Forest Management to Address Climate Change in Massachusetts
Mixed Reaction to the State’s Proposed Implementation of the Recommendations of the Climate Forestry Committee
Our Winter 2024 issue provided major coverage of the Report of the Climate Forestry Committee (CFC) assigned by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) to recommend forest management approaches to address and mitigate climate change. That feature included the report along with perspectives on the process and recommendations by executive branch officials and committee members.
On July 10, 2024, the EEA released its formal response to the report’s recommendations and proposed new management actions and policies for public and private forests in the Commonwealth. An interview on NPR affiliate WAMC with EEA officials explained the state’s plan to protect and manage forest lands to prioritize this important natural resource for its carbon sequestration capabilities.
Photos © David Foster
The response to EEA’s forest management proposal has been mixed. The Massachusetts Forest Alliance welcomed the associated renewal of forest harvesting on state land, yet noted that the state response left many “unanswered questions.” Meanwhile, in an article in the Springfield Republican, environmentalists who seek to ban harvesting on most state lands characterized the state’s position as “forward-thinking…[but] falling short.” These individuals, including Michael Kellett, Janet Sinclair, and Karl Dziura, called for immediate action by the state to increase passively managed wildland reserves by protecting a minimum of 30 percent of the forest cover in the state with this designation.
In a related action, three CFC report authors—Richard Birdsey, David Foster, and William Moomaw— wrote a letter to and then met with Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer, EEA Undersecretary Stephanie Cooper, and Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) Commissioner Tom O’Shea to object to the plan by DFW to renew active management for early successional habitat (ESH). They cited insufficient data on the status of ESH habitats in the state; misinterpretation of the history of this habitat, which has developed as a response to deforestation and agriculture; and the climate and ecological imperative to allow forests to mature into old-growth forest. This group argued that the highest priority for the state’s climate mitigation mandate and biodiversity goals should be rewilding of forests and the promotion of regionally rare old growth.
© Audrey Barker Plotkin (middle) and David Foster
From this observer’s perspective, the report and EEA response include many positive elements, including:
application to the management of all forests—public and private—in the Commonwealth;
recognition that “for more than ten thousand years, Massachusetts was mostly covered by mature and old-growth forests”;
the need “first and foremost, [for] societal reduction of resource consumption” and “forest protection”;
“A critical cautionary note…that increasing the use of long-lived wood products and substituting them for other materials will not necessarily increase stored carbon or reduce net emissions if harvest volume is increased”;
recognition that “middle-aged forests that predominate in the Eastern U.S….could continue to accumulate carbon for many decades or even centuries”; and
reiteration of goals to protect 40 percent of the Commonwealth and secure 10 percent of forests in reserves.
That said, the EEA response is ambiguous concerning:
the definition of and acreage goals for reserves in Massachusetts, some of which were characterized in Wildlands in New England as “weakly protected,” and inappropriately including two actively managed state forests as reserves;
the specific acreage goals for active forest management; and
arguments for active management based on vague and undefined terms including “resilience,” “diversity,” “adaptation,” “healthy,” “integrity,” “vulnerable,” and “stress.”
David Foster is an ecologist, Director Emeritus of the Harvard Forest, and President Emeritus of the Highstead Foundation. He co-founded the Wildlands and Woodlands Initiative in 2005 and was lead writer of Wildlands in New England: Past, Present, and Future in 2023. David has written and edited books including Thoreau’s Country: Journey Through a Transformed Landscape; Forests in Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1,000 Years of Change in New England; Hemlock: A Forest Giant on the Edge; and A Meeting of Land and Sea: The Nature and Future of Martha’s Vineyard.