Dear Chris and Members of the Select Board,
Concord dog owners have been trying to work with the NRC, but we have been shut out. With its vote to require leashes at Punkatasset, the NRC has alienated, angered and disappointed the segment of the community most motivated to help in efforts to maintain the nature of our wild places. The 1100 plus citizens who have expressed our opposition to the NRC’s position include nature enthusiasts, environmental activists, conservation writers, young men like Angus Watts (Age 11, whose letter of protest appeared in the Journal), nature photographers, transcendentalists, and health-conscious individuals. Daily, we visit conservation land to walk with our off-leash dogs all over town, regardless of weather. We work extensively with the NRC on other issues like combating invasives and providing trail stewardship. We financially support the Town’s efforts to acquire additional conservation lands. We know and love the area’s natural history and are motivated to help the NRC create a community-driven effort to reach those outlying dog owners who are not respectful of conservation land or of other visitors to it.
Or we should say, we were motivated, until the NRC voted to require leashes at Punkatasset.
The NRC has been unable to provide any evidence of dogs degrading conservation lands in Concord. According to police records, dog incidents have become less frequent since 2012. To prevent problems from developing, which the Commission says is the motivation for their draconian proposals, there are much saner solutions that would enlist rather than enrage the citizenry.
We need the NRC to behave as an authority maintaining the integrity of a town-wide desire for wise use of the Town’s Natural Resources. We rely on the commission to make decisions based on science. The process leading to the decision to restrict dogs and their owners to leashes on Town Conservation Land expressly set aside by the Town for nature AND recreation undermines the Commission’s authority, shines too bright a light on their shaky process, and destroys the NRC’s base of support.
If the Commission were to reconsider its vote to restrict dogs to leashes in Punkatasset, they might still have an opportunity to work with concerned citizens in developing a set of guidelines and an educational program to strengthen respectful use of Town owned conservation land by all and for all, and to improve relations between walkers with and without dogs, bicyclists, skiers, runners, and horseback riders.
As people who value the work of the Division of Natural Resources and the Natural Resources Commission, who moved here long ago because Concord’s citizens are demonstrably capable of creating a community where we can all enjoy our beautiful town lands, we ask that you urge the Commission to take a revote before they ruin what could be a productive partnership with the dog owners of Concord and destroy a beloved way of life for so many of us.
Why is asking dog owners to leash their dogs destructive of a way of life? It is simple: when a leash is required, there is a being on each end of it. The NRC is asking Concord citizens to give up our personal freedom to walk at our own pace through the lands we love with our dogs. This is our chosen form of recreation. Leashes hobble US as much as they do the dogs. For responsible citizens like us, the NRC proposal means a daily loss of joy – they are asking us to give up the source – for many of us, the greatest source – of grace and sanity available to us in this crazy world.
Citizens are being asked to accept this loss for no reason. We would all be better off, if at the end of this process, the NRC gained support and respect rather than losing standing and credibility. We have made extensive efforts to work in a positive fashion with the NRC on this issue, and in response, NRC members have stated that nothing will change their minds.
We call on the Town Manager and the Select Board to ask the NRC to open their minds and rethink their course.
Respectfully submitted,
Tracy Winn
Robert and Elizabeth Morrison
Isaac Sway
Gregory Maguire
Luis D. Berrizbeitia MD FACS
Jeff Young
Michael Dettelbach
Joe Rigali
Carol Aronson
Don Shobrys
Mimi Rutledge
Susanne Jarnryd
Ronni Olitsky
Robert Chartener
Richard and Patricia Waters
Louisa and Robert Paushter
Marc Silver
Belinda Gower
Joseph and Elizabeth McKneely
Mark Bamford
Susanna Barton
Bonnie and David Polakoff
George Vlasuk
Anna Agranov
Kate Skelly
Margaret Wailes
Barbara Faha
Elisabeth Elden
Luis Berrizbeitia
Elizabeth Awalt
Maryl Bode
Liza Carter
Lisette Zinner
Kate Hennighausen
Rob and Betsey Veidenheimer
Tom Sadtler
Joanne and Dick Arnaud
Maude and John Bigelow
Rob Comer
Inge Knudson
Maria Gutierrez
Maureen and Tim Dibble
Andy Sheehan
Gretchen Nelson
Marc and Sheila Boyle
Laurie Foster
Lori Hick
Penny Rodday
Susanna Bedell
Tom Wilson
Kathleen Reidy
Pam Hubbard
Paul Caliandro
Peter Hilton
John and Mary Doyle
Brooks and Ashley Ward
Deb Richardson
Mark Del Guidice
Wayne Miller
Mary Hartman
Steven Torres
Susan and Robert Galford
Rosa Hallowell
Terry Yanulavich
Carsten Nielsen
Ramsay Trussell
Jen Nielsen
Lydia Rheinfrank
Tasha Carter-Gordon
Anna Stevens
Maggie Stern
Richard Mandel
Christina Williams
Helen Christensen
Stephanie Leone
Michael Milofsky
Jill Appel
Ali Baty
Mitzi Johnson
Carol Neville
Gina Sauceda
Heidi Saghir
Carolyn and Daren Gill
Julie Barrett O’Brien
Lori Jackson
Anne and Stuart Randle
Terry Rothermel
Melissa and Chris Finn
Heather Shafner Bout
Mark McClure
Lucy Rosborough
Charles Wilson
Deb and Don Kupka
Melanie Coo
Sarah Jones
Todd Watts
Kara Wilson
Meg Wilson
David and Katie Wilson
Jeremy Carter-Gordon
Scott and Kristin Forsberg
Meg Wickwire
Nancy Mercer
Brian Mercer
Beth Perdue
Helen McKinlay
Charles Barker
Dan Schrager
Kelly Doyle
Peter Zimmerman
Chad Reynolds
Jill Yates
Christian Fischer
Judy Bernard
Beverly Miller
Nancy Johnson
Dan Roache
Sarah Lazarus
Lynn Duffy
Kate Chartener
Bill Lehr
Bouzha Cookman
Kevin Duffy
Cheryl Baggen
Max Johnson
Nate Johnson
Lisa Gainsboro
Hilary Bovey
Richard McWalter
Rob Yates
Sarah and Robert LeRoy
Nancy Morrison
Karen Burns
John Conley
Susan Deysher
Doug Cohen
Charlie Morrison
Richard McWalter
Jon Grayzel, MD
Dan Holin
Jamie Lipcon
Keith Miller
Shivalik Bakshi
Claris Chuah
Peter Burns
Lynn, Andrew, Benjamin and Jonah Aghajanian
Marty Gilpatrick
Laura Klein-Branigan
John Branigan
Althea and David Kaemmer
John Bode
Elizabeth A Lewis
Benjamin H Lewis
Amy Simon
Michael & Aiyana Currie
Lucinda S. Duncan
Sally Hughes
Rick and Kate Olney
Claire Gauthier
John and Kim Wass