Highlights
AUGUST 2019 - Bioreserve Hike
ACTIVITY ALERT - August's Exploring the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve Walk
Northern water snake watching you. Eats mostly fish and frogs. Many people incorrectly call these "moccasins." Water moccasins are venomous and are not found north of Virginia. Our Northern Water Snake is not venomous.
Common garter (not 'garden') snakes are found throughout the area and are probably the second most abundant snake species, after the ringneck snake, in the Bioreserve, They eat insects, worms, toads and frogs.
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ACTIVITY ALERT - August's Walk Exploring the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve
At Indian Town Road. The start of August's exploratory walk
Bioreserve blueberries looking good, tasting better.
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INFO ALERT - Eternal vigilance is needed because the stupid ain't stopping!
That doesn't sound like life science or biotechnology to us.
The last, large block of Bristol County Lowland Forest in rapidly urbanizing eastern Massachusetts became the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB) almost 20 years ago when a group of concerned citizens and state environmental officials stopped a bold land grab attempt by a private Fall River development group and their political lackeys to take over one thousand acres of protected public conservation land for industrial development, although they admitted, they had no industry in mind for the site. Outrageous? Yes! These development interests had certain local politicians ready to file legislation to steal this land from the people.
Today, the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve protects and preserves a large area containing multiple eco-systems of statewide importance. As suburban sprawl and continued growth accelerates in the surrounding cities and towns, the SMB will be the last refuge for thousands of species of plants and animals who call this area of southeastern Massachusetts home. The SMB also protects a regional water supply in its Watuppa and Copicut Reservoirs, contains the headwaters of the Westport River, stores vast amounts of carbon to mitigate or slow climate change, and provides outdoor recreational opportunities compatible with its bioreserve mission.
To facilitate and begin acquisition of the 16,000 acres for the SMB and placate development interests, a carve-out of 300 acres, of state forest land along Route 24, was sold to Fall River for industrial development. Local promoters and politicians brayed this 300 acres, when developed, would provide 6,000 to 10,000 "good paying" jobs. State officials were more modest projecting 3,500 to 6,000 jobs—numbers still not even remotely realized.
These 300 acres are now called the SouthCoast Life Science and Technology Park and it has the ludicrously named Innovation Way providing access directly off Route 24. Originally, the park's centerpiece was to be have a biotech 'incubator" facility which would develop and then spin-off and create new companies that would then locate in the park providing those promised "good paying" jobs.
Sounded good to us! A small UMASS medical facility, MassBiologics, was constructed in the "park", but that was it. Instead of waiting for the promised biotech spin-offs and new start-ups, Fall River has filled more than half the park with a huge Amazon receiving and shipping warehouse, a marijuana growing and processing company, and a solar array adjacent to the capped Republic Services dump. With all this "innovation" it won’t be long until the Life Sciences and Technology Park is built-out and Fall River will have thrown away its chances of bringing what it said it would bring when all this started.
Easy to see that instead of waiting for those biotech life science start-ups and spin-offs, Fall River has apparently decided to sell acreage to anyone for anything. We already know that once the park's 300 acres is filled to capacity with all those "good paying" jobs provided by donut shops, fast food restaurants, gas stations, etc., some devious development promoters will once again attempt a theft of more public land. Keep watch!
The Bioreserve and environment are too important to our quality of life here in southeastern Massachusetts to be thought of as only vacant land waiting to be squandered.
Unfortunately, not MassBiologics, nor anyone else, has yet developed a vaccine against stupid.
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