GREENFIELD — A judge will hear arguments for why — and why not — a group of protesters’ case against the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation should be dismissed Tuesday.
The Wendell State Forest Alliance is a group of 29 co-plaintiffs suing the DCR over a logging project in Wendell State Forest this past summer.
They allege that the logging within an 80-acre stand of old oak violated state laws, including the Global Warming Solutions Act, and was both counterproductive in fighting climate change and done without proper public input.
The state denies this, and Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Kendra Kinscherf has filed a motion to dismiss the case. The parties will go before Judge Jane E. Mulqueen in Franklin County Superior Court Tuesday at 2 p.m.
“It is hoped that the court considers carefully the issues raised in this case and helps resolve this dispute, because the underlying issues are not going away even if this case is dismissed,” said lead plaintiff Glen Ayers.
Ayers, former regional health inspector for the Franklin County Regional Council of Governments, said the DCR’s process with such projects are inherently flawed and biased, because when a project is appealed, the DCR is the entity that conducts a review.
“The ones that are doing the project are the ones that are doing the appeal,” Ayers said.
The protesters’ main issue with the completed logging project concerns climate change. Citing organizations like the U.N., the Wendell State Forest Alliance argues leaving forests untouched is the best way to fight climate change over time, because old, large trees sequester more carbon from the atmosphere than younger trees.
Since fall of 2018, the protesters opposed the project in a variety of manners. They held rallies and picketing events, and even changed themselves by trees or physically attempted to block loggers and equipment, leading to repeated arrests.
“When 17 citizens get arrested by DCR while peacefully protesting, this strongly indicates there must be something very wrong that requires judicial review,” Ayers said.
The group first brought the state to court in August, when logging was still going on, asking for a “preliminary injunction” to halt the project until the suit is settled at a future trial. However, Judge Michael Callan ruled in the state’s favor, allowing the project to go forward and finding that protesters’ claims of the project causing “irreparable” harm were unfounded.
It is DCR policy not to comment on ongoing legal matters, but their position has been revealed both in court and in a meeting between the Wendell Selectboard and DCR Commissioner Leo Roy.
According to Roy, the “selective” logging project will allow the forest to become more diverse in both trees’ ages and species, and will foster a healthy forest that sequesters more carbon over the long term.
The protesters have disagreed with the DCR’s logic, and declare that global warming is an imminent emergency that doesn’t allow long-term thinking.
“This lawsuit should not be dismissed because of the critical role that intact forests play in addressing the climate emergency,” said plaintiff Priscilla Lynch.
The Wendell State Forest Alliance has vowed to continue their activism. Recently, a member was arrested for standing in front of a freight train in Ayer, protesting the use of coal for fuel. Another member of the group, biologist Bill Stubblefield, is conducting a study to measure the amount of carbon the trees removed from Wendell State Forest were sequestering.
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.