To the editor:
Friends of the Notch Reservoir and Bellows Pipe Trail propose permanent, perpetual, irrevocable preservation of the 1088-acre city-owned forest as a “Forever Wild Forest.”
The forest is already owned by the city of North Adams. Protection could easily be more financially lucrative than logging, with far less risk or expense for the city. But first, the well-intended, but non-essential, potentially damaging logging plan currently before the North Adams City government must be stopped.
Williamstown resident Dr. William Moomaw, professor emeritus of international environmental policy at
Tufts University, promotes proforestation: “We in western Massachusetts in particular live in the ‘most carbon dense forest region, with the tallest trees…’ in the eastern United States.” He labels this accumulation of forested land “a Natural Climate Solution, protecting the already accumulated carbon in trees, plants, soils, and wetlands.” (From his presentation, “Simple Solution,” Feb 27, 2021.)
The recent report “Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities” shows that New England, “with some of the most intact temperate forest on the planet, is uniquely positioned to lead the nation’s participation in this global effort” of carbon sequestration.
Why preserve? The Notch Forest must be permanently protected as “Forever Wild” because it is a diverse, mature forest in healthy condition—preserving these is the proven best tool available for carbon sequestration! The forest is home to the nationally recognized, beloved Bellows Pipe Trail. It protects North Adams’ drinking water. Being adjacent to Greylock Mountain State Reservation, it is integral to a vast area of linked, conserved forest and essential to regional wildlife movement. It is a largely unblemished gem, and a preservation action may prove contagious. Because rarer wildlife species would be enabled to return. It is large, highly visible, and will make a difference. And because New England forests are a world-class asset as a carbon sink!
“Study after study concludes that bigger and older trees are disproportionally the best carbon sequestering trees,” says Bill Moomaw. “We can store twice as much carbon in uncut mature and older growth forests as we can in similar forests under rotational harvest …”
Standing Trees VT:
New England’s forests are our greatest natural asset. Protecting and restoring the old forests of New England is an inexpensive, rapidly scalable and a proven strategy to support the region’s full range of biodiversity, sequester and store planet warming carbon, clean air and water, and protect our communities from drought and flood.
Walt Cudnohufsky
Friends of the Notch Reservoir and Bellows Pipe Trail member
North Adams
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