Near Buffam Falls and Amethyst Brook, Eversource proposes to cut the crosshatched (pink and white) areas shown at right.

Along the project’s 29.3 miles, there must be acres and acres that don’t need to be cut. One such area serves as an illustration: the convergence of Amethyst and Buffam Brooks in Pelham. It’s an area of particular concern because:

• It’s a beautiful spot that generations have cherished.

• It’s sensitive riverfront habitat, qualified in several state-designated environmental categories (DEP Priority Habitat of Rare Species; Critical Natural Landscape; Cold Water Fisheries, et al.)

• Its cliffs that were the site of a rockslide in the 1950s, causing partial collapse of North Valley Rd. and downstream flooding in areas that have residences, now including affordable housing. The existing vegetation is more stabilizing than any reasonable replacement could be.

Clearcutting here would be a travesty. 

Eversource keeps changing their story about why they'd do it, trying to conceal that it's only to save themselves money.

• First, they said they needed to keep the trees from the wires. We pointed out that in this deep gorge, most of the trees would have to fall up to reach the wires.

• Then they said they needed "access." We pointed out that there are no towers or equipment there to access, and that the cliffs, steep slopes, and two brooks block access more than the trees do.

• Now they say that it's in case a wire spontaneously ruptures and falls onto the trees in exactly this spot. We say that would admittedly be a bad situation, but a highly unlikely one, and in this small area, surely one that they could plan to manage if it ever did occur. Preemptively clearcutting the whole area would be a bad trade.

Eversource says that the areas crosshatched in white above are part of this project's corridor-widening proposal. To proceed with that part of their plan, in addition to a certificate from the EEA, Eversource would need a Notice of Intent from Pelham's Conservation Commission. In an encouraging public comment, that Commission stated they expected to require "reduced tree cutting...emphasizing low impact practices..." 

However, Eversource claims that the area crosshatched in pink does not require approval from the EEA or Cons Com. They say that since it is part of the wire zone that they are authorized to maintain, they can simply cut it all down. This irreplaceable area includes the wide swath from the bluff that overlooks the convergence of the two brooks down to the riverbank by the swimming hole.

• We are working to fact-check Eversource's claim that they don't need any approval here. Across the 29 miles of corridor this project addresses, they have historically made only two exceptions to non-selective wire zone maintenance: here and on the bank of Erving's Millers River. Only these two, highly sensitive spots have merited a lighter touch until now -- Eversource has topped the occasional tree that might pose any risk. Even though they do manage non-selectively in the rest of the wire zone, we're hoping that a change like this would be subject to some oversight.

As much as this one area deserves special focus, it’s also just a case-in-point illustrating the extreme insensitivity of what must be similar disregard along the 29.3 mile corridor targeted in this project. An introduction to the issues and concerns across this project is here.