK-WATCH, 24/7 to report (anonymously if you prefer) any illegal or suspicious activity. DCR Rangers are supposed to contact the appropriate agency AND are supposed to record your call for future enforcement planning. However, friends groups have encountered numerous roadblocks when trying to establish Park Watch.
It's now time for friends groups to insist that state agencies cooperate with each other and with citizens to set up an effective Park Watch program. We need one number that works statewide to report problems and we need expedited responses to those reports to better protect our forests and parks! Contact DCR, the Environmental Police, Local police and your representatives and tell them you want Park Watch!
Why we need Park Watch:
July 19, 2010 Illegal dumping fouls isolated land—Demolition rubble, other wastes shrink state, town, private resources
********************************
New Issue of Concern—Article 97 Transfers of Public Lands
The Friends Network is now tracking Article 97 land transfers of public parklands. Send us information if you know of an Article 97 land swap that has happened or is in the works in Massachusetts friend@networkingfriends.net
Blue Hills Reservation - Title conveyed to Lantana… paving the way for a parking lot
Fall River Freetown State Forest and Bioreserve
In 2002 Article 97 of the MA Constitution allowed 300 acres of the Fall River Freetown State Forest to be taken out of DCR conservation and transferred to the City for the development of an office park in exchange for creating the 13,600 acre Southeastern MA Bioreserve. Now the Fall River Redevelopment Authority (RDA) wants to allow the Mashpee Wampanoags to develop 1 million sq/ft destination casino resort on the site without an environmental impact study and without public review. of the impact of the development on the State Forest and the Bioreserve. Jennifer Holske, South Coast Conservation Director, The Trustees of Reservations and Priscilla Chapman, Mass Audubon, request an environmental review before the land sale but their pleas are ignored and the RDA passed the land sale.
July 31, 2010 LETTER: Biopark is only sensible option, 07-31-10
Fall River RDA Meeting July 22, 2010 - http://www.vimeo.com/13593987
July 22, 2010 Redevelopment Authority passes casino land sale
June 21, 2010 The Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve and Current Development Proposals at the 300-acre Fall River/Freetown BioPark Site Statement by The Trustees of Reservations.
********************************
More on this page . . .
Illegal Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) use in Massachusetts' Forests
Biomass Harvests in Mass State Forests and Parks?
MA Forests and Parks Lack Resource Management Plans
Information on DCR/Stewardship Council
Forests and Parks in Massachusetts in Need of Friends
Illegal off-highway vehicle (OHV) use in Massachusetts' forests
Friends Network OHV Initiative
OHV page
Biomass Harvests in State Forests and Parks?
Biomass page
Back to the top
Resource Management Plans for Each Forest and Park
Most friends agree that DCR needs to make completing Resource Management Plans its top priority. Forest Resource Management Plans are no substitute. We want protection for the natural, cultural and historic resources in our parks to have priority over commercial timber harvesting. Resource inventories for individual parklands and a plan to protect valuable resources across the Commonwealth need to be completed before any new timber-sales, off-highway vehicle trails, or any other type of development takes place.
The law governing forestry (Chapter 21: Section 2F) states, "The commissioner of conservation and recreation shall submit management plans to the stewardship council for the council’s adoption with respect to all reservations, parks, and forests under the management of the department, regardless of whether such reservations, parks, or forests lie within the urban parks district or outside the urban parks district. "The plans are to "provide for the protection and stewardship of natural and cultural resources." Please join us in insisting that DCR make protecting the lands we love its top priority. Insist on Resource Management Plans for each forest and park, especially state forests and parks subject to commercial timber harvesting! District Management Plans are not what the law requires.
Back to the top
Resource Management Plans vs Forest Resource Management Plans
To date, DCR has completed only six Resource Management Plans, with one currently underway (click to view RMP's): Chestnut Hill Reservation, Adopted November 30, 2006; Mount Everett State Reservation Summit RMP. Adopted March 2, 2006; Mount Watatic Reservation, Adopted January 4, 2008; National Monument to the Forefathers, Adopted September 29, 2006; Stony Brook Reservation, Adopted August 7, 2008; Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Management Plan, Adopted July 27, 2006; Beaver Brook Reservation, underway.
The Stewardship Council approved District Forest Resource Management Plans for the Western Connecticut Valley District, the Northern Berkshire District, and the Southern Berkshire District. The Council had previously approved a fourth plan for the Central Berkshire District. Another four Forest Resource Management Plans are still being developed.
The problem is, we want site-specific Resource Management Plans first, as provided by the law!
Look at this from the Northern Berkshire District FMP page 25:
2. Purpose
This Forest Resource Management Plan (FRMP) partially meets the intent of MGL Chapter 21
Section 2F regarding the preparation of management plans by providing strategic sustainable
forest management direction for 15 DSPR system properties on 40,953 acres in the Northern Berkshire (NBK) District.
Page 26 states:
Forest management planning and FRMP's are an important component of the overall framework of DCR’s Resource Management Planning (RMP) Program. DCR’s RMP Program is based upon M.G.L. Chapter 21: Section 2F, which requires DCR to develop resource management plans for all agency reservations, parks and forests. The RMP Program is located within the Office of Natural Resources and works across agency divisions, bureaus and programs, and coordinates with the DCR Stewardship Council regarding program development and adoption. FRMP's prepared by the Bureau of Forest Fire Control and Forestry will be integrated into RMP's as RMP's are prepared and completed for each DCR reservation, park or forest. For more information about the RMP Program, please consult the following web page: http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/rmp/.
Back to the top
The General Laws of Massachusetts regarding Resource Management Plans
PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
TITLE II. EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH
CHAPTER 21. DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Chapter 21: Section 2F. Management guidelines for sustainable forestry practices on public and private forest lands
Section 2F. The directors of the divisions of state parks and recreation and urban parks and recreation shall work in cooperation with the director of the division of fisheries and wildlife within the department of fish and game to establish coordinated management guidelines for sustainable forestry practices on public forest lands within the departments of conservation and recreation and on private forest lands. Said guidelines for public forest lands shall include agreements on equipment, personnel transfers, operational costs, and assignment of specific management responsibilities.
The commissioner of conservation and recreation shall submit management plans to the stewardship council for the council’s adoption with respect to all reservations, parks, and forests under the management of the department, regardless of whether such reservations, parks, or forests lie within the urban parks district or outside the urban parks district. Said management plans shall include guidelines for the operation and land stewardship of the aforementioned reservations, parks and forests, shall provide for the protection and stewardship of natural and cultural resources and shall ensure consistency between recreation, resource protection, and sustainable forest management. The commissioner shall seek and consider public input in the development of management plans, and shall make draft plans available for a public review and comment period through notice in the Environmental Monitor. Within thirty days of the adoption of such management plans, as amended from time to time, the commissioner shall file a copy of such plans as adopted by the council with the state secretary and the joint committee on natural resources and agriculture of the general court.
The commissioner of conservation and recreation shall be responsible for implementing said management plans, with due regard for the above requirement.
Contact the Stewardship Council and let them know that Resource Management Plans are important to you!
DCR Stewardship Council - The Oversight Board of the Department of Conservation and Recreation
Information about DCR’s proposed timber harvesting projects
Laws governing the Stewardship Council
Article by John Broderick describing the value of the Stewardship Council to Massachusetts forests and parks
