The Western Massachusetts Public Lands Alliance (WMPLA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves as the leading champion and advocate for the state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties.
WMPLA’s mission is
to use philanthropy, volunteerism, education, collaboration, and advocacy to sustain and enhance the quality of outdoor recreation, public access, infrastructure, environmental education, historical preservation, and natural resource conservation within the state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas of western Massachusetts. The MA-DCR confronts daunting challenges in the face of declining funding appropriated by the state legislature for management of thousands of acres of state forests and parks. Similarly, the MA-DFW is struggling to make the funds it receives from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses fully address the needs of the wildlife management areas it administers. As a result, properties managed by the MA-DCR and MA-DFW fall far short of meeting their full value potential and overall visitor experiences at these properties are undermined by scaled back visitor center operations, closure of campgrounds and other facilities, severe maintenance backlogs that obstruct or impede public access to critical roads and trails, inadequate invasive species controls, a dearth of active land management that is needed to create and maintain wildlife habitat, and limited and/or outdated educational products and programming.
Similarly, declining government funding causes MA-DCR and MA-DFW to postpone important new construction and major renovation projects that would substantially improve public use and enjoyment of state forests, parks and wildlife management areas.
Before WMPLA was founded, there was not an effective means for supporters of public lands to direct charitable contributions toward specific MA-DCR and MA-DFW projects, properties or programs
. This resulted in charitable donations being routed to the Commonwealth's general fund and being reallocated by politicians for entirely different public programs and services.
Individuals wishing to provide financial support for public lands should be extended reasonable assurance that their gift will be applied to a preferred project or program.
In addition to the direct effects that state funding shortfalls at these properties have on the quality of visitor experiences, there are broader negative economic and cultural implications for the region’s communities in the form of reduced tourism- and recreation-related revenue generation, and a growing psychological gap between human society and the natural world that contributes to environmental illiteracy and undermines our cultural heritage.
Declining state funding for state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas is not the only problem facing our regional network of public lands. Pervasive public misperceptions regarding the ecological importance and benefits of active land management practices (i.e., timber management, prescribed burns, integrated pest management, etc.) have resulted in de facto moratoria on such activities, and this has contributed to declining populations of many wildlife species – including popular game species like white-tailed deer, New England cottontail, ruffed grouse, and American woodcock – that require grassland, young forests with thick vegetation, and similar habitats in order to thrive. A dearth of active management on public lands has negatively impacted biodiversity and reduced quality of outdoor recreation experiences for sportsmen (and sportswoman) and other wildlife enthusiasts.
With these problems in mind, WMPLA is organized to perform the following broad functions:
- to serve as a regional-scale “friends group” for state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas in the western portion of the Commonwealth;
- to engage in fundraising, public education, and volunteer-led environmental stewardship activities to enhance the manner in which state lands are managed;
- to serve as a strong advocate for laws, regulations, and other policies (all levels - federal, state and local) that sustain and enhance the quality of public lands;
- to help the MA-DCR and MA-DFW identify and strategically protect high-priority parcels of land in perpetuity for public use and enjoyment through fee simple acquisition and conservation easement agreements forged with willing private landowners;
- to provide an effective means for supporters of public lands to direct how their charitable contributions are invested;
- to work in cooperation with government officials and other stakeholders in support and enrichment of state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas;
- to build public support for expanded use of active, scientifically-based, land management practices on state forests, parks and wildlife management areas;
- to enhance the extent and efficacy of interagency cooperation between the MA-DCR and MA-DFW;
- to foster public use and enjoyment of state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas in a manner that embodies principles of sustainable natural resource management, and;
- to help local schools plan and conduct field trips to state parks, forests and wildlife management areas, and;
- to ensure that MA-DCR and MA-DFW properties continue to provide individuals and families of all socioeconomic stations – and particularly low- to moderate-income individuals and families – access to affordable outdoor recreational opportunities.
For more information on WMPLA, please visit our official website at
http://wmpla.org