To the editor:
I write this letter as a plea to Lynnfield residents to think before making decisions that have permanently negative impacts.
Having lived in Lynnfield for seven years, I am a newcomer. Lynnfield held the promise of a peaceful way of life, a town committed to strong education, dedicated to maintaining open spaces and pride in being an oasis among the surrounding suburbs.
In seven years I have seen an alarming disregard for what makes Lynnfield uniquely ideal. I live in the King James Grant area. I walk this neighborhood and conservatively estimate a minimum of 300-400 trees have been destroyed.
They are not dead, diseased, or trees that imperil human beings and their properties. It is sadly shocking. I have no understanding of why people who live in Lynnfield want to alter what is best about living here so that it will reflect our surrounding communities. Here, birdsong has been replaced by the jarring noise of giant saws.
We are losing our old-growth trees and it is forever changing not only the landscape to an unimaginative human construct. It is contributing to the dwindling resources that support our air, water, soil and wildlife and what is best about this town.
We are witnessing the beginning of the end. And while each individual may not feel responsible or contributive to this altering landscape, each resident who decides to destroy old-growth trees is directly and collectively responsible for the destruction of habitat, air quality, climate, and the true value of this town.
We are at a turning point: Habitat needs to be preserved for the inherent value it provides, and not solely viewed as a product resource that ultimately delivers profit for tree companies and bloated development companies and realtors.
Our enemy is within, and unless we stop the willful demolition of nature, the young families raised here will never witness the abundance of open space and a healthy ecosystem. It simply will cease to exist because an ornamental dogwood tree planted in place of an old-growth, 100-plus-year-old majestic pine, cannot support the same habitat or water table. Once destroyed, it is gone forever.
I recently had the experience of attending a Conservation Commission meeting and was shocked that our commission and town accepts documentation about the health of trees residents are asking to be destroyed by the very tree companies who will win the contract for their removal and make thousands of dollars.
If this does not constitute a conflict of interest, what does? Our town needs a multi-layered education program because we are not acting in the best interest of the town.
Lynnfield has an identity crisis about who we think we are and our practices. They are not aligned. Perhaps publishing data about the number of trees destroyed versus the number planted monthly would open eyes.
Future generations of Lynnfield residents will not get to experience a town life surrounded by the beauty and species with whom we share this space.
Instead, we are treating trees and fauna as a nuisance. As a species, human beings are nature’s guests, not the other way around. Shame belongs to those who destroy nature’s diversity to conform a yard to an artificial landscape.
King James Grant reflects every corner of this town. We are becoming a town of huge houses, no land, and no old-growth trees. To say it is shortsighted is an understatement. Much profit will be made at the expense of a once-rich and healthy environment.
We all will pay the price as we watch the disappearance of the array of winged and four-footed inhabitants of this small town. Shame is something we own when we are not meeting the moment in the history of our planet.
Lynnfield is failing at stewardship of the most vital resource we share and, sadly, huge profits are being made by this act of willful destruction and ignorance. The affluence of this town, coupled with the lack of environmental IQ and conscience, is lethal.
It is time to think before making shortsighted and permanently-damaging decisions. Please use common sense and steward our natural resources for all residents, future generations and the environmental health of this town. What is the legacy you will leave to your children, this town and our planet? We are at a tipping point. Protect the environmental health of this town, its character and our way of life. Please do not choose to be part of the problem. We need people of depth and substance to preserve and grow our healthy ecosystem. It starts in our backyards.
Nancy Sacco
Lynnfield