On September 21, I had the honor of joining the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust’s annual meeting in Montague, where I was invited to speak.
Read on for the remarks I delivered to those in attendance.
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Good afternoon.
Thank you, Emma and Mount Grace, for the invitation to speak today and join this wonderful annual meeting. Congratulations to the awardees and thank you for your service.
Friends, I am inspired by Mount Grace’s work to steward the Commonwealth’s natural and working lands, to bolster rural economies, and to contribute so significantly to the Commonwealth’s conservation goals.
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I know you all gathered here understand better than most, that our region shoulders a profound and growing responsibility — on behalf of all of Massachusetts.
Thanks to land stewards like Mount Grace, the region protects the Quabbin Reservoir watershed
Thanks to land stewards like Mount Grace, this region sustains wildlife habitats and healthy ecosystems, holding the key to the state’s nation-leading biodiversity goals.
Thanks to land stewards like Mount Grace, this region supports local farms, which feed our people, helping to increase food security in the Commonwealth. And by localizing our food system, reducing our carbon footprint.
Thanks to land stewards like Mount Grace, this region preserves and maintains working forests, which provide climate resilience, as well as all of the health and spiritual benefits of being in nature.
Our forests breathe for the Commonwealth.
I’ll never forget a map I saw when I was first elected regarding ground carbon density throughout the northeast region of the United States.
The places on the map with more carbon stored above ground were darker, and the places with less carbon stored were lighter — and the region where we are standing today was a dark, dark violet color. They are the lungs of the northeast — and without our forests we would not meet the state’s emission reduction requirements.
And finally, thanks to land stewards like Mount Grace, people come to this part of the Commonwealth from all over New England, to hunt, hike, fish, birdwatch, mountain bike, rock climb, kayak, and so much more.
All of this is an awesome responsibility.
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And it’s also increasingly challenging with the corrosive impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, a lack of sufficient state support — and an increasing burden given our communities’ current economic pressures.
I’ll offer just three examples:
#1
In 2019, Warwick received $111,218 in PILOT reimbursements for state-owned land. The following year, 2020, Warwick’s state owned land increased in value — by 2.3%. The legislature appropriated more money for PILOT reimbursements — $1.5 million more — yet Warwick’s PILOT reimbursement decreased by $12,818 dollars. (I’ll say more about the state’s role in this travesty, in a few minutes.)
#2
In July, 2023, the Connecticut River rose up over its banks and flooded farms up and down the valley. By the time the water subsided, our farms alone were facing $40 million worth of damage. Not four months earlier, in May of that same year, an unseasonably late frost destroyed almost an entire crop of stonefruit. With climate change, river flows will increase. Extreme weather will be more frequent and severe. Growing seasons will remain unpredictable.
#3
In January, 2024, students at Swift River School in Wendell were able to drink well water from the fountains and faucets for the first time since 2021, when a water emergency was declared at the school due to high levels of PFAS contamination.
Nearly every municipality in my Senate district is grappling with PFAS contamination. None of our municipalities have access to Quabbin water. None of them.
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Those who know me know that I may, sometimes, be prone to hyperbole. Please understand that when I say that the burden of stewarding natural and working lands is growing, I am not being hyperbolic.
We can’t adequately fund our schools. We can’t pay for police and fire. We provide clean water for the Commonwealth when we don’t even have it for ourselves.
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Now, it is not my intent — at least not today — to provoke another Shays Rebellion, although if that were my intent, now would be an appropriate time to mention that Daniel Shays’ homestead was flooded when the Quabbin Reservoir was created.
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No — this story, friends, is a hopeful one.
Shortly after those farm floods in 2023, I stood in fields of ruined crops, ankle deep in mud with House colleagues, Governor Healey, Senate President Karen Spilka, and we announced $20 million in direct relief for farmers. The first-ever such payment in the state’s history. This was spurred on by constituents like you.
We didn’t stop there. We passed into law a new State Disaster Relief and Resiliency Fund — which was a bill that Rep. Natalie Blais and I filed — to ensure we are prepared for more frequent and extreme weather events. We now have a state fund and we’re ready for what comes.
