Anger about Forestry Practices

I can tell you (NEARA: are you listening), the worst threat  to stone structures is sloppy forestry practices and I cannot see why our community doesn't make at least a minimal effort to complain about it and, maybe, get it fixed.

A couple days ago I posted a photo of a stone wall crushed from the tread of heavy equipment. I sent the photo to the New England Forestry Foundation and heard back as follows:

"I can tell you our normal procedure is to avoid creating new openings in stonewalls whenever possible by not crossing them or using existing openings. Unfortunately, that is not always possible given the extensive nature of stonewalls throughout our region. "


[Peter gnashes his teeth] So guys: how about sending a few emails about this to various people? Not destroying stone walls as part of forest "stewardship" should be a requirement for a permit. A lot of people take those tax breaks, make some money, and could care less if they destroy everything to get to the trees. I think town historic and natural resource committees ought to be challenged about this. Towns need to protect their stone walls if the state refuses.