From the Howard Scripps News Service
The world recently learned that a magnificent bird - the
ivory-billed woodpecker, with its fantastic red plumage - is alive and
well and flying through the forests of Arkansas. For ever so long,
admirers of the bird feared it had become extinct because of human
carelessness, as have so many other bird species.
When researchers finally caught the rare bird on tape, the news flashed
around the world at nearly the speed of light. But it might not have been
an accident that Arkansas has harbored the endangered animal.
Primarily known worldwide as the refuge of Bill Clinton, this small state
voted in a conservation sales tax in 1997. The small tax, less than a
penny on the dollar, has been used to protect Arkansas' disappearing
forests, among many other laudable goals.
So to our way of thinking, Arkansas deserves to be known as the state that
provided refuge to this outstandingly beautiful but very shy bird. In
today's self-centered world, to vote in a self-tax is almost as awesome as
rediscovering the ivory-billed woodpecker.
Now a group of Massachusetts researchers hope that their state will also
ante up, in a different fashion. Researchers from the Harvard Forest, in
Petersham, recently issued a report called "Wildlands and Woodlands: A
Vision for the Forests of Massachusetts," calling for converting about
half of all state-owned lands into "Wildlands," which would be completely
left alone, to let nature follow its own course. Federal land similarly
designated as "Wilderness" has met with resounding conservation success.
The Harvard Forest report also calls for "protecting 2.25 million acres
(nearly half of the state) as well-managed Woodlands, to support
sustainable timber harvesting, extensive wildlife habitat, and human
recreation and enjoyment."
That's a lot of acreage. But the researchers insist that this is necessary
if human quality-of-life issues - clean water, clean air - are to be
addressed.
Their fears are not without cause. A generally accepted statistic is that
about 40 acres of Massachusetts is lost each day to developers who pave
parking lots, put up massive oceanfront homes, cover the state with
shopping malls - and then walk away with the profits, often to their own
protected estates.
We don't presume to know exactly how many Massachusetts acres should be
preserved, or what their special status should be. That's for the
scientists to think about, and, sadly, the politicians to haggle over.
But we do know that something needs to be done.
