Calling for Carbon and Biodiversity Reserves on Our State Lands: Serving the Public Interest
Tonight!
Tuesday, Sept. 6 6:30 sharp-8pm
via Zoom Register here
The MA Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is conducting a ten-year review focused on how our state parks and forests are managed and the public is invited to comment! Join us to prepare for upcoming DCR listening sessions and written comments. We will provide background grounded in the science, from experts in their fields, to help us better understand both the issues and how to frame our comments to DCR.
Save Massachusetts Forests, RESTORE: The North Woods & Climate Action Now
Scroll down for details about the DCR listening sessions and other actions you can take.
Photo: Rene Theberge
Action alert from Save Massachusetts Forests & RESTORE: The North Woods
Save Massachusetts Forests from logging on public land!
The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) regularly cuts trees for logging on public lands. Check out their plans for 2022 here. Many of you have supported bills to stop this practice (H.912 and H.1002). While we are disappointed that the legislature did not take action on them, we now can speak directly to DCR during their 10 year review of how our state parks and forests are managed.
Let’s call on DCR to protect public land, including the watersheds, by designating them as either “parks” or "reserves" where land management is similar to our National Parks.
Photo: Rene Theberge
Please sign and share our online sign-on letter to DCR
We, the undersigned, call for state-owned lands administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, including all woodlands, reserves, watersheds, and undeveloped parklands, to be designated and permanently protected as Carbon and Biodiversity Reserves. These Reserves would protect intact ecosystems, which are influenced primarily by natural processes, with only minimal human interference. Limited management activities would be allowed if proven to be necessary to protect public safety, endangered species, or the environment.
Action alert! Eversource proposes massive tree cutting along transmission power lines!
Eversource wants to cut all trees within 100 feet of transmission power lines running from the Northfield Substation, through the towns of Erving, Wendell, Montague, Leverett, Shutesbury, Pelham, Belchertown, Amherst and Granby, to the Ludlow Substation in Ludlow, crossing two Environmental Justice communities: Wendell and Amherst.
Eversource has filed with MEPA (Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office) in order to move forward with its plan to cut over 370 acres of trees along the transmission power line corridor.
Take action by sending a comment to MEPA! Go HEREfor an action guide which will give you all the info you need. Please share with family and friends.
The deadline for comments has been extended to September 23
Rain and lightning over desert hills near Mesquite, Nevada during the summer monsoon. Photo by Flickr user John Getchel, used under a Creative Commons license.
It’s Hot! – extreme heat, race, recommendations, and hope
A recent studyused satellite-derived data about surface heat in U.S. urban areas and combined it with census data about race and socioeconomic status. Differences in the concentration of heat were more correlated with race than with income, and showed Black urban residents experiencing twice the urban heat intensity of White residents. Neighborhoods that were redlined (deemed ineligible for federal housing loans because the residents were predominately Black) in the mid-twentieth century, are today more crowded, populated by PGMI, and experiencing greater heat in the summer. Read more here
The Climate Action Now media team is supporting a collaborative Instagram page called the Western Mass Climate Hub (@western.mass.climate).
Climate Action Now is a people powered, grassroots Western Mass organization dedicated to building a powerful, unstoppable climate movement. We work in our communities and in collaboration with diverse partners across the region to educate, advocate, and mobilize for climate justice. Climate Action Now is affiliated with 350.org.
Check outour website and join us at our monthly gatherings (4th Mondays of every month except December) to see how you can get involved in our many projects and campaigns. The Climate Action Now Steering Committee includes a representative from each working group and campaign. Climate Action Now warmly welcomes newcomers.
Let's work together to create an inclusive climate justice movement!
Please send feedback, comments, and suggestions to: Susan ThebergeNewsletter Editor
