Longtime Mount Washington resident Eleanor Tillinghast stands at the edge of state forest set to be logged as part of a plan to manage it. Tillinghast, who is co-founder of Green Berkshires, has told state officials they are willing to help the state buy other property it wants in town in exchange for leaving this forest alone.
MOUNT WASHINGTON — What’s the price to protect the forests near the Mount Washington “Cattle Barn Lot” property? A longtime resident and environmentalist might have the answer.
Eleanor Tillinghast, co-founder of Green Berkshires, says she, her husband and a group of others would be “more than willing” to help the state or a nonprofit buy other land in town for preservation in exchange for the halting of the planned logging project on the parcel. Her proposal would eventually see the entire 362-acre lot placed into the Mount Washington Forest Reserve.
She said she has been told two estimates of the project’s total timber price yield: $100,000, and $130,000.
“It is a small price to pay to protect such an exceptional forest,” she said of a 175-acre area within the lot containing mature sugar maples that are rare to the town that are marked by state foresters for cutting. “If the governor is serious about protecting mature forests, then our offer is a win-win for everyone.”
The section of Mount Washington State Forest known as the “Cattle Barn Lot” after the cow shed seen in the field is the planned site for a controversial logging operation by the state.
She said she has been given two estimates of the project timber yield: $100,000, and $130,000.
Tillinghast explained all of this in response to information about the plan in a July 23 email that was sent to The Eagle anonymously. She had sent the email to several state employees and someone who works for The Nature Conservancy.
The revelation is the latest twist in a conservation saga that has seen a clash between foresters and environmentalists, climate scientists, state and local officials and residents in two neighboring towns.
The state is chopping inside 275 acres of forest and using herbicide near a drinking water source in Mount Washington. The town is pushing back
With the support of most town households, Tillinghast has spearheaded the effort to halt the DCR’s plans. The agency describes it as a forestry management project meant to create future “climate resiliency,” as well as to support the local timber harvesting industry.
DCR does not yet have an estimated start date for the logging project. But project documents say the closeout date is December 2025.
The project has come under fire from environmentalists like Tillinghast, town officials and residents. It also is criticized by climate scientists who say the trees, when possible, should be left alone to store carbon — a policy position maintained by the Healey administration.
Another aspect of the plan has sparked an uproar: The use of glyphosate this summer to kill invasive species near where a network of intermittent streams form the headwaters of Egremont’s drinking water supply. Mount Washington officials are still asking for more details from the state about this herbicide treatment.
All of this prompted a visit to the site in August by multiple DCR forestry officials and top leaders from Gov. Maura Healey’s administration, including state Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer and Stephanie Cooper, undersecretary for the environment in the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Hoffer said during an interview at the site that, after hearing concerns from Tillinghast and others in town, a “compromise” may be afoot. She did not elaborate.
The offer
When asked about Tillinghast’s email, a DCR spokesperson who declined to be named said that the agency is “currently reviewing” the project “to address concerns raised by the local community while still aiming to achieve the project goals.”
“We’re committed to conserving and enhancing our state forestlands and natural habitats,” the spokesperson said, “and to making investments across the state, including in this region.”
In that July 23 email, Tillinghast discussed her offer: a possible donation of money by her, her husband and possibly another couple to help the state buy two separate parcels totaling 504 acres that it has wanted to acquire. The land, Tillinghast, learned this week, is not currently for sale, but she would be willing to help should that change.
Biologist Ben Nickley measures the circumference of an old sugar maple tree marked for logging area in Mount Washington State Forest in August. According to Nickley the tree could be a vital contributor to the balance of the forest ecosystem. Sugar maples are rare in Mount Washington, and activists do not want to see them cut.
Tillinghast explained that the land is owned by two separate people who might want to sell because a rattlesnake habitat makes it impossible for them to build. The state, however, can only pay the appraised value of the land. The owners want to sell for something closer to market value.
Tillinghast’s donation would be the extra money — paid to those sellers directly — needed to augment the state’s money and reach what those two landowners think is a fair price. She said she and her husband “would receive no personal benefit from our contribution,” nor would they be eligible for a “tax break.”
“And we do not live anywhere near either of the two properties that might be for sale,” she said, “or near the Cattle Barn Lot.” Tillinghast sees her offers as a “public service.”
Meanwhile, Green Berkshires, Tillinghast noted, will continue its numerous scientific studies of the forest ecology that it will share with the state. This includes an $18,000 hydrology study using Lidar — or light detection and ranging — technology that will show the true extent of the watershed.
This post was originally published on here
