The recent article “Quabbin towns continue push for fair compensation for water stewardship” (Recorder, Jan. 13) states water from the Quabbin as “pristine, world-class water” when in fact U.S. government documents show our water from the commonwealth to be of lesser quality than that of New York. Why? Because water sources from the Adirondack Region are not subject to logging within the watershed. As most readers may know, DCR heavily logs the Quabbin watershed and elsewhere, leaving it subject to degradation of various sorts.
Many Massachusetts residents and environmental organizations have long called for an end to logging not only in the Quabbin watershed but on all public lands. Bills to that end have repeatedly been submitted to the Legislature on Beacon Hill to no avail. This session those bills are :
H.952 An Act relative to watershed forest protection
H.953 An Act relative to forest protection
H.1048 An Act relative to increased protection of wildlife management areas
Please contact your state reps. and senators and urge them to pass these bills once and for all.
Don Ogden
Florence