Massasoit State Park
In 2013, Massasoit State Park in Taunton, MA was hit by a storm and extremely cold winter that resulted in electric damage to the campground. The park fell into disrepair, restrooms were covered with graffiti and the popular beach was closed. The park was threatened with decommission and development for housing, though Massasoit is the only fresh-water public recreational area in the region.
https://www.facebook.com/MiddleboroTauntonMA
We started the Friends of the Massasoit State Park Facebook page to call attention to the park, posting photos of damage and graffiti and sending letters to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Baker Administration. Slowly, the situation turned around! The DCR started hosting Park Service Days and dozens of people turned out to help clean the park. A regional mountain biking group rebuilt bridges and cleared trails. The DCR began posting rangers at the park again. Finally, the state invested 6 million to restore the electrical service, revitalize the beach and trails system, and reopen the campground! Now the park is in beautiful shape, with hundreds of visitors every season.
Notch Reservoir Town Forest
This beautiful and historic forest in North Adams, Massachusetts in under threat of destruction by logging. Instead of quiet, peaceful stands of trees leading to a reservoir that feels like a pristine northern lake inhabited by beaver, deer and bear, it will be turned into a muddy field bisected by logging roads and skid trails and will never fully heal from this degradation. The proposed project will destroy the peaceful nature of the famous Bellows Pipe Trailhead for decades.
The area proposed for "selection harvest" is currently a healthy forest of mixed species and age, with generations of uniformly native species. The trees marked for harvest are widely distributed, on a steep slope. All slopes in the forest lead directly into the only public water supply for the town. Heavy logging equipment access throughout that area will inevitably damage the trees intended to be saved, of all ages, as well as destroy the understory vegetation including tree seedlings and younger growth.
This 1067-acre forest is of environmental and cultural importance to the residents of North Adams and to the thousands of visitors to the Greylock State Reservation and hikers, cross-county skiers, and bicyclers of the Bellows Pipe Trail, and the people who enjoy and value the quiet natural beauty of this historic area, the current abundance of wildlife, and the quality of the Notch Reservoir water supply.
