Mass Audubon supports PHATS

Patrick O’Brien
Senior Manager, Government Affairs & Communications
Comprehensive Decommissioning International
1 Holtec Boulevard 
Camden, NJ 08104                                    

Dear Mr. O’Brien,

Mass Audubon is writing to express our strong support that the Holtec non-NRC licensed parcels should be protected forever for conservation and recreational purposes. The land owned by Holtec represents one of the most important unprotected tracts of contiguous coastal pine barrens forest in Massachusetts. Pine barrens are a globally rare ecosystem and habitat for numerous rare plants and wildlife. The opportunity to protect over one thousand acres of pine barren forest from a single owner in Massachusetts may never occur again. This property, moreover, is adjacent to Town of Plymouth conservation land, Mass Audubon’s Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary, and open space set aside within the Pine Hills master planned community. Combined, these various properties comprise over one thousand acres of protected land. Mass Audubon is working with the Town and other partners to protect other parcels of land and further augment this protected corridor. Adding the Holtec non-NRC parcels to this block of protected land would further help cement the resilience of coastal habitat and existing wildlife corridors in eastern Plymouth to the effects of climate change. Protection of this land would provide clear ecosystem services for the community. For example, the extensive hiking trail network proposed also known as the Pine Hills Area Trail System (PHATS) would create a charismatic trail network for the local community and travelers to enjoy, exercise, and unwind. The economic and public health benefits from this alone would be significant. This large block of forest would also store a prodigious amount of carbon and help mitigate the effects of climate change.                                                                        

Mass Audubon fully supports the Massachusetts Coastal Pine Barrens Partnership’s initiative to protect this property. We further would support an application for a US Forest Service Forest Legacy grant to acquire the property for permanent protection and placed under the management of the Town of Plymouth Conservation Commission.

Sincerely,                    
Bob Wilber
Director of Land Conservation Mass Audubon