Logo Department Organization Information Organization Address Information Forest Service Washington Office 201 14th Street, SW Washington, DC 20250 File Code: 3360 Date: October 11, 2016 Route To: Subject: Approval of Massachusetts Forest Legacy Assessment of Need Amendment - Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area To: James S. Barresi, Acting Area Director, Northeastern Area, State and Private Forestry This memorandum is in response to your letter of September 6, 2016, regarding the proposed amendment request to the Massachusetts Forest Legacy Assessment of Need. The amendment proposed a new Forest Legacy Area (FLA), called the Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area, that will absorb three existing FSAs and create stronger linkages across the region. Our staff has reviewed the amendment and I approve. /s/ James E. Hubbard JAMES E. HUBBARD Deputy Chief for State & Private Forestry cc: Scott Stewart, Mark Buccowich, Jada Jackson, Neal Bungard, Connie Carpenter America’s Working Forests – Caring Every Day in Every Way Printed on Recycled Paper Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area Proposal July 18, 2016 Sponsored by New England Forestry Foundation P.O. Box 1346 Littleton, MA 01460 Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area Proposal July 18, 2016 Sponsored by New England Forestry Foundation Bob Perschel, Executive Director P.O. Box 1346 Littleton, MA 01460 (978) 952-6856 [email protected] In Partnership With Berkshire Natural Resources Council Franklin Land Trust Hilltown Land Trust Kestrel Land Trust MassAudubon The Nature Conservancy Proposal Coordinator Conservation Works LLC Anne Capra P.O. Box 705 North Hatfield, MA 01066 (413) 824-1148 [email protected] Administrative Summary I. Objectives of the Proposed Amendment See Section 1(A) II. Location of each geographic area on a map and a written description of the proposed Forest Legacy Area boundary See Section 1(B), Appendix B and Appendix C III. Summary of analysis used to identify the Forest Legacy Area and its consistency with the Eligibility Criteria See Sections 1(C) IV. Identification of the important environmental values and how they will be protected and conserved See Section 1(D) and Section 2 V. The conservation goals or objectives of the Forest Legacy Area See Section 1(F) and Section 3(B) VI. List of public benefits that will be derived from establishing the Forest Legacy Area See Section 2 VII. Identification of governmental entity or entities that may hold lands or interests in lands The primary tool for land protection will be conservation restrictions (CR). Fee ownership and/or restrictions may be held by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) or Department of Fish and Game (DFG). Both are departments within the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA). Conservation Commissions for each municipality may also hold the fee ownership and/or restrictions with approval by their Board of Selectmen or Mayor. All CRs are subject to the approval of the Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs. EEA and its agencies have a Conservation Restriction Stewardship Policy. This document details how “baseline reports” and annual monitoring will be completed. VIII. Documentation of the public involvement process and analysis of the issues raised See Section 1(E) VIIII. Forest Legacy Area Criteria The following document outlines how the proposed WMFLA meets the Forest Legacy Area criteria: a. Be threatened by present or future conversion to non‐forest uses b. Contain one or more of the following important public values: 1) Scenic resources 2) Public recreation opportunities 3) Riparian/hydrologic areas 4) Fish and wildlife habitat 5) Known threatened or endangered species 6) Known cultural/historic areas, and/or 7) Other ecological values Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area Proposal 1 c. Provide opportunities for continuation of traditional forest uses d. Reflect important regional values Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area Proposal 2 Section I: Introduction A. Objectives of the Proposed Amendment This proposal seeks to add a new Forest Legacy Area (FLA) to be called the Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area (WMFLA), by amending the Forest Legacy Needs Assessment, Massachusetts [Archey et al., 1993 as amended 2000 (Taconic), 2001 (Nashua River), 2010 (North Quabbin Extension), and 2013 (Heritage Corridor)]. The proposed designation focuses on the “Berkshire Highlands” area, the most heavily forested region of the Commonwealth and one of the largest intact forest blocks remaining in New England. The area offers a landscape of high ecological integrity that is resilient to the challenges of climate change while also supporting a corridor of wildlife habitat that stretches from the Hudson Valley of