Highlights

APRIL 2024 - Bioreserve Project, April Spring Walk

INFO ALERT - A Sin and a Shame. $50,000 of funding from the Massachusetts Trails Grant Program funded through the dysfunctional Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation capital budget and from the motor vehicle excise tax on off-road vehicles. Plus, The Trustees of Reservations (TTOR) also wasted some of their own money on this ill-conceived project. 

"Excise tax on off-road vehicles" money being awarded to destroy a woodland foot trail and fragment the forest? That doesn't seem right. Don't know if this fits the timeline, but the present head of TTOR was the former Secretary of the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Within that office is the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Aren't they the ones that gave TTOR the funding? Follow the money.

It's a bioreserve, for heaven's sake! Woodsy walking path turned into faux nature trail, lined with Mother Nature's bones. Biodiversity, native flora and fauna preserved in perpetuity is the reason the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB) was created. Native species are winking out throughout southeastern Massachusetts. This "new" sanitized trail was constructed in a marbled salamander habitat area. Rampant overdevelopment outside the SMB will eventually lead to its extirpation locally and is why the SMB is so important to those native species that still remain. Marbled salamanders and many other native species of flora and fauna are on their own here in southeastern Massachusetts when not on protected conservation land.  https://dartmouth.theweektoday.com/article/family-odds-attorney-general-over-salamander-habit-protection/53390

 
 
 
Cutting back the forest from the faux nature trail impacts native wood warbler species attracting invasive species to the forest like the buffalo bird/cowbird which are not native to our eastern forests and parasitizes wood warbler nests as well as the nests of other forest birds such as red-eyed vireos, song sparrows, ovenbirds, phoebes, towhees and more. Trails fragmenting forests also attract, when the sun goes down, common nighttime omnivores like raccoon, opossum,  skunk, and gray fox that prefer hunting along cleared trails rather than bucking brush in their perpetual hunt for bird and small mammal prey. Doesn't take long to lose low nesting and ground nesting birds, like the hermit thrush, ovenbird, ruffed grouse, veery thrush, whip-poor-will, wild turkey, black and white warbler, fox sparrow and others, that nest in the forest adjacent to such trails. More open trails and forest fragmentation means less biodiversity.
 
 
THIS IS ALSO AN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ISSUE

Unfortunately for the SMB some of its acreage lies within environmental justice areas, according to the Massachusetts List of Cities and Towns Containing Environmental Justice Communities. Massachusetts Environmental Justice Communities are communities where households in those communities earn 65% or less of the statewide household median income; or 25% or more of the residents are  minority; or 25% or more of the residents are foreign-born; or 25% or more of the residents are lacking English language proficiency
Low income people, minority, foreign born, lack of English usually means those folks are too busy surviving. They don't have time, energy or monetary resources  easily available to involve themselves in things environmental. Consequently they are ignored and often get snookered into silence. Fall River is listed in the environmental justice categories for low income, lacking English and foreign born. Adjacent town of Dartmouth makes it for low income and foreign born. 

Organizations like TTOR are always hungry. Looking for funding and making promises to environmental justice communities and then, of course, when they find little money in it for themselves, they just slink away as they have done before here in Fall River. They'd never pull that shuck and jive in educated affluent communities.


Twenty plus years and we're still waiting for TTOR's promised environmental education center. They hired a wonderful environmental educator and then they fired him. They started an Atlantic white cedar restoration at Shockley's Swamp and then they abandoned it. 

Finally, we support their "accessible trail" program in the right area, without the "woke." Getting everyone out appreciating nature, including all physically challenged kids, adults and the BIPOC folks too. It takes thought and planning, especially in a dedicated bioreserve area. Ask us how, but first do no harm.
 

The environment is no one's property to destroy; it's everyone's responsibility to protect. 

 

- Mohith Agadi

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ACTION ALERT - Losing the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB)- One Species at a time


An Environmental Justice Issue and more -

A great place for a brisk or leisurely walk in the woods if that is all you want. A bad place if you want a little more, if you want to see, while walking along or sitting quietly under a sheltering pine, diverse and functioning wild ecosystems with their native trees, shrubs, wildflowers and animal life intact and flourishing.

Since its creation, over twenty years ago, scant progress has been made in saving the land and native species that call the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve home. One major reason for that is because the SMB finds itself in an economically  disadvantaged, educationally impoverished area of the state. Such communities, environmental justice communities, get ignored.
 
The Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve is located in the heavily developed and populated southeastern corner of the state adjacent to environmental justice communities. Environmental justice communities are marginalized areas of the state with a high minority population, large number of non-English speaking residents, low levels of educational attainment and consequently low paying jobs and also, unfortunately, large numbers of homeless and other vulnerable people that face disproportionate health impacts from poor diet, tobacco use, alcohol and recreational drug use.These communities, historically, have also been burdened with pollution from power plants, landfills (like the huge one looming over the northwest corner of the SMB), incinerators, and large industrial/manufacturing facilities. 
 

