Jeff Weeks: Logging at Quabbin has many advantages 

Again people are trying to stop logging in the Quabbin Reservoir. But good forest management requires logging.

I learned this at the University of Massachusetts back in the late Sixties. I went on to log in the Quabbin for many years and I can assure the public the Quabbin foresters are a very fussy bunch.

They make sure the job is done correctly. One of the downsides to an unmanaged forest with the lack of logging is the lack of maintained logging roads. Do you know what happens if there is a major fire or if a hiker becomes lost or injured?

While many have been quick to complain about logging, think about the times you read about a logging road being used for a emergency purpose. Lastly, I would ask how many of the anti-loggers live in wooden houses? Let’s be realistic here. Do you know the environmental cost of houses not made of wood?

Shutting down the Quabbin, again, will cost local people jobs and obstruct a well thought out and necessary management plan.

Jeff Weeks

Belchertown