By Mike Donovan
RUSSELL– The state department of environmental protection believes public access to Russell Pond is adequate under state law, according to Selectman Keith Cortis. But resident Bill Hardie said the proper agency to rule on the issue is the state department of fish and wildlife, not the DEP.
“Fish and wildlife are the ones who deal with public access,” he said. “They feel people should be able to fish the pond the way they have for 43 years.”
The entire shoreline of Russell Pond is privately owned, most of it by the Boy Scouts of America, which operates the Horace A. Moses Scout Reservation there. Last year the Boy Scout Council ordered boulders put in place to close off a path to the pond that fishermen were using to launch their boats and canoes due to concern that it would be liable if anyone were injured on the property. According to Hardie, however, state law protects landowners from liability in such cases.
Some town officials have also expressed concern that the Boy Scouts, which have been said to have financial problems with the camp, might be preparing to sell off their property–about 1,600 acres–to developers.
According to state law, any pond of 10 acres or more must be accessible to the public. Russell Pond comprises about 85 acres, and Keith Cortis agreed that it is a great pond which requires public access, but said he has been unable to pin down a definition of the term. “There isn’t a clear answer,” he said. “No one could show me what ‘public access’ means.”
Another problem, he said, is that the town does not own Birch Hill Road, which people use to get to the town beach. According to Cortis, the town only has a right of way,
“I don’t know if we could grant a right of way when all we have is a right of way,” he said.
Hardie has been trying to re-establish public access to the pond ever since the Boy Scouts put the boulders in place. The path crossed land previously used by the Blandford Club, which had a 99 year lease with the Boy Scouts organization. According to Cortis, when the Blandford Club stopped using the property, it reverted to the Boy Scouts.
Hardie thinks another path could be cleared through an area just west of the town beach, property included in the town’s lease.
“Fish and wildlife has money to buy a small strip where people could carry their boats to the pond,” he said.
Selectboard Chair Pandora Hague said she didn’t see a problem. Although the town has no official policy, fishermen have often used the town beach as a launch area.
“They can launch their boats from the beach,” she said, “and it’s nice that it’s small and attracts just local people. It’s not like the river.” She noted that the town has had problems with visitors along the Westfield River who picnic there in the summer and leave large quantities of trash that the town has to dispose of. She recalled too a time when members of a Russian church in Westfield asked for permission to hold a mass baptism at the pond. She said they parked cars across Birch Hill Road, totally blocking access to everyone else, and even parked in front of the fire station on General Knox Road, which would have prevented the fire truck from responding if there had been a fire.
Hardie said that considering the complications involved, the situation might need to be resolved legally.
“The only answer could be that we’ll have to take this to court,” he said.
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