Thank you for Gary Sanderson’s recent column on rethinking our relationship with forests. Gary has always been down-to-Earth in his writing and this piece is in keeping with that. He writes: “Maybe there’s a way to offer incentives for those allowing forest stands to grow old and filter harmful carbon from the atmosphere. Perhaps there’s a way to shift public opinion, which seems now to favor our commercial forest-management model. Maybe the policy shift should begin on publicly owned land, as proposed right here in the Bay State to a chorus of boos.”
This is exactly what The Wendell State Forest Alliance is proposing and the critical need for preserving and protecting our forests is something I’ve brought to these pages and elsewhere for years now. The recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s conclusion tells us we are really running out of time to confront climate chaos. We have only about ten years to get a handle on greenhouse gas emissions if we’re going to stay within the critical 1.5 -2 degrees Centigrade degrees of warming. Beyond that, life for our children, grandchildren and future generations will be greatly diminished. Who wants a world such as that?
I think this why the Wendell Forest Alliance is trying so hard to stop the state Department of Conservation and Recreation from destroying most of an 80-acre stand of 100-plus-year-old oak trees in the forest. The fate of future generations is literally in our hands.
If Recorder readers want to learn more about the work of the Alliance or better yet join us in this important effort they can send an email to: savebrookrdforest@gmail.com
Don Ogden
Leverett