BELCHERTOWN — An Arizona-based nonprofit is leading a coalition of biology and conservation groups to persuade the Massachusetts Legislature to remove a budget amendment that would stall release of timber rattlesnakes into the Quabbin Reservoir.

Advocates for Snake Preservation (ASP) is calling on Massachusetts residents to urge their lawmakers to remove an amendment State Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, filed to require a one-year moratorium on the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s plan to breed and re-introduce 150 snakes to the Quabbin Reservoir’s Mount Zion Island. The Athol Bird and Nature Club and the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust are among the organizations in the coalition formed by ASP, which is dedicated to improving public perception of snakes.

Melissa Amarello, one of ASP’s founders and its director of education, said snakes are stigmatized reptiles feared by people who don’t understand them.

“Among the general public they are often disliked and a lot of people are afraid of snakes,” she told The Recorder from her office in Tucson. “That makes it really hard to do conservation with a species, when people don’t like them.”

Amarello said Massachusetts’ plan is sound and based in science. She said timber rattlesnakes play a vital role in their ecosystem, most notably by eating small mammals that can carry diseases, like Lyme disease, that can harm humans.

Lesser told The Recorder he does not dispute the science behind the Fisheries & Wildlife division’s plan, but rather he objects to what he views as another example of the state making a decision without the opinion of people in central and western Massachusetts.

“This decision was concocted in Boston and thrust upon our communities without sufficient input,” he said, adding that he has a perfect voting record on environmental issues.

Lesser said this is a public safety issue and the impact on tourism must be considered, as the Quabbin Reservoir is a huge driver of the region’s economy. He also said it is easy for an Arizona-based organization to advocate for the re-introduction of snakes in a community it does not share.

But Amarello said the Grand Canyon State is no stranger to snakes, as 15 species that are not the timber rattlesnake exist there. She also said Massachusetts has only five small isolated populations of timber rattlesnakes, totaling fewer than 200 individual ones.

She said the Quabbin Reservoir’s rock structure and quality vegetation mimic the habitat of timber rattlesnakes in other places.

Amarello encourages Massachusetts residents to visit www.LivingWithSnakes.org to sign an online petition calling upon the Massachusetts Legislature to remove Lesser’s amendment from the budget bill for Fiscal Year 2017.

Lesser explained his amendment was approved in May. The House and Senate have passed versions of the budget and a conference committee will work to hash out the differences and present a new version to each chamber of the Legislature. Lesser said this usually happens in July.

You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder
or 413-772-0261, ext. 258.
On Twitter: @DomenicPoli