Sporting stickers showing a devastated forest, more than 100 citizens from around Massachusetts gathered at the State House on February 25th to urge their legislators not to Clearcut the environmental budget. Senator Pam Resor (D-Acton) and Representative Bill Greene (D-Billerica), Chairs of the Natural Resources and Agriculture; Representative Frank Smizik (D-Brookline); and Senator Stephen Brewer (D-Barre) addressed the crowd.

According to U.S. census data for Fiscal Year 2000, Massachusetts is ranked 48th among all states in proportion of state funds spent on the environment. On top of that, over the last three fiscal years, funding for environmental protection has dropped by 23 percent, and is now less than 1 percent of the overall budget. The Department of Environmental Protection, responsible for enforcing laws already on the books, lost 15 percent of its staff between October 2001 and December 2002.