The comment period for the 10-year review of Mass. state land designations ends September 28, 2022.
Click here to access a sign-on letter with this 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.” If there are specific DCR lands that you know and love, you can add comments to this online letter.
And view the video Calling for Carbon and Biodiversity Reserves on Our State Lands: Serving the Public Interest (9/6/22) with Michael Kellett, Executive Director of RESTORE: The North Woods, climate scientist Dr. Bill Moomaw, and biologist Bill Stubblefield.
For more information, visit Save Massachusetts Forests and read on…
To write your own letter, comments may be submitted online at www.mass.gov/dcr/public-comment. The public can say directly to DCR the same things that were said during the hearing for the forest protection bills– H912 and H1002: all DCR land, including the watersheds, should become either “parks” or “reserves,” where land management is similar to our National Parks.
The current DCR plan, written in 2012, is here: https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/08/qq/management-guidelines.pdf
The full sign-on 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.”
In the video, Calling for Carbon and Biodiversity Reserves on Our State Lands, Michael Kellett, Bill Moomaw and Bill Stubblefield provided background to help the public better understand the issues and how to frame comments to the DCR during this ten-year review of its landscape designations.