SPECIES THAT ARE FEWER IN NUMBER AND SOME SPECIES THAT HAVE VANISHED COMPLETELY, FROM WHAT IS NOW THE SMB, OVER THE PAST TWENTY + YEARS 
Shockingly, since the SMB was first created, biodiversity has been disappearing. Why? Because few care. As a MA DCR official once told us when we complained about the lack of law enforcement, lack of care, and lack of interest in protecting the Freetown State Forest, now a part of the greater Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve, "No one down there in Freetown and Fall River cares about that forest so why should we." 

Here are a few species, some rare, some more abundant and some unfortunately gone, that were living in the forest before the forest became the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve. Most of these species of plants and animals have been helped along the path to extirpation by lack of care and concern from the five entities (Bioreserve Partners) that hold land within the SMB.

More trash, invasives and off-road vehicle damage. Here are a few gone or going.
If you frequent the SMB and see any of the following species on this list, below, please let us know, info@greenfutures,com, along with date of the sighting and location.

Partial List: 
Red Trillium/Wakerobin (Trillium erectum)
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Mayflower/Trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens)
Plymouth Gentian (Sabatia kennedyana)
Grass-leaved Ladies'-Tresses (Spiranthes vernalis)
Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)
Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens)
Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)
Adder's Tongue/Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
Hartford/Climbing Fern (Lygodium palmatum)
Rock Polypody (Polypody virginianum)
Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)
Smooth Greensnake (Opheodrys vernalis)
Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platyrhynchus)
Black Racer (Coluber constrictor)
Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina)
Wood Turtle (Chrysemys insculpta)
Spotted Turtle (Clemmys gutatta)
Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum)
Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus)
Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus)
Eastern Whip-Poor-Will (Antrostomus vociferus)
Chuck-Will's-Widow (Antrostomus carolinensis) 
Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
 

 
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."
- The Lorax
 
Some history: In June 2000, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, City of Fall River, and The Trustees of Reservations agreed to establish the state's first bioreserve. In April, 2024. right now, little has been gained, much has been lost.
 
Two Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve historically significant and ecologically interesting areas, within DCR's Freetown State Forest section of the SMB, that have been defaced and trashed are Profile Rock and the Assonet Ledge. Both demand to be cleaned up and restored along with enforcement of laws, rules and regulations. No other state would allow this.

Profile Rock, on a "mountain" in a beautiful wooded glen, fell from its perch, June 2019, due to MA DCR negligence. Ignoring almost daily spray painting of the rock by vandals and then power-washing by prison inmate work crews every few weeks, damaged Profile Rock's attachment to the greater granite mass. The profile is gone, but Joshua's Mountain is still there. A historical kiosk with photos of what was,, along with history of the area, human, geological, archeological and ecological, would prove an asset to the SMB and the town too.

Thanks to DCR we've lost this part of our natural heritage, but Joshua's Mountain is still there. Let's protect, preserve and educate on what was there and what still is.


An old photo of an Easter sunrise service on Joshua's Mountain's summit. What would a photo of Joshua's Mountain look like today? Vandalised signs, road and rock. Spray painted obscenities. Cans and trash, empty spray paint cans, Shameful!


Another DCR horror is Assonet Ledge. Covered in paint, people, illegal ATVs and legal and ilegal bikes. It used to be beautiful standing by Ledge Pond at the base of the ledge, in the evening just after sunset, watching flying squirrels "fly" across  the pond. One fall morning we went on a hike to the ledge and found five dead flying squirrels scattered about. Empty shotgun shells littered the ground. Yes, some idiots had decided to use the squirrels as clay skeet targets, probably the evening before . Dogwoods used to bloom in May on both sides of the ledge. Phoebes would nest in ledge crevices. Wild columbines can survive growing on ledges and rocks. They can't survive being crushed by motorized recreational vehicles. Shame on DCR. 
 
What is a bioreserve?
From the Bioreserve Management Plan:
A  bioreserve is a large land area that is permanently protected from development and managed to ensure the long-term health of the natural resources.
 
The public and private partners agree the success of the Bioreserve depends upon managing these lands in a cooperative and consistent manner that preserves the functionality of a large-scale ecosystem and promoted biodiversity, conservation, weather supply protection, sustainable forest management, and scientific, educational and recreational opportunities. In addition, the partners are committed to providing interpretive and educational programs that will relate the values and significance of the Bioreserve to the citizens of the Commonwealth.
 
