Updated, Oct. 22
State officials overseeing the removal of close to 200-hundred acres of white pine trees from the Manuel Correllus State Forest on the Vineyard say that they are seeking clarification whether they need a key report before beginning the project.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation have stated that staff do not believe they need an Environmental Impact Report – a more comprehensive review of the forest and project — but that they will ask the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act office (MEPA) to be sure.
“DCR believes the agency has completed the reporting and documentation required by the permit and that no EIR is needed for the habitat management activity. However, the agency will be seeking clarification from MEPA,” a spokesperson with the agency said in a statement issued to the Times on Tuesday.
A report could require the state to draft a firebreak management plan, conduct a study looking at the impacts of different management techniques used in the project, and protocols for an annual survey, as was required in 2001, the origins of the existing clear-cut plan.
The habitat management project, which could begin in December, includes the restoration of a native plant habitat that will support state-listed and other rare species by removing non-native conifer plantations within a 175-acre project area. It’s been controversial among many Island residents who worry that removing the trees would clear a cherished part of the Island.
That opposition to the project took a step forward in recent days as a number of Island residents have called for the state to conduct the Environmental Impact Report before completing the project and have authored an OpEd.
David Foster, director emeritus of the Harvard Forest, and Megan Ottens-Sargent, a former Martha’s Vineyard Commissioner, are part of the effort leading the request to the state. Foster provided documentation that shows that in 2001, the then secretary of the Massachusetts Secretary of the Environment had required the environmental impact report on the 2001 project that at the time was intended to widen fire lines in the State Forest. The project also included the removal of some 216 acres of trees.
Because the most recent plan to cut pines is a continuation of that project, Foster said that the plan should also require an environmental impact report.
But a response from the state is raising questions of how related the two projects are. In a statement to the Times last week, a state spokesperson said that the original work that underwent environmental protection review in 2001 related to the installation of firebreaks in the forest. That work was authorized by the 2001 Conservation Permit and was completed long ago, the state said. Therefore, no environmental report was needed, they argued.
Previously, however, a spokesperson with the state told the Times that the project is part of a 2001 permit for firebreak management and maintenance, which include pine tree removal. But after approximately 25 miles were constructed in 2018, DCR realized that their permit from 20 years prior hadn’t been fulfilled, which turned into the existing project.
Foster, who said that he is pleased the state is investigating whether the report is required.
“I think that’s the whole purpose…so that we can actually investigate and do this right.” Foster said the clarification will provide the information the state and community needs to move discuss the project.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if and when the trees need to be cut, they could be milled and used for lumber?
MEPA is not the name of an agency.
MEPA is the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act.
It is closely related to NEPA, the National
Environmental Policy Act, a
foundational U.S. law enacted in 1970.
“The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act
(MEPA) requires state agencies to study the
environmental impacts of their actions. . . . It . . . ensures the state
considers the environmental consequences of its
decisions and mandates measures to protect the environment.. . .
State agencies must analyze the environmental effects of projects and programs they are involved in.. . . Before a project can proceed, the project proponent must file
documents, such as an Environmental Notification Form (ENF), as the first step in the MEPA process. . . . Depending on the project’s potential impact, a more detailed
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) may be required.. . .”
Secretary of the Environment Bob
Durand REQUIRED that an EIR be prepared before major management
activities were undertaken in the State Forest in 2001.
No EIR was done.
What is currently being proposed is the same project.
Perhaps it will be for a judge to determine
whether there is a statute of limitations on Secretary Durand’s requirement.
Grateful to the MV times for doing a deep dive on this issue. It’s good to know that at least one local paper has the guts to question the validity of the “state’s might is right” approach – Especially when the gazette has refused to publish well informed letters over the last 2 weeks – letters that oppose the current plan for the forest.