North Adams Sets Meeting on Notch Forestry Plan

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city has set a public information session about controversial plans to log parts of the Notch Reservoir watershed. 
 
The forum will take place on Thursday at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall. It will include representatives from Mass Audubon, New England Forestry Foundation, and the Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts, of which North Adams is a member. 
 
The city is set to implement a 2022 forest management plan around the reservoir to preserve its watershed, root out invasive species, promote sustainable growth and bring in some revenue. The 10-year plan apparently began as a way to improve culverts and stream crossings and it identifies key forest health threats and climate change risk factors in the 1,073-acre site.
 
However, the Conservation Commission in July balked at plans to eradicate invasives through the use of chemical means and sharply questioned how access into the site would affect crossing streams and entry by prohibited vehicles. Nearly a dozen residents attended an August meeting of the commission to express opposition to the forest management plan, questioning the active need to "manage" the forestland and how the plan would affect the forest, trails and reservoir.
 
Opponents organized as "Save Notch Forest Coalition" and started a petition on Change.org signed by more than a thousand people calling on Mayor Jennifer Macksey to halt the application and that a public meeting be held to better inform residents of what is happening. 
 
According to the plan, the "greatest health concern" is the dense canopy and lack of regeneration west of Notch Brook as that area has not been harvested in three decades. This is in contrast to the more recently logged eastern side.
 
"Periodic timber harvesting in the future will focus on increasing the health of the forest by improving tree species and age class diversity, promoting biological diversity, and taking the necessary conservation measures for a clean water supply to the watershed," according to the plan. 
 
A communication from the mayor's office announcing the public forum says "each management practice was carefully selected for each unique section of the forest (each 'stand') with goals to ensure the future forest has improved biodiversity, climate change resilience, and ability to produce valuable local wood products that can substitute for fossil fuel-based products and support the local economy."
 
Michaela Lee, a coalition member, said from their research this will be a "high grading" timber harvest practice to take out the very mature, more expensive trees. Their concern is it will become a "tree farm" that will affect the Bellows Pipe Trail, the wildlife and the water quality. 
 
"The damage that it could cause is just not worth it, in our opinion, and the many opinions of the professionals that we have reached out to," she said recently. 
 
"These woods mean a lot to me. ... it's so important to me that I'm willing to fight as much as I can and just keep repeating everything until something happens."
 
A project summary, plans, maps and a list of FAQs can be found here

Tags: forestry,   reservoirs,   

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DPAC To Perform 'Clue: On Stage'

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Drury Performing Arts Center, in collaboration with the North Adams Public Schools 21st Century Afterschool Program, announced performance dates for its production of "Clue: On Stage" adapted from the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn, written by Sandy Rustin with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price.
 
According to a press release:
 
It's a dark and stormy night, and you've been invited to a very unusual dinner party. Each of the guests has an alias, the butler offers a variety of weapons, and the host is, well... dead. So whodunnit? Join the iconic oddballs known as Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, and Colonel Mustard as they race to find the murderer in Boddy Manor before the body count stacks up. Based on the cult classic film and the popular board game, Clue is a madcap comedy that will keep you guessing until the final twist!
 
Performances will take place on Friday, Nov. 22 at 7PM and Saturday, Nov. 23 at 2PM and 7PM. All performances will take place in the Drury Performing Arts Center, 1130 South Church Street, North Adams. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens.
 
Tickets will be sold at the door.
 
"Clue: On Stage" is directed by Liz Urban and features the creative talents of more than 40 Drury students in grades 7–12.
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