The trees along Scott Road — some over 300 years old —
are now in the care of the same official who acknowledged operating the equipment involved in the work alleged to have damaged them.
May 2026 | Scott Road | Tree Warden | Chapter 87 | Conflict of Interest
Who Watches the Trees?
Damage Allegations, a New Appointment, and an Unannounced Visit
Part 2 of a series documenting what happens when a property owner asks a small Massachusetts town to follow the law.
The factual claims in this article are supported by contemporaneous video recordings, timestamped photographs, written attorney correspondence, DigSafe records, and eyewitness accounts retained by the author. Where conduct is characterized as a potential violation of law, that characterization reflects the position of legal counsel of record or the author’s reading of the cited statute — not a judicial finding. No court has adjudicated the underlying disputes described here.
Conflict of interest disclosure: The author is a party to the legal matter described in this article and is also its publisher. That dual role is disclosed here in keeping with standard journalistic practice. All Town officials named were contacted for comment prior to publication; no response was received.
Read Part 1: Where I posted and described the letter my attorney sent to the Lanesborough Select Board on May 4, 2026 , — raising serious questions about whether Scott Road was ever legally taken as a public way, and documenting alleged damage to trees on my property that counsel attributed to Town DPW equipment operations. This is what happened next.
The Select Board, the DPW Director, and the Town Administrator were contacted for comment. No response was received prior to publication.
The Letter Named a Department. Then That Department’s Director Got a New Title.
Shortly after my attorney’s letter arrived — and after the matter was raised at a town meeting — Lanesborough made an appointment. The Director of Public Works, whose department the letter identified as the source of the alleged damage to trees on our property, was named Town Tree Warden.
A Town That Takes Its Trees Seriously — Or Does It? Arbor Day Foundation: Tree City USA designation for 21 consecutive years (as of 2026) — a tradition the town has maintained longer than many residents can remember. That recognition stands in contrast to appointing, without public discussion of professional qualifications, the director of the department named in a legal complaint alleging tree damage as their official guardian of those same trees. One has to wonder: what will the Arbor Day Foundation make of it?
Two Years of Documented Damage Allegations
Full Evidence Gallery — The complete timestamped
record — alleged tree damage, fencing, signage, and security camera
impacts — is publicly archived but not downloadable.
🔒
Note: Access to this archive is logged. Google records traffic data
on shared albums, and the author maintains a separate access log. Parties
to this dispute are advised that their review of this material
may be noted.
→ Lanesborough DPW Equipment
Operations — Documented Property Damage Allegations, Scott Road,
Jan–Feb 2026 (M.G.L. Ch. 87)
Last Fall: Shade Trees Cut Down — Apparently Without the Process the Law Requires.
Under M.G.L. Chapter 87, Section 3, public shade trees cannot be removed without a public hearing, notice posted in two public places and on the tree itself, and two weeks of newspaper publication. Based on my review of the public record, none of that process was followed.
Timber from the removed trees was subsequently given away. I observed a private truck on site loading timber that same day. That company, which publicly advertises the commercial sale of firewood, was present at the scene. No record of a disposal or transfer authorization for that timber has been produced in response to my inquiries.
New report: DPW cutting and chipping trees along designated wetlands buffer. A visitor reported being delayed approximately 10 minutes by active tree removal along the wetlands boundary — work occurring in an area at the center of the ongoing legal dispute.
Tractor access to pasture blocked by Town workers. Upon attempting to access my property by tractor, I observed Town workers depositing fill along the wetlands boundary with no required flagging or signage present — conduct the Town had already been put on written notice about by counsel.
Road narrowing creating documented safety hazard. Successive road widening along this stretch has narrowed the road edge to the point where a tow truck or tractor was required for recovery.
What Happened When the Town Showed Up Unannounced.
The DPW Director arrived unannounced at my property accompanied by a law enforcement officer, presenting a document claiming a 60-foot easement — one that, if accurate, would place the boundary through the front of the 1865 historic house and every other residence on the road. He stated his intention to mill the road and install pull-outs.
I was told I was "harassing" his workers.
- What I was actually doing: attempting to access my fields by tractor, on my own property, and observing work along a wetlands boundary — the exact area the Town had been directed, in writing by my attorney, to pause operations and address through counsel first.
- Approximately 30 minutes earlier, a visitor had informed me that the DPW was actively cutting and chipping shade trees along the wetlands boundary — in apparent violation of M.G.L. Chapter 87, Section 3 — again.
- Written legal notice from counsel was on file with the Town. The Town chose to continue work anyway. A property owner stood on his own land, watching. At that point — with a legal dispute already in writing, with no response from the Town to counsel’s letter — the DPW Director arrived not alone, but accompanied by a uniformed law enforcement officer.
The question the Town has not answered: why was a police officer necessary? A property owner on his own property, in a civil dispute, with an attorney’s letter already on file — what purpose did law enforcement serve that day that counsel-to-counsel communication could not?
Shortly after, Town Administrator Gina Dario called my attorney directly — without initially indicating that the DPW Director was also present in the room, a fact that became apparent when he spoke up. More on that in the next installment.
“Historic ways like Scott Road are an asset to towns like Lanesborough and Mr. Drescher hopes to see it preserved with common sense measures.”
— Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, letter to the Lanesborough Select Board, May 4, 2026
More updates coming.
What do you think?
Are the laws and bylaws applied without bias here in Lanesborough?
(Ask Second Drop Farm.)
Show Up at the Town Meeting
June 9th, 2026 at the Elementary School
Don’t let the usual 3% of the public raise your taxes without your vote!
Part 2 of an ongoing series. Read Part 1 here. All statements are supported by contemporaneous notes, photographs, videos, DigSafe records, and eyewitness accounts in the author’s possession. No court has made findings on the underlying disputes described here.
— William Drescher
Musicwoods Farm · Lanesborough, MA ·
musicwoods.farm
© 2023 wmdrescher