Withdrawal from Robinson   Robert Leverett   Feb 12, 2007 08:18 PST  ENTS,    Ed Frank suggested that I pass the following e-mail along that I sent last week to interested parties. The e-mail is self-explanatory. I won't elaborate further at this time. So, now it is back to our primary passion. Bob ================================================================ Hello Everyone,     Gary Beluzo and I have been discussing the ENTS role to date in the Robinson SP timber sale issue and have come to the conclusion that our best function is to make ourselves available only for scientific investigation. This was the initial plan, but to a considerable extent Gary and I (especially me) also functioned as facilitators/mediators to search for common ground between DCR and the Robinson SP Friends Group. It has never been the official role of ENTS to be an active advocate for or against a particular status for the Park. So to keep the lines clear, Gary and I are respectfully withdrawing from the tripartite group of DCR, Friends of Robinson State Park, and ENTS. We will not be attending further meetings held between DCR and Friends of Robinson SP - if held. We appreciate the trust placed in us by both the other parties and want to continue earning that trust. We can best do this by removing ourselves from the present controversies.     At an appropriate point in the future, Gary and I will develop a request for a DCR special use permit to study the population of tulip poplars in Robinson SP as part of a larger effort to: (1) map the distribution of the species in Massachusetts, (2) gain a better understanding of Liriodendron's local ecology, and (3) to document exemplary performance of the species. Results of the study may or may not include recommendations for managing the tulip poplars in Robinson SP to insure the continued presence of the species. If we include recommendations, we would first confer with experts both inside Massachusetts and elsewhere on species propagation under both natural and managed conditions.     All the information that we collect in Robinson SP will routinely be made available to DCR, the environmental and conservation organizations, ENTS, and other parties with special interests in Robinson.       Best regards to all, Bob    =============================================================== Robert T. Leverett Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society RE: Withdraw from Robinson   Robert Leverett   Feb 13, 2007 09:35 PST  Russ,    It was a difficult decision for Gary and I to make, but we came to see our greatest contribution in the documenting for science purposes the species and various unusual or exemplary features of Robinson SP made available to all sides. We just don't want to give the appearance of choosing sides while we're involved with the science.    Robinson has brought to the surface an important policy matter with respect to how we treat our parks in Massachusetts as opposed to our state forests. DCR's Bureau of Forestry would like to lump them together, and has proceeded along those lines, I think for years. But that is not the way the law reads. So, the state parks versus state forests issue needs to be resolved. But regardless of the outcome, we need to know what kinds of rare or endangered plants and archeological features and habitats needing protection are present in Robinson. We need to know if there are exemplary forest communities that need some form of recognition and/or protection. The communities of tulip poplars is a case in point.     However, for us to help in these determinations, Gary and I need to put ourselves outside the topics of disagreement so that the results we come up with won't be seen as slanted to one side or the other. Both DCR and the Friends Group are thoroughly understanding and supportive of our decision. We are grateful for that. Bob Re: Withdraw from Robinson   Fores-@aol.com   Feb 13, 2007 14:29 PST  Bob: I have read a majority of the posts you had written relative to the forestry stuff at Robinson as you sent them out and I think that (from the outside looking in) the public in general has a difficult time recognizing any natural feature that is unique or significant in their own back yard until it is a featured program on the Discovery Channel. I barely have a clue about Robinson SP and who might be in charge of things, in terms of administration or even the scientific thought behind the management, salvage or maintenance actions that are planned. However, if there is anything I have developed an appreciation for during my decades of crawling through the woods it is unique or rare landscapes. Contrary to popular thought, rare and unique are real words with real definitions. Just because you can download a pretty digital image from the Internet does not make any thing more common. I think that yellow poplar is a tree that will begin a northward migration as the climate becomes more carbon dioxide rich and that yellow poplar DNA from places like Robinson SP could become the source for a long term expansion of the trees' "natural" range up the Connecticut River valley. Unrelated or not? As a private forester, if I had a client who owned a parcel of land with some feature that was unique or a patch of trees that were extremely large or unusual for the area, I would lobby to leave the area alone. I would do my best to remind people that uncommon species tend to have a limited market and a limited value and I cannot come up with a more compelling reason to leave unique patches of woods alone. Russ   Home