Every day Massachusetts loses 44 acres of open space to development, and  in the southeast region sprawl is consuming land at three times the rate of population growth. As a result, the farms and forests of the region are being replaced by subdivisions and commercial developments that threaten to turn the region into pawling commuter suburbs.
 
Here are the five Partners, the land holding agencies, of the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve. Read their mission statements that none of them, apparently, believe in anymore. 

“These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and, instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar.”

-John Muir

If you see problems in the Bioreserve here are the Bioreserve Partners  and their addresses:

 

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Mission Statement (EOEEA)
"EOEEA seeks to protect, preserve, and enhance the Commonwealth's environmental resources while ensuring a clean energy future for the state's residents."
Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 1020
Boston, MA 02114   Phone: (617) 626-1000
 
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Mission Statement
"To protect, promote and enhance our common wealth of natural, cultural and recreational resources for the well-being of all."
DCR Main Office 10 Park Plaza Suite 6620. Boston, Massachusetts 02116. Phone: 617-626-1250.

The Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) Mission Statement
"MassWildlife restores, protects, and manages land for wildlife to thrive and for people to enjoy."
MassWildlife Field Headquarters, 1 Rabbit Hill Road, Westborough, MA 01581

The Trustees of Reservations (TTOR) Mission Statement 
"The centerpiece of the Trustees mission is protecting places of ecological, scenic, and historic importance."
The Trustees, 200 High Street, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02110

The City of Fall River's Motto. Can't find a mission statement.
"We'll try." 
Unlike those above, at least they "try" ...sometimes. 
Fall River Water Department, Watuppa Reservation, 2929 Blossom Road, Fall River, MA 


"Arguably the most intelligent being that’s ever walked planet Earth, with this extraordinary brain, yet we're destroying the only home we have.” 
-Jane Goodall
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ACTIVITY ALERT - April spring walk

Hear the birds early in the morning? Spring is here.

 

A happy carolina wren announcing spring has arrived in southeastern Massachusetts.

Photo courtesy Liz G.

Jack is back preaching from his pulpit that spring is here

 
Meet at the intersection of Yellow Hill Road and Tower Road, Fall River, MA at 9 a.m. This Saturday, April 13.

Length of walk 4 miles. Dress for the weather. It is still early spring, not summer yet. Some trails may be wet and muddy. Water and snack always a good idea. Rain cancels walk.

Direction to trailhead:
From State Road (Route 6), Westport, go north at the intersection of State Road (6) and Old Bedford Road. Old Bedford Road will be the road off State Road (6) between White's of Restaurant and the Marriott Hotel.
Follow Old Bedford Road, east, until Blossom Road. Go north on Blossom Road approximately 1 1/2 miles until you come to Indian Town Road. East on Indian Town Road approximately 1 1/2 miles until the intersection with Yellow Hill Road.
Left, north, up Yellow Hill Road approximately 1 mile to gated Tower Road which will be on your right
Do not block gate. Someone will be there and direct you where to park.
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 ACTIVITY ALERT - Walking in April

Next walk May 11 to some historic sites
.
Clouds and chilly temperatures in the morning as we walked some woods roads and trails through the forest on the west and northwest sides of Copicut Hill. The red maples were blooming and it is almost that time, here in our neck of the April woods, when nighttime temperatures start to stay above freezing all night long. That will last until frost returns on a night in late October or early November. 



Checking the route of Saturday's 4 mile hike.
Photos courtesy Liz



Little Queen Gutter Brook is running for all it's worth. Lots of April showers should mean lots of May wildflowers. 



Wood frogs have finished laying their eggs in woodland vernal pools and now it is time for American toads to do the same. 

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INFO ALERT - A bioreserve in name only


It has been over twenty years since a handful of environmentally concerned citizens fought off a series of unwise and despicable development proposals planned for land in the Freetown State Forest. We were successful which ultimately led to the creation of the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve(SMB). Most of those who fought so hard to save the forest are no longer with us and we feel sad and disappointed that what they worked so hard for is now being lost by those state agencies and others that are supposed to be the SMB's protectors, managers and rules, regulations and law enforcers.
 
We remember all the volunteer workers and participants who attended fund raisers, spoke at public meetings, walked the "BIG WALKs to Save the Forest" and joined  Green Futures and the Friends of the Freetown State Forest in order to save, in perpetuity, greater Fall River's public water supply and the last large block of forested land in rapidly growing Bristol County. We remember the Friends "Fun Day in the Forest," Folks donating their time and working tirelessly to "Save the Forest", the Bioblitz with E. O. Wilson and the dedication of The Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB) twentyfour years ago.

There are three environmental state agencies, one private land trust and one city, Fall River, that make up the "Bioreserve Partners." They hold land within the SMB and there is a management plan, 2003, that they have never followed. Why? Because it would take time and effort and in this environmental injustice area of the state ...also economically and educationally deprived ...they know few will complain so little will have to be done.