This was spurred on by constituent advocacy.
We created a Joint Committee on Agriculture, which I had the honor of Chairing last session, and we passed new laws to create new income streams for our farmers, to protect their farmland, to strengthen their bottom lines.
Again, thanks to constituent advocacy.
Together, we asked the Governor to include in the environmental bond bill — which she did — a Connecticut River Valley Resilience Commission, which will develop a regional strategy to mitigate flood risk and address aging water/sewer infrastructure along the River.
And we’re not finished. Soon we’ll release the report of the Special Commission on Agriculture in the 21st Century, and my hope is that this session we will pass an omnibus farm bill, to support farmers and protect farmland for the next 100 years.
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On the Quabbin?
My team and I filed legislation to achieve regional equity for the Quabbin Watershed, to fund economic development, and to ensure communities are fairly compensated for the work and the 200 million gallons of world-class, pristine water that flows east. Every. Single. Day.
The Quabbin communities are organizing and gaining ground. We need more representation on the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority board and advisory board. We need a community fund to tackle systemic issues like potable water.
Water is life and Quabbin communities deserve a more just recompense for the invaluable water they steward.
Governor Healey included a placeholder for $50,000 additional dollars every year to Quabbin Watershed towns for two years — as a downpayment for more, an indication that she understands the state’s PILOT formula is broken.
Which it is.
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As you know, the State Owned Land PILOT formula reimburses municipalities for forgone property tax revenue from state owned land.
The formula only considers the property tax value of the land and it penalizes our land values which are lower than those of eastern Massachusetts.
It also values the ecosystem services provided by our land at exactly zero dollars and zero cents.
So no consideration for ecosystem services AND a devaluation based on our land values.
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Its inequities have become a significant barrier to land conservation efforts.
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I hear from municipalities frequently that cannot afford to have more land acquired by the state, because they cannot afford to keep losing money due to inadequate PILOT reimbursements.
Mount Grace already understands this.
With many of you, I have been pushing for reform with great colleagues for years, and thankfully, last month Governor Healey signed an Executive Order creating a commission to reform the State Owned Land PILOT formula.
This state owned land PILOT reform Commission — which will consider the value of the land’s ecosystem services — is an important step in the right direction, and an important step towards regional equity and environmental justice.
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Progress, friends. We are making progress, together.
In very large part because Mount Grace Land Trust is strong.
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And we’re going to need your strength because — despite the gains in agriculture, river resilience, and PILOT, we’re facing fierce headwinds because of generational disinvestment in western and north central Massachusetts.
A 2024 study by the scientific journal Nature, predicted that 11 towns in Massachusetts would be Ghost Towns by 2100 due to population loss. Five of those towns are in Franklin County.
I find succumbing to this downward spiral unacceptable. I’m just not interested in it. What I am interested in is defying these projections, together with you.
Our natural and working lands are key to our way of life in our region. And even as Mount Grace protects and defends them, we must ask the state and federal government to support our region in new, innovative, and vibrant ways.
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When I close my eyes, I see people of all abilities out enjoying nature, because we have more miles of accessible trails than ever before. (And I should say thanks to many of you, the state has established an accessible trails working group and we’re close to passing a bill to enshrine it into law.)
I see people of all means enjoying fresh, local, healthy poultry and produce from Diemand Farms or Quabbin Harvest or Red Fire Farm, and learning how to grow that food at the Farm School, or picking their own at Red Apple Farm, Just Roots, or Upingill Farm. I see people travelling from all around to walk Tully Trail, or gather at Richardson Overlook, or to hike in Erving Town Forest.
I see rural western and central Massachusetts towns with thriving outdoor recreation economies, agritourism, food security, climate resilient lands — towns that are thriving not in spite of their natural and working lands but because of them.
It will take continued state, local, and private partnerships with strong partners like Mount Grace to realize this vision.
Mount Grace’s work is making us stronger, for today, and for the next 75 years, and beyond. I am grateful to be in this work with you, and grateful for the opportunity to work on your behalf every single day. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for this beautiful region.
