"Woodlands" Is A Term Used By Commercial Foresters.

LinkedIn Question

What have you done for the environment?

Buckland State Forest has been defined as a "woodlands" by logging interests. This designation will make it very difficult for Friends to stop commercial logging here, but Friends will try. For years commercial loggers have looked upon Buckland State Forest with envious eyes and they have quietly made their plans.

If you are not a member of LinkedIn it is easy to do and it is free. The above link will ask you to join.

The above question was answered by hundreds of people both government workers and ordinary people. Ordinary people are great contributors to projects and ideas because their job is not at stake. Too often we go to meetings where professional foresters and professional ecologists answer questions by simply referencing code, law, government policy, "best practice" management practices written by commercial foresters and many other "official" resource guides.

South River State Forest, Conway, MA (US) is only a few miles from Buckland State Forest. It is a little lower in altitude and it is adjacent to the Deerfield River. Other than that the forest is just about the same.

South River State Forest is about to be logged by private contractors. The public cannot trust the reports and studies done by the state. That is because logging in Massachusetts' lands are motivated and legislated by stakeholders and not ethical conservationists. A stakeholder is a person or organization which as a money or property interest in some action. Only ethical conservationists have an interest in the well being of the forest and do not intervene except for true management of human caused problems (such as invasives, forest diseases and non-native species). The healthiest forest is a species' forest (aka a natural forest). Consultants who are hired by the state, by definition, never are independent experts. They are always looking for the next paying customer and that is usually the State.

So check out these global and nationwide thoughts written by stakeholders and non-stakeholder alike.

Massachusetts Commonwealth state species' forest that are approved for logging are renamed "woodland" at the suggestion of commercial logging companies.  This renaming was intentional as to make it appear that logging of these species' forest was the true order of things. No, forests do not have such an innate resource purpose.

Letters and Comments 2014

Letters and Comments

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On Oct 27, 2014, at 10:47 PM, richard stafursky <rhstafursky@yahoo.com> wrote:

Sharl,

Thanks for the note. We are at Friends of Buckland State Forest, MA (US).

Fungi at nearby Flagg Mountain ghost subdivision state land.

We probably will not come to the FN Conference Dec. 6, 2014. For the last year we have been visiting Buckland State Forest from several vantage points. Currently our purpose is to find out the extent of human impact from hunting, snowmobiles and future logging. We probably won't have a plan to get these things banned soon. These are entrenched practices that will be hard to kill, so to speak. That is unfortunate, because they do harm the species' forest of Buckland State Forest. Right next door are Flagg Mountain, the Species List Forest and lands of NEFF. All are open to the public and all can be accesses by walking.

The ghost subdivision of Flagg Mountain is rife with invasive plants. If the nightmare of logging (selective or clearcut) happens those invasives would spread via logging roads to the sun-lit logged areas. The Species List Forest to the east has just about eliminated most of the invasive plants caused by a State illegal logging plan some 21 years ago. That was eight years prior to the Species List Forest being donated. If Buckland State Forest was logged we fear it would also give invasives more than twenty years to invade the area.

Next year we plan to check out reports that there are non-native Norway pine and European larch in BSF. None of us are botanists so it may take a while to confirm this. If there are significant number of non-native trees we will have to devise a plan for their removal and a plan to prevent non-native saplings from growing again. We do not know the extent of the early 20th century tree plantation and we can't even begin to guess on how to eliminate it and return the full canopy of a species' forest in perpetuity. There are several options to choose.

At this time we have only two members of Friends of Buckland State Forest. We have informed the Buckland Town Administrator of our and concerns. She has provided us with some helpful information. We have posted at least one event, but only one person has gone with us. There is a lot of competition from other forests open to the public in the area. In order to get the community involved in defending Buckland State Forest it will take some planning. Our goal is to return the forest complete. A returned species' forest is the healthiest forest. It is best for the climate and the human community. The MSJC has made it perfectly clear that simply by being conservation land all such lands benefit the community. We believe that Buckland State Forest can and should be such a place and it should join with the existing Species' List Forest in northern Conway as a model species' forest. A species forest is of, by and for all the other native plants, animals, fungi and soil microbes that occupy or have occupied that place.

Two years ago Susan and I participated in a FN Conference in Worcester. There was no opportunity for local groups to speak. We had expected that all of the FN Conference would be for friends participation. Instead we were an audience only. In 2015 perhaps this will be different. If so, I would be glad for Susan or me to make a presentation.

Our web site is not well viewed. We are working on this, too.

Best wishes,


Friends of Buckland State Forest
Richard Stafursky
155 Belmont Avenue
Brattleboro, VT 05301
rhstafursky@yahoo.com
802 258 7845 cell


On Monday, October 27, 2014 7:06 PM, Sharl Heller <slheller@comcast.net> wrote:


Hello Richard,

How've you been? Do you have a website or facebook page that we can link to from the Friends Network newsletter and website? Hope to see you at the FN Conference Dec. 6!

Thanks,

Sharl Heller, Facilitator
The Massachusetts Forest and Park Friends Network
http://www.networkingfriends.net

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Richard,

Thank you for the update and the link. 

We listened to the suggestions of friends groups and give more time now for groups to share what they are doing with the other groups.

You have a big job on your hands with little support. Keep up the good work.

Best,

Sharl

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