My husband and I love to go bike riding. It’s always been our favorite way to be outdoors and active. Now that we’re in our 70s, we’re riding e-bikes. We’ve been adventuring all over New England exploring bike trails.

Closest to home is the Canalside Rail Trail. It’s a lovely path — the gleam of the sunlight on the water, the flocks of water birds gliding by, the peacefulness of the trail bordered by the canal on one side and meadows or woods on the other — all these things bring us to the path often.

But it’s winter now, so we’re not riding these days. On Jan. 14, I decided to brave the cold and take a walk on the path. I wanted to stand under the tall pine trees that border the path in one special area. I’ve always loved the spot. In the warm months, the swaying pines provide much-needed shade and rest. As the breeze blows, the trees give off a scent that reminds me of evergreen forests I have lingered in happily. It’s an exhilarating aroma that makes you take notice of what’s around you.

Today as I started walking toward the trees from a close-by parking area, I noticed something dark directly across from the pines. I couldn’t see what it was, but I knew I’d never seen it before. As I got near, I saw an enormous mound of mud and debris piled haphazardly behind black plastic “aprons.”

I felt as if I had just taken a punch. My pine oasis looked like a graveyard, an open graveyard of trees and plants that had been whacked down carelessly to make room for what? I don’t know. I don’t know who owns that land. I imagine a parking lot will go up in that place.

Joni Mitchell’s lyrics came to me:

“Don’t it always seem to go,

that you don’t know what

you’ve got till it’s gone.

They paved paradise

and put up a parking lot.”

I imagine that the owner of the land would tell me that they needed more room for their vehicles. I want to tell them that everyone who has ever walked, run, skateboarded or bicycled on that path, needed those trees and plants for their personal well-being.

As more and more trees get removed from this earth to put up parking lots and condominiums, cattle lots in the Amazon rainforest and avocado plantations in Mexico, that displace indigenous inhabitants, we the people are not getting what we actually need.

Because what we need is a planet that will survive. We need clean water, bees that pollinate our plants, trees that provide oxygen and take carbon from the atmosphere so that we can breathe, thriving animals and birds. We need land to plant food and places where our children can run and climb trees.

I can’t say enough about the importance of trees. They are home to infinite species of birds and mammals; they are our source of fruits, nuts and natural medicine. They are erosion preventers, shade bringers, maple syrup producers. Their beauty adorns our streets, surrounds our houses, gives sanctuary to so many life forms.

If the trees, the animals, the planet itself does not survive, what use is the parking lot?

Here in Massachusetts we have a chance to take a stand for our forests.

The citizens of Massachusetts have public land that could be permanently protected so that our children and grandchildren will have forests to walk in, where they can smell the scent of pine, hear the birds, feel the majesty of old trees. They’ll need to find a sane place to be when the world is battling worse and worse climate disasters.

There are actions you can take to protect our forests and public lands for the future.

Find a wealth of information on this topic and the actions we can all take at: Save Massachusetts Forests, www.savemassforests.com; Massachusetts Sierra Club, www.sierraclub.org/massachusetts/forest-protection-resources; and Trees as a Public Good, a network of both forest protection groups (like the Wendell State Forest Alliance) and municipal tree groups, mostly from eastern Massachusetts (like Friends of NEMT Forest).

For those seeking information on tree-related actions, write to TreesPublicGood@gmail.com or visit www.facebook.com/TreesAsAPublicGood. 

Tell our governor and legislators that you care about preserving trees on Massachusetts public land.

Now is the time to stand up for our forests, our land, for the sake of our children, their children and all future generations!

Morning Star Chenven of Erving cares deeply about the preservation of our natural world and is aware that this moment is crucial in the Earth’s survival. She is a writer, musician, mother and grandmother.