Protect Our Natural Heritage

Editor:

The Goose Pond forest exists in a unique context of community, politics, and environmental concerns. At our town meeting (Saturday, May 14) we will be asked to vote on a clash between the environment and development. The stakes are high because we will vote whether to bulldoze approximately four acres of Chatham’s natural forest, or to preserve it.

It is widely recognized that unfragmented blocks of undeveloped land and contiguous open space must be preserved to contribute to wildlife corridors and habitat for native flora and fauna. We also know that forests are effective in capturing and storing carbon and protecting current and potential future drinking water supply sites. This forest area is in our water resource protection district. Are we really willing to destroy the Goose Pond forest’s precious natural resources and the numerous benefits it bestows?

Chatham Town Meeting in 2021 voted against development in this forest because of the deep environmental scar that would be left behind. We are being asked the same question again this year. We still do not know what is being planned. We are just supposed to trust that all will be well, but it won’t because we are not only being asked to give up four acres of town forest, but also our natural heritage which should be sustained and stewarded for future generations. Please vote “No” on Article 62 and save the Goose Pond forest in total and in perpetuity and protect our fragile water resource area. And then vote “Yes” on Article 63 to place a conservation restriction on the last 19 acres of the Goose Pond forest.

Gloria M. Freeman

North Chatham