Help Amherst, Shutesbury and Pelham residents preserve acres of forest slated for massive solar arrays: visit Smart Solar Western Mass
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Looking back– 2022 archive
Rally & Hearing in Greenfield about Northfield Solar Project
NORTHFIELD 76 ACRE PRIME FARMLAND SOLAR SPECIAL PERMIT APPEAL
Rally at 8:30 am, Hearing at 9:00 on Monday, November 28, 2022, in Greenfield at the Franklin County Court House, 425 Main St.
The court will hear arguments about a special permit for solar arrays in Northfield on Pine Meadow Road. Northfield Planning Board granted the permit for three arrays on 76 acres.
The rally calls attention to the loss of farmland for the sake of solar development, as well as ratepayer funding for “dual use” solar. This project is right near the Connecticut River in the “Northfield Farms” area, considered some of the richest farmland in the world. It has been continuously used for farming for thousands of years. This proposal is being funded by the MA solar SMART program.
Please attend, bring signs, spread the word. Here is an article from the Greenfield Recorder about the scope of the project.
State Land Designations Under Review–time for your input
The 2022 DCR Landscape Designation events are underway. Comments are due September 28th!
Climate Action Now, with Save Massachusetts Forests, RESTORE: The North Woods, Elders Climate Action and others groups encourage you to tell the DCR that all state properties, including the watersheds, should be designated “parks” or “reserves.” Land management in them would be similar to our National Parks, preserving intact ecosystems and protecting them from logging or other active management. This level of protection now exists for only 1% of the state’s land base. Here is the link to submit online.
View the info session Calling for Carbon and Biodiversity Reserves on Our State Lands: Serving the Public Interest ~ September 6, 2022.
Introductory remarks by Representative Lindsay Sabadosa. Speakers: climate scientist Dr. Bill Moomaw, Michael Kellett, Executive Director of RESTORE: The North Woods, and biologist Bill Stubblefield, Ph.D.
While we are disappointed that the legislature did not take action on H.912 and H.1002, we now can say the same things to the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) during its 10 year review of how our state parks and forests are managed.
Click here for the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation Designations and Management Guidelines 10 year review website. The current DCR plan, written in 2012, is here.
Your written comments will become part of the record and will be available for others to see on the DCR website. Written comments are due September 28th.
Here is a sign on letter with a simple message:
We, the undersigned, call for state-owned lands administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, including all woodlands, reserves, watersheds, and undeveloped parklands, to be designated and permanently protected as Carbon and Biodiversity Reserves. These Reserves would protect intact ecosystems, which are influenced primarily by natural processes, with only minimal human interference. Limited management activities would be allowed if proven to be necessary to protect public safety, endangered species, or the environment.
Resources:
The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) also regularly cuts trees for logging on public lands. Check out their plans for 2022 here.
Eversource proposes massive tree cutting along transmission power lines!
Eversource wants to cut all trees within 100 feet of transmission power lines running from the Northfield Substation, through the towns of Erving, Wendell, Montague, Leverett, Shutesbury, Pelham, Belchertown, Amherst and Granby, to the Ludlow Substation in Ludlow, crossing two Environmental Justice communities: Wendell and Amherst.
Eversource has filed with MEPA (Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office) in order to move forward with its plan to cut over 370 acres of trees along the transmission power line corridor.
Send a comment to MEPA! Go HERE for an action guide which will give you all the info you need. Please share with family and friends.
The MEPA comment deadline was extended to September 23, 2022.
Check out this video of a meeting with Eversource called by Senator Jo Comerford