"These temple-destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar."
- John Muir

A little more on the ill-conceived plan for the almighty dollar by The Trustees of Reservations (TTOR). 
 
  
Before we get to that, here are two links, in case you missed them, to give some background ...and then what follows is what we've recently received.



FROM - https://www.mass.gov/guides/masstrails-grants - 2021 Grants awarded.

2021 Grants Awarded:
"Copicut Woods in Fall River is a dynamic reservation featuring upland forests, wetlands and waterways, as well as remnants of a vibrant agricultural past. Over five miles of trails wind across the property and connect to the nearby Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve, one of the largest protected tracts of land in the Commonwealth. With this grant the Trustees will construct an 1,850-foot Universal Access Nature Play Trail, starting from the main parking lot to the heart of the property. Replacing an existing trail, this new trail is not only universally accessible but also features small nature play installations for young children, together serving to expand overall community access and engagement at Copicut Woods."
 
Some might say they were more interested in a fund-grab than they were in their ill-conceived project or in the "young children"  they say their project is to benefit. Much of the Bioreserve forest is "universally accessible" for "nature play" without spending thousands of dollars of our tax money altering the natural environment and impacting forest's biological diversity. Adaptive equipment for children with disabilities to negotiate their natural environment should be the only major expense.
 
Money to fragment our forest:
MassTrails Grant Application Budget Worksheet. Cost of Project Personnel: Brief Description Total MassTrails Request Total Proposed Match Total Cost Source of Match Are Match funds secured? Project Staff Trustees Associate Field Director, Operations and Programs (at $38.15 / hr) on site project manager for new accessible nature play trail, and enhancing the rest of the trail network to match high quality visitor experience (120 hours) $ 4,578.00 $ 4,578.00 Trustees general operating yes Trustees Director of Visitor Experience (at $55.96 / hr) design and install trail signage and accessibility oversight (40 hours) $ 2,238.40 $ 2,238.40 Trustees general operating yes Trustees Director of Outdoor Experience (at $59.62 / hr) project mgmt, nature play strategy development, and community outreach and engagement ($59.62/hour x 100 hours) $ 5,962.00 $ 5,962.00 Trustees general operating yes Trustees Managing Director, Community Impact (at $113.27 / hr) Support community outreach and engagement efforts, especially developing protocol for community listening sessions (10 hrs) $ 1,132.70 $ 1,132.70 Trustees general operating yes Trustees GIS Manager (at $43.96 / hr) updating and revisign maps to reflect changes in trail type/use (8 hrs) $ 351.68 $ 351.68 Trustees general operating yes Trustees Director of Brand and Content, Marketing ($59.62 / hr) Development of press releases, web site content, photography, and a social media strategy (8 hrs) $ 476.96 $ 476.96 Trustees general operating yes Volunteers (at $31 / hr): site prep, finish grading, seeding, sign and play feature installations (360 hours) $ - $11,160 $ 11,160.00 In-kind support yes Cost of Consultant / Sub-Contracted Service: Brief Description Total MassTrails Request Total Proposed Match Total Cost Source of Match Are Match funds secured? Survey/engineering plan--OHI Engineering site plan with grading for ADA specifications $ 2,500.00 $ 2,500.00 Permitting Services MESA filing $ 1,000.00 $ 1,000.00 Design Services --Gardens for Life Nature playscape design consultant to develop renderings and plans for 3-5 nature play elements. Consultant to also co-host community listening sessions. ($100hr/80 hours) $ 8,000.00 $ 8,000.00 Construction Services: firm TBD full construction--excavation, prep, grading, compaction $ 66,600.00 $ 66,600.00 Cost of Materials and Supplies: Brief Description Total MassTrails Request Total Proposed Match Total Cost Source of Match Are Match funds secured? Natural playgrounds nature play elements and supplies to install in 3-5 locations on trail $ 10,000.00 $ - $ 10,000.00 Benches granite or wood benches to be installed along the trail $ 3,000.00 $ 3,000.00 Signage trail directional signs, welcome/entrance signs, maps, interpretive signs $ 3,000.00 $ 3,000.00 Cost of Equipment: Brief Description Total MassTrails Request Total Proposed Match Total Cost Source of Match Are Match funds secured? $ - Total Grant Request: $ 94,100.00 Percent of Project: 78% Total Proposed Match: $ 25,899.74 Percent of Project: 22% Total Project Costs: $ 119,999 

This foolish funding request by TTOR occured way back in 2021. We honestly thought, over the past few years, that they had come to their senses and had given up on this. Here's what we said back then:  http://www.greenfutures.org/?content=DlV1y6a7fmumHr5o
 
A sin and a shame!


 


 

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