Commentary
Pushing back against an unwanted logging project on a beloved piece of public land and renowned hiking trail has been a wake up call. None of us had a background in forestry, and learning about logging was learning a new language and system that needed decoding. The experience has been extremely interesting, exasperating, and oddly inspiring. There is still so much to learn.
Forest degradation
A situation similar to the Notch logging plan threat is playing out for our neighbors in the south east part of the state this month. At first glance, it doesn’t appear to be similar - commercial logging and sand mining project set to take place on about 30 acres of acres of pine barrens forest in Plymouth, MA.
But look again - the logging plan is being put forth by a commercial developer, not a non-profit like Mass Audubon, but the disrespect for the impact on outcomes to local residents is similar - most residents are opposed to this project - and both disregard sense-of-place and cultural history for commercial gain.
In North Adams, a wealthy non-profit sought to log out a beloved 77-acre parcel of land around a popular hiking trail, near a renowned state reserve, and home to a historic cemetery left by early farmers. The outcome would have been a cleared out sloping field sending mud and silt into our town drinking water reservoir. New seedlings would have been planted and surrounding with plastic casings and growing to full height in perhaps 20 or 30 years. This plan would have turned the Notch into a sterile replica of a forest and showcase for a short-sighted timber industry - a groomed and cleaned golf course-like park - no longer a wild forest that draws tourists to our area and embodying a precious cultural history set down in words by Henry David Thoreau.
In Plymouth, a stand of magnificent pines and an entire hill is set to be leveled and cleared to make way for yet another Amazon warehouse, though there is one less than 20-miles away, and a strip mall. Tragically, this is also sacred land to the local Wampanoag people and, like the Notch, home to burial grounds that have never had the time to be given a proper archeological study. The logging and resulting concrete sprawl will continue to erase a cultural and natural history that has been abused since settlers first set foot on these shores.
Natural history and cultural history shouldn’t always be controlled and conquered the set out for display in a museum, as is happening in Plymouth now and threatens to happen in the Berkshires as the timber industry increasingly eyeballs our public forests as a profit center.
In our current political culture of deregulation and profit-above-all, it is especially important for all citizens to be aware of their surroundings - be sensitive to what really matters: our history, the that and embodies our history,, culture and families - and to speak out when greed threatens to steal public lands.
The natural lure of the Bellows Pipe for decades of hikers
The most disturbing aspect of fighting against powerful entities promoting logging on a public forest on delicate terrain on a public water source and along a renowned historic path was the barrage of myths told to the citizens to convince us that logging is good for forests and is effective in offsetting global warming. Nothing could be further from the truth and it was extremely upsetting to hear representatives from once-trusted "green" organizations spreading myths to gain money from a bad logging project!
For example, we need to keep our remaining old and mixed aged forests standing and safe from greedy logging at all costs during this time of climate emergency! They are our best foil against drought, catastrophic flooding and heat! Yet people are being told by logging interests, and those who are just reacting to their rhetoric without doing research, that we need to "clean" our forests of dead, dying trees and fallen wood. The truth is that under story (layers and layers of decaying fallen wood and leaves) keeps fires from burning fast.
Please do not fall for the misleading forestry doublespeak about forest cleaning as a good way to prevent fire. This is a ploy using public panic to cause careless decision making. Forest "cleaning" is often clear-cutting or forest thinning and both practices are proven to cause fires to burn hotter and faster!
Read more about deceptive logging practices in New England at Massachusetts Forest Watch.
Timberspeak
Timber speak is marketing speak. It's doublespeak. We've all heard it before, like when a used car salesperson tries to sell you a dud and tells you it's a bargain. Timber speak is a specialized logging language that flips the conservation narrative upside down: What is bad for forests is said to be good. What is good for logging companies (cash profit) is said to be good for trees and people who love them (except they are chopping the trees down.) What is good for the climate ("climate-smart forestry") is actually the worst possible thing for the climate - cutting down mature trees!