WBUR • December 8, 2021
The carbon storage power of forests will be key to actually realizing net-zero emissions in Massachusetts over the next three decades. At a hearing Tuesday, State Rep. Michael Finn, who last session chaired the House Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change, said the state's public land policies were written decades ago, before climate change was understood to be an imminent threat, and that they need to be rewritten to reflect the realities of today and the state's emission reduction targets. "This bill will help fight global warming by helping keep carbon stored in trees and soil, protect native biodiversity, mitigate climate change impacts for all Massachusetts residents and prevent further forest carbon loss due to commercial forest management." Finn's legislation (H 912) would designate about 412,000 acres of state forest and watershed land as "a place where ecosystems are preserved."