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CALENDAR OF EVENTS Advocacy News (Includes how to reach your legislators) DEP Enforcement Actions In The Berkshire return to top |
Please help me stop HR 875. In its current form, the bill would prevent small local organic farms and community gardeners from growing and selling you nutritious, truly fresh, organic produce. The bill would effectively ban small farming and outlaw organic gardening. It would crush our small local food producers by imposing heavy government regulation that only large corporations could adhere to. Imagine:
Americans would essentially be forced to only eat corporately manufactured, chemically treated, hermetically sealed, irradiated fruits and vegetables. Stop this abomination now. Also see: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-875&tab=summary http://nourishedkitchen.com/fight-hr-875-food-safety-modernization-act-of-2009/ |
Upper Housatonic River ACEC Public Information Meeting |
Elisa Campbell new MFLA Executive Director Campbell has been an environmental advocate since the 1970s. She has written articles for a local newspaper and publications of regional conservation organizations on the importance of managing timberland for multiple uses and wildlife habitat. Campbell is also well known for advocating for the purchase of locally grown, sustainably managed, Massachusetts grown and manufactured wood. Campbell has been active in the Sierra Club since 1971, and championed the need to control deer populations at Quabbin Reservoir. She serves on the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation's Stewardship Council, and its predecessor, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management's Board of Managers, setting policy for state lands. Campbell is an active participant in the Wildlands and Woodlands initiative which seeks to keep one half of Massachusetts as forest land, some as unmanaged wildlands, with the rest as "working woodlands." She is on board to help MFLA make alliances with like-minded organizations to further mutual goals of recognizing and rewarding the "ecosystem services" such as clean air and water, that forests provide, as well as enhancing the economic viability of our forests as a supply of sustainable local wood products. Campbell has worked for the University of Massachusetts since 1980, assisting users of the University's computing systems. She lives in Amherst, and can be reached at elisa.campbell@gmail.com or 413 256-4247. |
State Exploring Idea of Family Forest – Based National Forest in Northwestern Massachusetts MODR will be meeting with citizens who represent a variety of stakeholder groups including state and municipal officials, environmental organizations, recreational and sportsmen organizations, foresters, forest industry/wood producers, private landowners, land trust and conservation organizations, etc. The purpose of these focus group meetings will be to hear the thoughts, concerns and ideas of citizens and to identify ways in which the public can be actively engaged in the exploration of the concept of a National Forest designation in Massachusetts. MODR will be assisted in this endeavor by Patrick Field of the Consensus Building Institute (CBI) who is also a MODR affiliate. For information, call 617 287-4046. |
Comment on the Revised Tree Farm Standards for Sustainability The American Forest Foundation is now accepting comments on its revised Standards of Sustainability for Forest Certification on Private Lands (2009-2013) beginning May 1st through Monday, June 29, 2009 at 5:00pm (EDT). |
Harvard Forest Summer Institute for Teachers The Harvard Forest offers a Forest Ecology training institute for teachers of grades 2-12 on August 10th. Teachers will learn how to implement field studies related to local ecosystems with their students in their schoolyard. This year's opportunities include: Woolly Bully: Hemlock Trees and the Invasive Species, The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid For more information on Harvard Forest research and education opportunities, see: http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/education/k-12.html. To register for the Summer Institute, contact Pamela Snow, Harvard Forest , 324 North Main Street , Petersham , MA 01366 or call 978-724-3302 x246 or email psnow@fas.harvard.edu |
Grace Greylock Niles Hike and Trails Dedication for Former Local Author WILLIAMSTOWN, MA and POWNAL , VT - Saturday May 30, 2009 (rain or shine) from 10am-12noon – The Trustees of Reservations will host a trail dedication event in the form of a guided hike at the Mountain Meadow Preserve. The hike will explore a 2-mile portion of the newly named Grace Greylock Niles Trail, starting from the Mason Street entrance in Williamstown. Hikers will proceed to a scenic overlook near the Vermont state line and will pause along the way to hear brief quotations from Niles 1904 book, Bog Trotting for Orchids. The ruggedly beautiful landscape at Mountain Meadow was once the home of author and botanist Grace Greylock Niles. Hike leaders Pam Weatherbee and other Trustees volunteers and staff will point out the unique plants and landforms found along the way and share more about the story of the gifted woman who once made Mountain Meadow her home. Niles celebrated the wild places found of Williamstown and Pownal landscape and plants with her paintings, photographs, poems, and stories. The event is free, and donations will be gratefully accepted. Mountain Meadow Preserve is open daily for hiking and nature observation, with entrances in Williamstown , MA and Pownal , VT. The next guided program will be a free butterfly walk with Pam Weatherbee on July 5. The Trustees of Reservations invite Berkshires residents and visitors to explore Mountain Meadow and their 12 other historic and natural properties in the Berkshires, and to join the Trustees as members and volunteers. To learn more about the upcoming event and other Trustees activities in the Berkshires, visit www.thetrustees.org, or contact outreach coordinator Tammis Coffin at 413.298.3239 x 3003 or tcoffin@ttor.org. |
Losing Ground: Beyond the Footprint Today Mass Audubon celebrates the release of Losing Ground: Beyond the Footprint, the product of over two years of research and hard work. The fourth edition of the Losing Ground series, Beyond the Footprint investigates land development trends throughout Massachusetts and identifies priority conservation sites. Though the report provides some hopeful news -- we are actually protecting twice as much land today as we are developing -- it is clear that we still have a long way to go toward sustainability. New houses being built today are bigger and more energy-intensive than ever, and the growth of Sprawl Frontier continues to threaten many of our more rural communities. For more information on Massachusetts land-use patterns or to download a copy of Losing Ground: Beyond the Footprint, please visit http://www.massaudubon.org/losingground/. Additional links |
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