To the editor:

Pouring pavement on the troubled section of Lake Mansfield Road is not a good temporary solution. It is exactly the past paving of the road that has resulted in the current alarming state of deterioration.

Before pavement, the shore of Lake Mansfield was lined with trees and shrubs. A quiet, shady, three-season dirt road wound its way between lake and ledge. Paving the road has caused the erosion that leaves us with the conditions of today, a lakeside bereft of trees where asphalt is falling directly into the water. A new thick layer of asphalt as an interim to future improvements will only perpetuate the last 45 years of environmental degradation.

Imagine if the lake had a voice. If all the creatures it supports; the turtles, frogs and fish, butterflies and dragonflies, warblers and raptors, muskrat and bobcat, could sign a petition or file into a meeting where their fate is being determined. Would we say, “Don’t worry, your suffering won’t end today, but maybe in three years from now …”?

We can do better. As we anguish at the state of our planet and the tragedies of global climate change, surely we can act immediately to support the health of our local lake.

Christine Ward

29 Castle Hill Ave

Great Barrington