New York to the Green Mountains of Vermont. The region’s timber and forest products industry, along with sources of clean drinking water, scenic natural beauty, and significant recreational opportunities, have underpinned the economy and health of local communities for centuries and may well hold the key to their well‐being in the future. This proposal also seeks to absorb the three FLAs that currently exist within the area to create stronger linkages across the region: Taconic Range, Stockbridge Yokum Ridge Reserve, and the Connecticut Valley East and West. Each of these areas is small enough to have exhausted its potential for a diverse range of landscape scale projects. In joining them within the new and significantly larger WMFLA, the opportunities for aggregating parcels to create protected corridors for working woodlands and woodland preserves are strengthened. The Massachusetts Forest Legacy Program is set up with a “sponsoring” non‐profit organization coordinating Forest Legacy projects within each FLA. This FLA nomination is sponsored by the New England Forest Foundation (NEFF). The service area for NEFF covers the WMFLA. This nomination proposal was developed in close working partnership with the following organizations: Kestrel Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy, Hilltown Land Trust, Franklin Land Trust, Berkshire Natural Resources Council, and MassAudubon. The current sponsors of the existing FLAs within the proposed WMFLA – Berkshire Natural Resources Council and Kestrel Land Trust – have worked closely on the development of this proposal and pledged their support (see letters of support in Appendix A). Each of the sponsors will work continue to work collaboratively with NEFF in bringing forth projects within the WMFLA. B. Location of the Proposed Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area As conceived, this new Forest Legacy Area would span 1.25 million acres across 51 towns in western Massachusetts stretching from the Connecticut River in the east, across the Berkshire Highlands, and into the Taconic Range, ending at the Massachusetts/ New York border in the west. The proposed Forest Legacy Area excludes the 21 towns in Franklin and Berkshire Counties, known as the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership region, which are currently considering a partnership program with the State and the U.S. Forest Service1. However, as the towns share similar natural and cultural resources, these towns have been included in the study area analysis for this proposal in the event those communities would like to request that the Forest Legacy Area be expanded to include them in the future, a process that would require a public involvement phase and approval by the U.S. Forest Service. A detailed boundary description for the proposed WMFLA can be found in Appendix B, along with a list of the towns and cities in Appendix C. 1 Only 20 of the 21 Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership towns are within the WMFLA study area. Lyden is within the North Quabbin FLA and therefore was not included in the study area. Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area Proposal 3 In 2003, the Berkshire Plateau Forest Legacy Area was proposed as an amendment to the AON, sponsored by The Nature Conservancy. For various reasons, the momentum behind this proposal was lost, and the Berkshire Plateau Forest Legacy Area was never completed, however it is sometimes recognized as the eighth Forest Legacy Area in Massachusetts. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in expanding the original Berkshire Plateau concept to the larger western Massachusetts area due to current research by The Nature Conservancy and their partners about climate change resiliency and habitat connectivity (see Section 2B below). Thus, this coalition of partnering organizations has worked together to put forth the WMFLA designation based on current research and data documenting its importance in Massachusetts and the northeast. Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area Proposal 4 Figure 1 Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area Proposal 5 Figure 2 Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area Proposal 6 Figure 3 Western Massachusetts Forest Legacy Area Proposal 7 C. Summary of the analysis used to identify the FLA and its consistency with the Eligibility Criteria In Massachusetts, there are currently seven Forest Legacy Areas (see Figure 3). In New England, Forest Legacy Areas surround western Massachusetts in Connecticut, New York and Vermont (See Figure 2). Creating a Forest Legacy Area in western Massachusetts would fill a significant void and complement previous federal investment in forestland across the Commonwealth and New England. A significant amount of on‐the‐ground capacity for land conservation exists with over 20 land