These are currently Action Alerts that need mountain bikers attention:
Action Alert: Please Comment about the Mount Holyoke Range Resource Management Plan by March 24th.
The DCR is requesting public comment about the Resource Management Plan for the Mount Holyoke Planning Range (which includes Mt. Tom as well as Mt. Holyoke-Skinner SP).
The draft Resource Management Plan are posted on DCR’s website at http://www.mass.gov/dcr/news/publicmeetings/rmppast.htm.
Comments can be emailed to:
DCR.Updates@state.ma.us
Action Alert: Please Oppose the Siting of a Casino Next to NEMBA’s Property in Milford
While our organization has no position for or against casino gaming in Massachusetts, we believe that having a casino that potentially abuts NEMBA’s property, Vietnam, would adversely affect this area’s open space and trail system. We urge Milford residents to oppose the siting of this casino, and we urge all of our membership to express their concerns to the Massachusetts State Gaming Commission.
Background:
In November of 2011, Massachusetts Governor Duval Patrick signed a gaming bill that legalized casinos in Massachusetts. The bill expands gaming in Massachusetts to 3 full-scale casinos and 1 slot machine parlor. The three casinos are legal in separate regions of the state: one in the Boston area that extends to Worcester, one for Western Massachusetts, and a third for Southeastern Massachusetts.
Back in October 2003, the New England Mountain Bike Association (NEMBA) took title to 47 acres of open space in Milford, Massachusetts in an area known as the Upper Charles River Headwaters (aka Vietnam). The campaign marked one of the first times that a mountain bike advocacy organization purchased its own trail system, and the project marked the largest single investment undertaken by mountain bikers to preserve open space. The Upper Charles Headwaters consists of over 1,000 acres of public and private land in three towns: Milford, Holliston, and Hopkinton. The area supports a vibrant community of recreational users such as mountain bikers, hikers, equestrians, cross country skiers, and hunters.
One of the proposed sites for the Boston area casino is in Milford. Developer David Nunes, chief executive of Ajax Gaming Ventures, has proposed The Crossroads Casino. This proposal consists of a $600 million casino complex occupying about 210 acres of the Upper Charles Headwaters. The site is bordered by I-495, Route 16, Holliston conservation land, and potentially the NEMBA parcel.
Opposition to a Casino in Milford:
NEMBA neither supports nor opposes gambling in Massachusetts, but we do not support the location of this casino development. It will remove significant acreage of habitat important to the integrity of the Upper Charles headwaters and will reduce a number of popular trails that make up the area. NEMBA does not believe that the Milford location is appropriate for a development of this magnitude.
We urge our supporters in Milford and the neighboring communities to oppose this development. Only Milford residents can vote their opposition to this casino, but we urge supporters in all the neighboring communities to voice their concerns and state their opposition to the Massachusetts State Gaming Commission.
You can contact them using this online form:
http://www.mass.gov/gaming/contact-us/ask-the-commission.html
You may also send your letter to:
Stephen Crosby
MA State Gaming Commission
84 State Street, Suite 720
Boston, MA 02109
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