This letter was sent to Brian Arrigo, commissioner with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
We write with regard to recent activity at the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest on Martha’s Vineyard to clear homeless encampments.
To be clear, we are a community that not only cares about our homeless population, but has and is committing human and financial resources to helping those in need, led by Harbor Homes of Martha’s Vineyard, supported by the county, local towns, and by numerous other organizations and individuals on the island.
In particular, we write to express our dismay at DCR’s recent eviction of island residents in the State Forest with either no, or at best, very limited and clearly insufficient communication before people’s entire possessions were removed and, incomprehensibly, destroyed. We implore DCR to coordinate its activities on the Island with Island officials and resources such as the county and Harbor Homes, to ensure this never happens again.
We share DCR’s stated concern about the fire hazard in the State Forest. We have, in fact, advocated multiple times over many years to ask the state to leverage the existing housing/watch station in the forest by assigning a full-time person to live there and thereby regularly monitor for fires and to serve as the agency’s eyes and ears on the Island. We have never received so much as a response. In light of recent actions, we are asking again, and that DCR do so immediately.
Martina Thornton
for the Dukes County Commissioners
