<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#222222"> I am passing along this issue. Are you interested in supporting this action? I will announce it at the GA if no one else from the group is present. It is important to support habitat as well as housing!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#222222"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font>forwarded from: </font> </span><span style>[Climate-a</span><span style>ction] Fwd: [Occupy Somerville</span><span style>]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:14px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(34,34,34)">tour of the Silver Maple forest next</span> to the Alewife Forest if anyone is interested this Sunday at 12 pm. Meet at the bus dropoff/pick up at alewife t-station.
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style><br></span></p>
<span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#222222">The
Silver Maple Forest, adjacent to and unofficially part of the</span><br style>
<span style>Alewife Reservation, is slated to be destroyed to
make way for development.</span><br style>
<br style>
<span style>Although the forest has important environmental
benefits to the</span><br style>
<span style>surrounding communities, mainstream conservation
groups have been unable</span><br style>
<span style>to stop plans to raze the trees.</span><br style>
<br style>
<span style>Are there any environmental-concerned
anti-authoritarians out there</span><br style>
<span style>willing to learn more about the issue in order to
formulate strategies</span><br style>
<span style>and tactics to preserve the forest?</span><br style>
<br style>
<span style>The Alewife Reservation is located right across
the street from the</span><br style>
<span style>Alewife T station of the Red Line, making it
highly accessible to urban</span><br style>
<span style>residents. Home to deer, coyote, foxes, and
other wildlife, it's used</span><br style>
<span style>by various people in the community, including kids
from the nearby</span><br style>
<span style>public housing development, and
"homeless" people who make camp there.</span><br style>
<span style>There's no physical boundary between the
publicly-owned reservation and</span><br style>
<span style>the privately-owned area known as the Silver Maple
Forest or the Belmont</span><br style>
<span style>Uplands. As far as animals are concerned,
it's one whole wilderness.</span><br style>
<span style>O'Neill Properties wants to make a profit by
cutting down the Silver</span><br style>
<span style>Maple Forest on the land it owns in order to erect
houses there, even</span><br style>
<span style>though its on a floodplain and is unsuitable for
building.</span><br style>
<br style>
<span style>Several groups have tried to work within in the
system to save the</span><br style>
<span style>forest, trying to get court injunctions, EPA
protection, petitioning the</span><br style>
<span style>state of Massachusetts and adjacent cities to buy
the land, but private</span><br style>
<span style>property law and the profit motive have trumped
all their efforts.</span><br style>
<br style>
<span style>We need to preserve the commons and protect the
environment by defending</span><br style>
<span style>this urban forest.</span><br><div><br></div><div>A private developer <span style>wants to put in a housing development w/ 300 units
and 600 parking</span><br style>
<span style>spaces in the middle of this beautiful 120 acre
reservation. The Belmont</span><br style>
<span style>Coalition and Friends of the Alewife Reservation
have been fighting it</span><br style>
<span style>in the courts for years and another ruling is
scheduled for this Spring</span><br style>
<span style>so they're reaching out to local environmental
activists to help out.</span><br style>
<span style>More info is below - check out their web sites for
a good synopsis of</span><br style>
<span style>what's gone down so far.</span></div><div><span style><br></span></div><div><span style>petition: </span><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/save-cambridges-silver-maple-forest">http://www.change.org/petitions/save-cambridges-silver-maple-forest</a></div>
<div><br></div><div><span style> They can contact Ben at</span><br>
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><a href="tel:617-894-2115" target="_blank" value="+16178942115" style><span class="skypepnhcontainer"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1155cc"><span tabindex="-1" style="border-color:initial!important;overflow-x:hidden!important;overflow-y:hidden!important;background-repeat:no-repeat!important;float:none;list-style-position:outside;word-spacing:normal"> <span title="Call this phone number in United States of America with Skype: +16178942115" style="border-color:initial!important;overflow-x:hidden!important;overflow-y:hidden!important;background-repeat:no-repeat!important;float:none;list-style-position:outside;word-spacing:normal"></span></span><span class="skypepnhleftspan"><span title="Skype actions" style="border-color:initial!important;overflow-x:hidden!important;overflow-y:hidden!important;background-repeat:no-repeat!important;float:none;list-style-position:outside;word-spacing:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%"> </span></span><span title="Skype actions" style="border-color:initial!important;overflow-x:hidden!important;overflow-y:hidden!important;background-repeat:no-repeat!important;float:none;list-style-position:outside;word-spacing:normal"></span><span class="skypepnhdropartflagspan"><span style="border-color:initial!important;overflow-x:hidden!important;overflow-y:hidden!important;background-repeat:no-repeat!important;float:none;list-style-position:outside;word-spacing:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%"> </span></span></span><span class="skypepnhdropartspan"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%"> </span></span><span style="border-color:initial!important;overflow-x:hidden!important;overflow-y:hidden!important;list-style-position:outside;word-spacing:normal;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat!important"></span><span class="skypepnhtextspan"><span style="border-color:initial!important;overflow-x:hidden!important;overflow-y:hidden!important;list-style-position:outside;word-spacing:normal;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat!important"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;text-decoration:none">617-894-2115</span></span></span></span><span style="border-color:initial!important;overflow-x:hidden!important;overflow-y:hidden!important;list-style-position:outside;word-spacing:normal;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat!important"><span class="skypepnhrightspan"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%"> </span></span></span></span><span class="skypepnhcontainer"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1155cc"> </span></span></span></a></span><span style><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#222222"> or send an email to this listserv or<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><a href="mailto:spoon987654321@yahoo.com" target="_blank" style><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1155cc">spoon987654321@yahoo.com</span></a></span><span style><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#222222">.</span><br>
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</span><span style></span>
<div><br></div>-- <br><div>Rita Monestersky- Sebastian<br>Brandeis, MA SID' 2009</div><div><br></div>
<div style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" style="font-family:sans-serif,Arial,Helvetica;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Martin Luther King wrote that </font><b style="font-family:sans-serif,Arial,Helvetica;font-size:11px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font>“In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.”</font></b>
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