North Adams Mayor Jennifer Macksey has announced that the City will not be implementing its forest management plan that included logging within the Notch Reservoir watershed.
“The plan was laid out by our knowledgeable and dedicated partners to address key threats to this property and would have helped the City proactively manage our watershed’s forest,” said the Mayor. “However, given the public outcry regarding the impact the project could have on the Bellows Pipe Trail, I have decided not to move forward with the plan.”
The Notch Reservoir Forest Stewardship Plan was the result of grant resources obtained from the Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts and technical assistance from Mass Audubon that supported a months-long examination of the area and generated a Forest Stewardship Climate Plan for Notch Reservoir. The plan identified several areas of concern, including invasive species, diseased and blighted tree stands, and damaged culverts. A subsequent Operations Plan selected priority practices for implementation and detailed ecological and recreational protections for the site. Young trees of diverse species would have been planted to introduce a greater level of biodiversity. Damaged culverts along the Bellows Pipe Trail were also slated for repair, which would help to protect the trail and sustain the reservoir.
Project officials engaged the public numerous times during the process by holding public meetings, forums, and inviting community members for multiple site visits to walk the property and ask questions. The Mayor said any potential forest management plans in the future will include an even more robust public engagement process.
Concerns about aesthetics, the water supply, and carbon sequestration were voiced by some residents and given due consideration from the Mayor.
She sat down with several professionals in relevant fields who did not have a hand in designing the project. “While the folks I met with had differing perspectives on the topic of climate-smart forestry, they still saw the merits of this project and did not feel the project would be detrimental to the City’s water supply,” she said. “In fact, they said that best practices were used throughout the plan, while acknowledging that there were ecological and social tradeoffs.”
Mass Audubon said project partners recommended using scientifically proven best practices that would have preserved the long-term integrity of the community’s drinking water, similar to forest management plans that protect well-known watersheds for Boston and New York City. Climate-smart forestry is a complex and nuanced topic prone to misunderstandings, but the practices in the plan are widely used by many other conservation organizations.
“We’re disappointed the project at Notch Reservoir isn’t moving forward and we stand by the proven best practices used by reputable organizations doing this vital work,” said Mass Audubon’s Chief Conservation Officer Jocelyn Forbush. “But we’re heartened to see so many members of the public passionate about the environment and the crucial role forests play in our lives, which dovetails with our 128-year history of protecting the nature of Massachusetts. We wish the City good luck going forward.”
Other project partners echoed similar sentiments.
“We understand the City’s decision not to pursue the implementation of the forestry plan, in that ecological restoration relies as much on careful stewardship planning as it does on robust public acceptance of such plans. The Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts continues its mission of forest conservation, natural resource-based economic development (including sustainable forestry, recreation, & tourism) and support for rural municipalities, encouraging all our member municipalities to embrace proactive planning for forest stewardship and the ecological health of their communities,” said Dicken Crane, Board Chair of the Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts. “We’re grateful to have engaged North Adams in thinking about forest health over the long-term and look forward to what’s to come.”
Emily Boss, Director of the Massachusetts Woodlands Institute said, “We support the Mayor’s decision to continue to engage with the community for further planning, education, and consensus building around the continued threats of climate change. We welcome opportunities to help provide needed resources for this community to safeguard and steward their forests and water supply, as climate change impacts all cities, towns, farms and forests of the region.”
While the larger-scale project has been shelved, the City is committing to a Climate-Informed Open Space and Recreation Plan, for which state grant funds may be available, that will provide for public input to identify and assess open space and forest stewardship opportunities in the community and provide subsequent recommendations. Also, the City will still have to address ongoing safety issues at Notch Reservoir such as hazardous falling trees, wildfire risk, invasive species, and drainage.
“People’s attachment to this particular section of the forest made for some passionate advocacy. I hope they will stay involved and answer the call for their input when asked in the future,” said the Mayor.
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