Forest green
MOUNT WASHINGTON
ON THE steep slopes of Mount Washington State Forest in the Commonwealth's southwestern corner, it is easy to believe that, until a few years ago, Massachusetts was as heavily wooded as it had been since soon after Europeans first landed on its shores. Old-growth hemlocks tower above the streams that eventually become Bashbish Brook.
Even the gentler slopes are now thick with second- or third-growth hardwoods, the original trees having been cut by farmers or charcoal makers in the 18th and 19th centuries. On a recent walk through the state forest, Conrad Ohman of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation poked under the surface of one flat area and found remnant charcoal pieces the size of his fingernail, fuel that did not end up in the foundries of nearby Connecticut and New York State. An area that was logged under Ohman's supervision as recently as 10 years ago has enough new growth to be only dimly distinguishable from the more mature stands surrounding it.
But in the neighboring Berkshire County town of Egremont, the recent retreat in the state's woodland cover is equally evident. Parcels for homes, most for weekenders, have been carved out of woods and meadows. The original deforestation of Mount Washington proved reversible over time. The current deforestation in Egremont and hundreds of other Massachusetts towns for new houses and roads won't be.
Massachusetts needs new housing, especially affordable, year-round housing, but it will squander an important resource if it lets sprawl chew up its woods needlessly, instead of following smart-growth principles of reduced lot size and more transit-centered development. Also, woodlands will less likely be bulldozed over if their owners put a greater value on them as sustainable sources of wood products.
The state is trying to provide a better example of forest stewardship by both setting aside protected forest preserves and, at the same time, expanding the logging of its working forest lands. The logging is being done under sustainability guidelines that have earned the state Green Certification by the independent Forest Stewardship Council. The state logging should demonstrate to private forest owners how they can manage their woodlands in a profitable and environmentally responsible way, and the more aggressive logging should also help to support the state's $700 million-per-year wood products industry.
To get Green Certification, the state had to agree to the reserves, mostly areas owned by DCR or Fisheries and Wildlife, that will allow hunting, fishing, and passive recreation but no timbering and no all-terrain vehicles. Smaller reserves will be chosen to protect special habitats. The larger reserves of up to 15,000 acres will be picked to represent different forest ecosystems, including some with old-growth trees like Mount Washington's. Of the proposed larger reserves, one is in Plymouth, another in Central Massachusetts on the Ware River, and six are in Western Massachusetts: here in Mount Washington, on Mount Greylock, and in Middlefield, Otis, Dalton, and Westhampton. The Nature Conservancy has helped in choosing the areas, which will be the subject of public hearings.
In addition to providing excellent recreation areas, the reserves will also serve as natural laboratories in which researchers can study how plants and animals fare under relatively undisturbed conditions. The reserves will come at a cost, though, to their towns, which now get a cut of all the revenues the state receives from loggers for work done within their borders. To offset the loss of those funds, the state should increase its payments in lieu of taxes to these communities.
Logging and hunting are about all that occur in Middlefield's state forest, an undeveloped tract that lacks even blazed hiking trails. If the state takes even logging away from forests like Middlefield's, it should ensure that the affected towns come out even financially. Protected reserves are an important part of the state's stewardship of its forests, and they should not face the enmity of local officials because of the loss of town logging revenues.
DONALD MacGILLIS
