Woodland Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts Education, Executive Committee Meeting - Dec 11th, 2023

Virtual Attendance Info

This will be a Virtual Meeting as allowed by “An Act Relative to Extending Certain State of Emergency Accommodations,” signed by MA Gov. Baker in 2022 and extended March 29, 2023 by Gov. Healey through March 31, 2025, allowing public bodies to hold meetings remotely without a quorum physically present, and to provide "adequate, alternative" access to remote meetings.
Members of the public are welcome. Please RSVP to Kate Conlin to request a Zoom link
to attend by emailing: [email protected]

Agenda

1. Call to order and Land Acknowledgement - Welcome to new members and introductions
2. Approval of minutes from October 12, 2023 Executive Committee meeting
3. Follow-up on legislative initiatives: name change bill & long-term funding needs – next steps
4. Friends of Conte: invitation to support initiative and therefore be eligible for future funding (https://www.friendsofconte.org/join).
5. Scheduling February Board Meeting: Invite speaker(s) on National Heritage Areas (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/heritageareas/feasibility-studies.htm) and/or Appalachian Forest (https://www.appalachianforestnha.org/) – Discuss endorsing Finance & Budget Committee recommendation to pursue federal funding through such a designation
6. Discuss revising the Partnership’s Land Acknowledgment and how the Board will “commit to building a more inclusive and equitable space for all”: Consider a special working group on Indigenous outreach & DEIJ initiatives ($10,000 in current USFS grant), or integration into Exec. Committee priorities; Review of current legislative bills of Indigenous interest
7. MassDEP Clean Heat Standard – recent draft guidance on renewable energy no longer considers wood renewable. Coalition forming opposing adoption. Discuss Partnership stance and action.
8. Agent update: Website, Logos, Virtual Forest Center or “Forest Center of NW MA,” Resilient Lands, Federal Funds and Infrastructure Office
9. Unfinished business from Oct. 12 – proposed language for towns interested in joining from outside the designated region; inviting board member participation at committee meetings
10. Any item(s) not anticipated within 48 hours
11. Public comment and Adjournment

Executive Committee members: Dicken Crane – Windsor (Board Chair); Art Schwenger – Heath (Board Vice Chair); Alain Peteroy – Franklin Land Trust (Clerk); Jeffrey Thomas – Lever, Inc. (Treasurer); Rhonda Anderson – Ohketeau Cultural Center; Russ Richardson – Massachusetts Forest Alliance; Robert O’Connor – MA EOEEA; Constance Carpenter (USFS ex-officio)

*On Oct. 11, 2022, the Board of the public body created in 2018 voted unanimously to change its name from the “Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership” in its bylaws to operating as the “Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts” and requested the state legislature and USDA Forest Service to officially establish and recognize the new name.