To the editor:
Have you heard about the proposed industrial-logging project at our forested public-drinking-water reservoir in North Adams? In the late summer, there was quite the hubbub (rightfully) after the Conservation Commission recommended that herbicides not be sprayed… next to Notch Reservoir. It seems ridiculous it was ever a plan supported by MassAudubon. After nearly two years of secretive planning, this was the first time most of us heard about this project.
Were you at the Conservation Commission meeting in September where Friends of Notch Forest packed the room, overflowing into hallways, lining the street in protest? Were you one of the 2,000-plus people locally, regionally, and internationally who signed our Save Notch Forest petition?
North Adams’ most valuable natural resource deserves more than to be used as an experiment by MassAudubon and its new industrial-logging partners, who seek to unnecessarily replace a mature diverse forest with a tree-seedling farm that cannot enrich the city nor benefit its human and wildlife residents. We have a vision—not just to stop the logging project to protect our forest, beloved Bellows Pipe hiking trail, and our drinking water—that could financially benefit the city and our environment for generations to come.
In the last few months, the Friends of Notch Forest and the Bellow’s Pipe Trailhead have been hard at work learning, collecting information, and taking action to stop this project. We are happy to keep you up to date and invite you to join our vastly expanding group.
Join us on Friday, December 13, at 7 p.m., at the All Saints Episcopal Church, 59 Summer St, North Adams, MA 01247, for an Informational Meeting.
Devin Raber
North Adams
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